the 100 acre wood rally in salem, missouri, started the season with gene henderson and jim kloosterman placing their sx/4 second in the production class and seventh overall. at the budweiser forest rally in chillicothe, ohio, "henderson was the leader in the class in his amc eagle sx/4 through the first two-thirds of the 12-hour rally... some seven stages from the end, henderson's eagle began to have engine trouble and lost one cylinder". the nor'wester rally held in tumwater, washington, had perfect weather (cold, rain, and 11 stages covered with more than six inches of snow) that "helped production class winners [and fourth place overall] gene henderson and jim kloosterman since, "it was perfect conditions for our 4wd (amc) eagle. we love that slop". at the next event, the olympus international, henderson and kloosterman was an early leader, but retired with a blown engine in his amc eagle sx/4; however, gene's son, garry henderson, in another sx/4 with co-driver mike van leo, placed second in the production class and sixth overall. the inaugural three-day michigan international rally should have been easy for the amc eagle sx/4, but "several of the very sandy stages that would have been to henderson's advantage were cancelled" so with co-driver jon wickens, the team finished second in the production class and tenth overall. the next event with the sx/4 was the manistee trails rally in michigan, where henderson and kloosterman won the production class and finished fifth overall. at the november press-on-regardless rally, henderson was "dominating things in the early going until a big rock took a bite out of the amc eagle's transfer case putting it out of the rally." the henderson and kloosterman team finished the 1983 sno*drift in third place for production class and sixth overall.