Other awesome cars that were killed before they were born......

General Motors wasn't the only automaker that killed cool stuff because the bean counters said they wouldn't sell, or that building them wouldn't be cost-effective. Here's a few that would have been way cool, if  Ford , AMC and Mopar hadn't killed them.  # 1. 1971 "Boss 429" Mustang. The larger and wider 1971 Mustang offered the "regular" 429 as an option, so dropping in the Boss-9 wouldn't have been too hard. Further, the cars could have been built at Ford plants, reducing costs. ( The 1969-70 Boss 429s were 428 CJ models that were farmed out to Kar Kraft for the conversion, and Ford lost money on every one.)  The engineers felt this one could turn a profit, and upstage the big-block ponycars from GM.  Chevrolet was still considering offering the LS6 454 in the Camaro as well as the Chevelle, and Pontiac had the 455HO as the Trans-Am's standard engine. Sadly, the brass caved in to pressure from insurance companies, and safety advocates and the project was scrapped.  # 2. 1971 Charger Daytona / Plymouth Superbird. Chrysler considered putting the bullet front end and huge wings on the restyled '71 models, but ultimately decided it wasn't cost effective.  Too bad, they would have been cool.  # 3. 1972 429 / 460 Cougar. Since you could get a 455 in a Pontiac Gran Prix, and a 454 in a Monte Carlo, Ford thought they should offer a big-block in the personal luxury Cougar. ( A 351C was the largest engine available). The bean counters decided that the GP and Monte were competitiors of the T-Bird not the Cougar. Hello? The '72 and later T-Bird was based on the Lincoln MKIV platform, and in a drag race or "Stoplight Gran Prix" would only see the taillights of  a 455 engined mid-size "A" body GP or 454 Monte Carlo!!  The big-block Cougar might have sold quite a few units if it had been offered.  # 4. 1975 AMC Javelin / AMX.  Since the Challenger and Cuda were no more, and the '74 Mustang was basically a Pinto / Capri hybrid, and the Z/28 was on hiatus,  AMC brass thought that with less ponycar competition out there, Javelin sales might massively rebound like the Pontiac Trans-Am had in 1973-74. ( Up 400%  over 71-72 )  Instead, they killed the Javelin and introduced the re-designed Matador and the Pacer. Bad Move.  # 5.  1977 AMX. Even before "Smokey and the Bandit" came out Pontiac was selling T/A's in record numbers-almost 50,000 in 1976 alone-this caused Chevy to hastily re-introduce the Z/28 option on the Camaro-and every other automaker was scrambling to build a Trans-Am fighter. AMC engineers had an idea that might have changed history. They came up with a handling and graphics package for the compact Hornet, and since AMC V8's are all externally identical, suggested using the 360 or 401 V8s out of the big car/ truck line. The T/A had 400 cubes, but weighed about 3,800 lbs. At just over 3,000 lbs, a 401 powered Hornet based AMX might not have been sexy, but it would have ate the T/A's lunch in a drag race, and like the 1968 Road Runner, would have a bare-bones, badass, street fighter image. The brass thought the public was stupid, and didn't care about performance anymore, only looks. They ok'd the graphics and suspension options, but nixed the engine swap. ( Which would have been a bolt-in ) as too costly. The only engines available were a 258 inch six-cylinder, or a 304 V8 with a two-barrel that wheezed out about 120 hp. The bean counters were shocked when they didn't sell.  Decisions like this are why AMC went bankrupt.  Mastermind