American Motors AMC was an American automobile company formed on January 14, 1954 by the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company . Nash-Kelvinator Corporation was the result of a merger in 1937 between Nash Motors and Kelvinator Appliance Company. The union of these two companies was brought about as a result of a condition made by George W. Mason prior to his appointment as CEO of Nash. Nash-Kelvinator ranked 27th among United States corporations in the value of World War II production contracts.
Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the United States from 1916 to 1937. From 1937 to 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. Nash production continued from 1954 to 1957 after the creation of American Motors Corporation.
Nash Motors was founded in 1916 by former General Motors president Charles W. Nash who acquired the Thomas B. Jeffery Company. Jeffery's best-known automobile was the Rambler whose mass production from a plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin began in 1902.
By 1964, Studebaker production in the United States had ended, and its Canadian operations ceased in 1966. The "Big Three", plus the smaller AMC, Kaiser Jeep, International Harvester, Avanti, and Checker companies were the remaining North American auto manufacturers.

The M422 Mighty Mite, introduced in 1959, was the result of a pilot model test made at the end of the WW II. The vehicle was conceived in response to the need for a truck light enough to be flown to forward positions by helicopter and manhandled if necessary. The initial design of the M422 was made by Ben F. Gregory, an automotive engineer. Gregory's first pilot model did well enough in tests in 1946 to lead to the formation of a company to develop the vehicle, and the Mid-American Research Corporation Incorporated (MARCO) in Wheatland, Pennsylvania to accomplish the task.It had a number of unique features; center-point steering, individual wheel suspension with front leading arms and rear trailing arms, inboard brakes mounted on the differential case, and lightweight aluminum construction.When MARCO studied the history of the Jeep, one name which kept cropping up in their research was Harold Crist, and the company decided that it needed him for the project. Crist brought with him three of the men who had worked on the original Bantam; Mr. Hempfling, Mr. Turner, and Frank McMillan.
After delivery of the units in December of 1952, tests of the 10 pilot models units showed the Marines that this design was worth pursuit. One major hitch was the German-built engine. Fate intervened when it was discovered that AMC was independently developing an air-cooled aluminum V4 engine. One thing led to another and the project was shifted in 1954 to the newly formed American Motor Corporation, about the time of its merger with Hudson and name change from Nash Kelvinator. That handoff put development into the hands of a more substantial company that morphed the vehicle into a larger rig.
Development of the vehicle continued from November 1954 to November 1957.Tests on the first seven were completed in December 1959.
In August 1979 , for the 1980 model year, AMC introduced four-wheel drive versions of the Spirit and Concord, calling the collective line the AMC Eagle. Eagles rapidly became one of the company's best-known products and is considered one of the first "crossover SUVs" . Featuring an innovative full-time four-wheel drive system , it sold best in snow-prone areas. Sales started strongly but declined over time. While the two-wheel drive Spirit and Concord were both discontinued after 1983 as the company concentrated on its new Renault Alliance, the Eagle survived for five years longer, albeit only in station wagon form, into the 1988 model year. This meant the four-wheel drive Eagle was the lone representative of the AMC brand from 1984–1988. All the company's remaining output was branded Renault or Jeep. The last AMC Eagle was built on December 14, 1987.