1970 AMC Rebel Machine

[Ed]

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American Motors. the Kenosha, Wisconsin-based company got little respect from most performance fans. Truth be told, AMC was a little late getting into the musclecar marketplace, but they made real inroads when they finally did.

Take drag racing, for instance. The factory hired veteran driver Hayden Proffitt to race a wild, nitro-burning Rebel to introduce the SST model back in 1967. With no big-inch motor in the lineup, it probably didn't do a lot for the Monday sales, but at least the company was on the map. The AMX showed up in 1968, and then, in 1969, they got truly radical with the new SS/D package cars and the SC/Rambler, both built by the retrofit arm of Hurst.

In 1970, the company moved into road racing and picked up Roger Penske, Mark Donahue, George Follmer, and a couple of world titles in the early half of the decade. While Penske was handling that and the new NASCAR program, Wally Booth was flogging the deal for AMC in the Pro Stock ranks and eventually came close to winning a world championship with his efforts. So, yes, AMC may have been late to the party, but they made a splash once they got going.

The year 1970 is still considered the benchmark for boulevard beasts, and that was the year AMC dropped the performance SC/Rambler and introduced a new Rebel SST. Bold and brash was the order of the day in the early '70s, so they called it "The Machine." The Machine was, in most aspects, a true Detroit musclecar, even though it gave up 50 ci to some of its Detroit competitors. For Mopar fans who are a bit open minded, this car bore some solid similarities to the '66-'67 B-bodies. And despite the anti-war/anti-nationalistic feelings among the youth, AMC had no problems painting it up in a special red-white-and-blue scheme that had originated with the Scrambler the previous year.

Under the hood went the hottest street engine the company ever offered: a 340-horse 390; the later 401s were not as performance oriented. Super Stock & Drag Illustrated got one late in 1969 for testing, and Jim McCraw wrote the article that appeared in the January 1970 issue. According to him, this model debuted just after AMC had purchased the Jeep line from what remained of Kaiser, and it was the second of six new vehicles AMC had promised to deliver (the Hornet was already in planning). The four cars available ran solid mid-14s in bone-stock trim during a press day at the now-defunct Dallas International Motor Speedway.

The 340-horse number had come about because of the new cold-air hoodscoop, which contained an integrated electronic tachometer (like most such units, it was actually pretty inaccurate). The engine used a 10.0:1 compression ratio, a Carter 600-cfm four-barrel carburetor, hydraulic lifters, and a performance-enhancing, open-exhaust system. The hoodscoop forced air to the engine through a rubber seal/trapdoor outfit.

Driveline standard equipment was a Hurst-stirred Borg-Warner T10 four-speed, with an optional B-W automatic transmission available as well. Standard gearing was a 3.54 ratio (with a 3.91 factory optional), but AMC dealers offered ratio all the way to 5.00 for the Machine. Tires were E60-15 Polyglas Goodyears (the same as the Hemi 'cudas got up front and a tough find today) with optional AMC 15x7 road wheels, and the car had 11.2-inch front disk brakes to boot. A rear sway bar gave good road feel. The curb weight was 3,650 pounds, which McCraw figured would fit into G/S class racing under an unfactored NHRA rating.

But by far the most stunning thing for a car with this level of performance and standard equipment was the sticker of just $3,475. But in an era of Six Pack Road Runners, 429 Torinos, and 454- and 455-inch GM intermediates, AMC found the car was not quite what the market wanted. By the end of the year, only 2,400 units had moved off the dealership lots. With the Feds in emissions-stopping action, insurance companies circling the wagons, and a changing marketplace, the Machine was gone for 1971 (and so was the Rebel, replaced by the Matador).

Tony Branson of Abingdon, Virginia, owns the car seen here. "I've always loved musclecars, and I have owned mostly Mopars since getting out of high school. What makes this car special is that it almost looks like a Mopar, but so few people have seen an actual Rebel Machine that it draws a lot of attention when I have it out."

Indeed, it has the Mopar look of muscle from its crisp lines, big tires, and scoop (the 390 logos on the scoop are add-ons). The paint is original; the early Rebels got this scheme, while later examples came with standard colors and a flat-black hood. Like all Machines, the interior is black and an additional tachometer on the steering column is used in place of the factory version. A few minor underhood changes have occurred, and the air cleaner seal has, unfortunately, disappeared into time.

As it sits, this car would probably be considered a "semi-survivor." It is basically close to how it looked when Tony bought it in 2005, and he has only done some minor work on it. For a car that had less than 3,000 units built, he figures he is into it for under $20,000-a pretty rare occurrence in these days of super car inflation.

Fast Facts
'70 American Motors Rebel Machine
Tony Branson
Abingdon, VA

Mopar (and AMC) Power
Engine: Though it was more mild than the cross-ram-equipped '69 S/S AMX package, the 390 Rebel Machine engine was rated at 340 hp. This was also the top power number to ever appear in the AMC lineup. This was done by using a 10.0:1 compression, cold air from the hoodscoop, a loping cam, and a free-flowing exhaust system. This engine has not been rebuilt, but a replacement Carter 750 carb resides in place of the original 600-cfm version. and those chrome valve covers are OEM.

Transmission: The standard issue for The Machine was a Borg-Warner T10 four-speed, with an optional automatic available if you wanted to add the console. A Hurst T-handle did gear duty, especially needed since gear changes in the B-W got tougher at the top of the rpm band in drag testing.

Differential: The differential was an AMC unit that featured a 3.54 ring with a Sure Grip unit, reportedly by Dana. If it wasn't enough, the friendly parts guys at the dealership could get you a ring as tight as 5.00, though that move might not have helped any warranty claims.

Horsepower & Performance: The 340 at 5,100 hp and 430 at 3,600 torque numbers were probably pretty honest for this car, which tipped the scales at under 3,700 pounds and ran 14.5 in bone-stock trim.

Sure Grip
Suspension: The Machine got kudos for its handling due to rear sway and heavy springs. However, the fast steering power ratio (16.5:1) had Jim McCraw stating the manual version was a better choice.

Brakes: Front discs were standard, with 10-inch drums in the rear and a power-assist unit on the firewall.

Wheels: American Motors supplied fat, trimmed-out 15x7 road rims for the Machine as part of the package.

Rubber: Goodyear Polyglas E60x15s were standard. Due to their scarcity, this one has a set of F60-15 shoes instead.

High Impact
Body: The body was a tribute to AMC creativity and may actually be one of the epitomizing designs of the musclecar era. Scoop, graphics, crisp styling, and an inset grille all led to give the Machine a look of performance, and no styling cues that lent itself to exact comparison with one brand or another.

Paint: Three cheers for the red, white, and blue, though in the era of the SDS and war protesters, it might not have been the best way to get girls, brochure advertising notwithstanding. It is believed the first 1,000 examples got this paint and its custom stripes; "The Machine" decals were part of every one of them.

Interior: Black was the color; the steering wheel shown in testing and the brochures ended up being optional. The aftermarket tachometer is in place due to the inaccuracy of the scoop-mounted version.

Best Performance: Street cruiser.


Photo Gallery: 1970 AMC Rebel Machine - Mopar Muscle Magazine

[The Rebel Machine Guy]

The Machine was announced to AMC dealers on August 5, 1969 in a letter from then Vice President William Pickett. It was subsequently announced to the public in Press Release 146910 on October 16, 1969 and it's public debut was on October 25 1969 at Dallas, Texas, site of the National Hot Rod Association's world championship drag racing finals.

Unlike the other muscle car manufacturers, AMC did not provide "ringers" - specially built and modified cars - for road tests. The Machines were driven to Dallas and drag tested in the condition they arrived in. There were on-site tweaks done and documented by the various magazines at the time to achieve the best performance with what was available rigtht there at the track. At a Hurst Research test session at Gainsville Dragway in Florida, the late Roger Huntington wrote an article for Rodder and Superstock Magazine for the November 1969 issue. It was prossibly the best, most informative and most verifiably honest of any performance car article published in that era.

The article went on to describe the performance option known as the "Service Package" kit available for THE MACHINE from the factory. AMC didn't have the factory floor space to provide specialty options in their cars so they considered their dealerships extensions of the factory floor. Performance options were installed by the dealer. Officially, the factory said performance options would negate the warranty. But unofficially, they stood behind their warranty regardless. AMC would even approve third party installations and modifications if prior approval were obtained from the factory.

I took full advantage of this myself. My Rebel Machine was heavily modified and a known racer at local dragstrips. During the course of its racing career, the factory replaced one engine, 13 starter motors and the entire axle housing that I destroyed at the drag strip. The engine replacement was due to a microscopic perforation in the oil pickup tube that dropped oil pressure to zero at speeds over one hundred miles an hour. All tha actually happened was a thrown rod and and a tiny chip out of the block at the bottom of the cylinder.

My engine had a 13:1 compression ratio and an Offenhauser aluminum intake topped an 850 Holley double pumper among other things. The compression was what killed all of the starter motors until AMC came up with a composite head gasket and the market produced a 90 amp battery.

The axle twisted in half when I was the next run after a funny car and I didn't get the revs up high enough. The entire car seemed to twist, the drive shaft hit the floor, the left rear wheel hit the wheel well and the car clunked down the strip sideways in front of hundreds of people. Most embarrassing.

Going back to the drag testing, once the Service Package was installed, the Machine posted times in the high twelves with the lowest being 12.73. Interestingly, the times would have been much lower but for the fact that the Hurst Shifters all had a built-in design flaw that caused the shifter to bind going through the gate between second and third. So that shift had to be "granny shifted" instead of power shifted. That problem did resolve itself with use. Whatever was causing the binding wore to the point where the shift became silky smooth. More wear eventually caused the shifter handle to pull right out of the shift body. The solution for that was a super shifter. But the only ones available were made for AMX's whose shifters sat back much closer to the seats so that meant a hole cut into the floor. Mine is still like that.

When you check the test stats for virtually all of the cars of the Muscle car era in the definitive book - "How Fast Were They?" by GaS Publishing you find some very interesting information. In that book, every muscle car built is listed and the times the best the magazines recorded in their test runs are there. As well, optional equipment is listed such as slicks. They did the best job of any publication to show which cars truly were the fastest. Their stats were gleaned from the magazines of the muscle car era. They missed the Rodder and Super/Stock issue with the Rebel Machines testing so the numbers weren't posted in the first edition. I wrote and asked that they be included in a subsequent edition. Steve wrote back and promised to do it but apparently there never was a second edition.

The bottom line was that THE MACHINE's quarter mile elapsed times were the lowest ever recorded bar none. That is not to say that a 390 Rebel Machine was faster than a 454 Chevelle with a set of slicks on it. But the magazines never tested a Chevelle with a set of slicks on it. The Rebel Machine's numbers stood as the best until 2002 as far as I've been able to determine when they were exceeded by a Viper.

The rear end options for Machines did go the full spectrum right up to 5.00:1. The 3.91:1 option was available at no extra cost. The more violent ratios cost money. The 12.73 times were recorded with the 3.91's and 7" wide cheater slicks. On the street we used bald tires.

In the magazines the value of The Machine was stated as probably the best "budget supercar" of the year. When all of the standard features were factored in, the Machine was in fact the best in that category delivering the most value for dollar invested. In Canada the price was $4,400. Totally out of my league at the time. But patience was a virtue. I acquired mine in a trade that saw me trading two wrecks and six dollars for my eight month old Machine in near mint condition.

The accepted number of Machines sold has been variously claimed to be 1,936 units or 2,326 units. The 2,326 number has been conclusively confirmed as the correct total (Pat Wnek, documentation).

What THE MACHINE gave up in cubic inches was more than made up for in weight saved. An AMC V8 engine is physically a "short block" as opposed to a big block. A Ford 390 looks massive by comparison. The smaller overall dimensions yeild a lighter engine than that of a big block. Consequently, Machines were and are not "nose" heavy and cornered as well in 1970 as contemporary cars do today. By comparison, big block muscle care were virtual landing barges that could not corner at high speed without plenty of room. When combined with the prevalent drum brakes, most muscle cars were nowhere near as cars today.

The stripe kit did turn off a lot of buyers. At the time I felt that if the car had been offered with different colour schemes including the stripes, it would have sold much better. The solid colour colour car numbers roughly matched the RWB (25A Paint Code) cars but generally speaking, the public was unaware of their existence and AMC didn't spend any money to promote them.

The Rebel Machine was designed tongue in cheek as a showroom draw. It was never intended as a car that would define AMC as a manufacturer. Yet despite that, there are now far more Machines in existence than regular line Rebels. As well, it could be argued that the Machine when all things are considered, was the very best car AMC ever made.

The Machine's muscle car status was a bit overblown. Machine's came stock with 340 horse power. It only qualified as a muscle car by one single horsepower and that was due to the intake manifold configuration, and the famous dogleg heads, not the cam shaft. The camshaft was the same grind in all 1970 AMC 390's. So the car ran smoothly and was very reliable. Essentially it got its power because it was possibly the best breathing production engine. Adding a bigger carb and a wild cam to an engine like that generated impressive results.

The reputation AMC V8's had for blowing up under heavy drag racing use was due to a design error that saw the number eight piston starved for oil under prolonged heavy use. The fix turned out to be simple. An oil line between the oil gallery in the front fascia of the block to an oil gallery between the number seven and eight pistons. The problem with that is that the engine has to be completely dissassembled to make the improvement. Once that's done, AMC engines are as tough or tougher than the competition due to their high nickel content. In short, AMC blocks are second to none in terms of strength.

In a complete reversal of attitude, the performance magazines vilified AMC technology for years and that negatively impacted the 1974 Bricklin that was produced in New Brunswick, Canada. Due to unwarranted bad publicity, the AMC 360 cu. in. engine was replaced for its final two years of production with the Ford Windsor 351 cu. in. When off-roading became popular and the Jeep star was on the rise in the '90's and later, the hobby started builting monster engines to do formerly impossible automotive feats. The engine of choice was and still is the AMC V8, usually the 360 due to the difficulty of obtaining 390 and 401 blocks. (All three are interchangable with bolt on mods.) In fact the 360 is described as the ulitimate engine in Jeep magazine.

The tachometer was heavily criticized by the performance journalists in 1969 and since. That was due to its location in the hoodscoop. The journalists found it hard to read when driving into the sun. This exact same tachometer is found on Firebirds, GTO's and Buick GTX's in the same location and even harder to read since the overhang above the tach wasn't as extensive as it was on The Machine. The only difference between tachs on these cars is the graphics. Sometimes the tachs were criticized in a Machine article and praised in a Firebird article in the same magazine.

The tires that came stock on the cars; Goodyear E60-15's were not a popular item. The rubber was hard and the tires wore quickly. As well, they were nowhere near wide enough on the rear to prevent overwhelming them under heavy acceleration. To gain traction we used to inflate them to 45 lbs of pressure. Most people thought deflating the tires was the way to go but the rubber was way to hard for that so you ended up driving on two half inch strips of rubber on each side of each tire. Tires inflated to 45 lbs were like driving with wooden wheels and fairly bone jarring, so after market Mickey Thompsons and others became the replacements of choice. As well, Polyglass tires are terrible for handling due to their hardness. Under hard cornering, they tended to allow the car to four wheel drift at fairly low speeds. No doubt they contributed to many muscle cars being wrapped around trees and telelphone poles.

The stock carb was not a Carter which is a pretty good carb that was stock on the 1969 Rambler SC/Rambler, it was a Ford Autolite carb. This carb was widely regarded as a piece of junk by performance enthusiasts and the journalists who wrote about them at the time. As with all things given time, most things can be improved upon. But the Autolite carb remained a piece of junk until Tom Guarr figured out a way of making them the stock equivalent of a Holley 750 cfm carb. I haven't heard how he did it yet but that kind of tells you a lot about why AMC's and Fords had a lot of trouble against GM and Chrysler in pure stock competition.

Despite the accepted fact that the first 1,000 Machines were to be RWB, it is unlikely that AMC sold that many RWB cars before January 1, 1970 when the first solid colour cars started to be sold. I have no proof of this but given the way the numbers shake out in the Rebel Machine registry, it just doesn't seem possible they were able to stick to the plan. As well, after the last production Machine came off the "line" one last Machine was hand-built - a gray one.

After January, 1970 RWB and solid colour cars were sold as orders came in. The RWB option didn't end with the end of the calender year 1969.

As far as the numbers of Machines sold, AMC did not want to sell many of them in the first place. They just couldn't say that in public. Most of the people at AMC thought performance cars were a big mistake and weren't shy about telling their customers that on the phone directly from the factory. To most at AMC, muscle cars represented warranty headaches and high costs. Keeping in mind that a happy performance car owner could in future translate into a family sedan a couple of years down the road, they didn't cancel warranties for racing like the other manufacturers did.

The stripe kits were what made The Machine the Machine. They reflected so brightly at night they could be seen for miles given the right lighting conditions. Other cars had reflective vinyl stripes but none so in your face as The Machine.

In 1970 CARS magazine awarded The Machine a lemon of the year award for the paint job while praising virtually every other aspect of the car. Those that criticised frankly were not anticipating the future. Back in the sixties and seventies, the world was just beginning to come to grips with the idea of colour and its uses. Most people wanted cars whose colours were understated and sedate in keeping with the times. But the hippie era began a transformation that saw a hippie clad BC a cartoon figure, doing a burn-out on a giant gear become the iconic Rebel Machine Logo. he is shown carrying a sign that says UP WITH THE REBEL MACHINE. When the car debuted at the Detroit Autoshow, it appeared with the BC logo on the front fenders. When the car was released to the public, the BC logo was a casualty as it just wasn't "serious" enough even though the entire car was a spoof at the rest of the industry. Even so, the BC logo was offered for sale for 25 cents. The artwork was poorly done but they are still popular with owners today.

Unlike most cars, even muscle cars, The Machine was target at a tighter market sector than even they thought. In the late sixties there were lots of protests going on around the US about civil rights and the Viet Nam war. No previous generation in recorded history has ever opposed the establishment in such a pervasive way as was done then. Marketers of the time believed that a much larger chunk of society was becoming radicalized than was actually the case. Only a very tiny percent of any society is ever super-charged enough to be a real activist despite appearances. Nevertheless, AMC's press release by VP R. W. McNealy stated: "the supercar buyer is usually young, relatively affluent and has a "critical awareness" of exterior styling. At the same time he wants to be treated as an individual and stand out from the crowd. The Rebel Machine's distinctive paint job, rakish nose-down attitude and obvious performance characteristics lets the supercar buyer express his identity, or, in the words of today, 'Do your own thing'. Being different from the crowd does not necessarily mean being against something, but rather reinforcing certain specific ideas. We anticipate that The Machine will identify with this new brand of rebel who demonstrates for something."

McNealy could have no idea at the time how accurate his words would prove to be. Most of the buyers turned out to be with few exceptions, the same age and an aggressive outlook on life. Many even physically resembled each other and two were numerical twins who met each other because of the cars and later discovered they worked in the same department store - Eatons Yorkdale in Toronto. An unusually high proportion went on to become business owners and professionals.