No longer the sickly child
President W. Paul Tippett Jr. of American Motors Corp. used to joke that his company actually had a three-word name: "Ailing American Motors." Now Tippett and his colleagues are laughing for a different reason. AMC has pulled back from the brink yet again, chiefly by cutting its work force, consolidating its plants and concentrating on a few small cars and specialized vehicles.
Last week, like proud parents of a sickly child who suddenly won the bantam championship, AMC announced that profits more than doubled, to a record $83.9 million on sales of $3.1 billion for the fiscal year...