The cool thing about the Eagle is...THEY CAME THAT WAY!
I was around back then, and I remember when AMC released them. The ad slogan was:
"THE EAGLE HAS LANDED...on all fours". It was the typical AMC plan...to come up with something new & different, (which they were famous for). But like everything they did, it was too radical for the market to accept. Fast forward 30 years and look how many all-wheel drive cars there are. They definitely had the right idea but, solid axles front & rear seems so freaky on a family car. I had a girlfriend in high-school that had an identical wagon, for her first car. It had the faux wood-grain paneling on the sides, and I recall it was a sort of a piece of ****. But, it was awesome in the snow, and basically a Jeep under the sheetmetal. Her's was identical to this one...
Look around on the net...The 2-door version had quite a successful career in Rally racing (which was all the rage back then). They went up against Subaru and Audi and held their own. AMC even released some special addition, performance models. Eagles are cool in their own goofy way.
