Rebel Machine

[shadow-er]

Hello

Ive been to a million shows and saw one car that really stood out. It was a rebel machine and i want to pick one up but i cant remember what year it was. It was the american colours red white and blue and i was just wondering what years that colour came on the rambler rebel machine?

Thanks

[molhannah]

The Rebellious American Machine
Better late than never, in 1970 AMC builds a real muscle car.
By Richard Truesdell © - Photography by Pete Harrison ©
[Webmaster/Ed. note: This article was written with intent to be published per the opening paragraph which hasn't happened yet but hopefully will be sometime in the future. It is reproduced here with permission of the author Richard Truesdell]

What is an AMC car, no matter how exceptional, doing in MOPAR Muscle? The answer is simple. AMC is a legitimate part of what is now called the American heritage of DaimlerChrysler. AMC vehicles are now on display in the W. P. Chrysler Museum and like storied nameplates like De Soto and now Plymouth, the AMC headstone is neatly sandwiched between them in the graveyard of departed DCX nameplates, never to again see daylight.



The 1970 AMC Machine was a limited production version (1,936 or 2,326 units, depending on the source quoted) built off of the intermediate-sized Rebel platform. It was AMC’s delayed reaction to the back-to-basics muscle cars like Plymouth’s Road Runner, appearing in 1968. It was the successor to the equally audacious 1969 S/C Rambler. Like the American/Rogue-based S/C Rambler, the Machine was developed from a collaboration between Hurst Performance and AMC, but unlike its compact counterpart, there was no official connection between the two parties once production commenced.

(As a historical footnote, the first true muscle car, as defined by installing a high-performance, 300+ cubic inch V-8 in a compact or intermediate-sized chassis, is improperly credited to the 1964 Pontiac GTO. In reality, it was the 1957 Rambler Rebel that is the first modern muscle car. The 1957 Rebel hardtop featured the Nash, not Chevy, 327 V-8 putting out 255-horsepower, making it the fastest US-built sedan of its era.)The Machine was equipped with the hottest V-8 ever to be offered in an AMC car, a 340-horsepower (gross) version of the 390 V-8 mated to a close-ratio Borg Warner T-10 4-speed with Hurst shift linkage. This was part of the 290/304/343/360/390/401 family of modern V-8s developed by AMC in the mid-sixties. With 430 foot pounds or torque, it could move the 3905-pound Machine (cited in Illustrated AMC Buyer’s Guide) from 0 to 60 in under 6.8 seconds and could cover the quarter mile in 14.49 seconds with a trap speed of 93 miles per hour according to the February 1970 issue of Hot Rod. As a point of reference, a 335-horsepower, 383-equipped Road Runner went from 0-60 in 7.1 seconds and covered the quarter mile in 15 seconds flat. (cited on Corvette/muscle car web site at www.cccvette.com/1970musclecars.htm )

Like the S/C Rambler before it, the Machine sported AMC’s distinctive white paint with red and blue reflective graphics. Unlike the S/C Rambler, after the first 1,000 units were built, the Machine was available in any of the solid colors AMC 1970 colors with a flat black section of the hood and no stripes.

[6t5frlane]

It is a little known fact that in 1971 the Rebel name went way and the Matador name arrived. In the paperwork when ordering a Matador there was listed a " Machine Go Package " No visable strips or colors but you could get a 401 and a 4 speed and other HD parts. It's believed less then 50 were made

[MrPbody]

Their ad was pretty cool, too! I remember it well. "It may not be faster than a new Corvette, but it will sure outrun your old man's Caddy...!"

In reality, "The Machine" was a wannabe. It wouldn't TOUCH a "Scrambler". It wouldn't touch a 350-horse GTO, either (ask me how I know that...).

Still, it showed AMC still had an "attitude" and a sense of humor!

IMO, Matador was butt-ugly... But Mark Donahue made one stand up and crap in a corner! I saw him race the AMC entry at Ontario in the '74 Miller 500. He didn't win, but he made the Coca Cola Monte Carlo look pretty bad! I think Mr. Petty won that race.

Jim

[6t5frlane]

I didn't think the 71 Matadors were butt ugly. The did pretty weel in NASCAR I believe. As far as the SC/Rambler goes I too can say first hand they were pretty quick with limited performace parts. Stock they ran around 14.2 or so. Either way I wouldn't mind having either today

[MrPbody]

I got my ass handed to me one night by a Scrambler. The scoop should have warned me, but it had been primed in grey, and I didn't notice the red-white-and blue headrests until it was "too late". My GTO was running 13.60s at the time. The little Rambler beat me by a couple of lengths...

Jim

[sub006]

I think Mark Donohue took the checkered flag in a Penske Matador at a NASCAR race in Ontario. Later he was disqualified for ruinning an aftermarket roller camshaft.

[6t5frlane]

Also Bobby Alliison ran a Matador

[MrPbody]

Sorry dude, Bobby Allison drove the Coca Cola Monte Carlo. The Rambler was gone after Captain Nice (Mark) was killed.

Jim

[6t5frlane]

Bobby alliason sure did drive a Matador for AMC in Nascar. Just Google it. There are many articles on him and the car

[MrPbody]

Okay, I believe you... He didn't win anything, though. Mark Donahue was the Rambler MAN! The races I saw, Mark was in the Rambler and Bobby was in the Chevy.

PAX

Jim

[sub006]

I always thought the Matador was attractive and would have made a stunning convertible, a few years before a soft-top program helped Iacocca save Chrysler.

[MagicRat]

Wow, ancient thread....... like the Matador itself.......... now closed.