In 1970, most muscle car buyers were shopping for Pontiac GTOs, Chevelle SS 396s, and Plymouth Road Runners. Only a couple of thousand customers wound up driving off with a Rebel Machine from their friendly American Motors dealership. The Machine essentially was a Rebel SST with AMC’s most powerful engine and custom graphics that were hard to miss (in most cases). This ’70 Machine is an older restoration that looks mighty fine after 53 years. Located with a dealer in Hilton, New York, this hot “Rambler” is available here on eBay where the current bid is $40,100.07 and the reserve is still in play.
AMC was no stranger to souped-up cars. There was the 1968 AMX (an abbreviated Javelin), then the 1969 SC/Rambler (an American), and then the Rebel Machine, a one-year offering in 1970. It came with a higher level of trim and high-back bucket seats, functional Ram Air induction, upgraded chassis and suspension, and a 390 cubic inch V8 that had 15 more horses than the AMX (340 vs. 325). Production estimates vary depending on the source, but only about 2,000 were produced and half had the white paint job with blue and red striping and accents.
A dealer is handling the sale of this beautiful “machine”, so its heritage is a little unclear. It was treated to a restoration a few years ago (frame-on) with some sheet metal replaced at the time. The engine and 4-speed manual transmission were rebuilt with a swap of the intake manifold and carburetor, and the addition of headers (the seller has the original parts). With an odometer reading of 4,000 miles, it’s probably on its second time around.
One deviation from stock appearance is the seller’s use of Magnum 500 wheels which look pretty good on this AMC. The dealer made some minor adjustments in prepping the car for sale. That included restoring the heater core and wiper fluid reservoir and doing an oil change and a partial tune-up. We’re told the Rebel drives as great as it looks. Wouldn’t you rather have a Machine than a Goat?
Many know me as an avid Adam-12 fan, they are to the point in the series where they used AMCs. I love to see that. The “Machine” was for those midwestern gear heads, that had a point to prove. Most “other” car owners took little notice, until one blew their doors off. Suddenly, that RWB Rambler wasn’t so dumb after all. Did it, or Adam-12 help sales? Nah, the “others” just upped the ante so they could beat the Machine. By then, the steam fizzled, and AMC remained the standard “old persons car” until the bitter end. For us born and raised in the Badger however, the SC/Rambler, the SC360, the Machine, and many Javelins told the world, we could do it too,,if for just a brief moment in history.
No post of mine would be complete without mention of the outrageous price,,,$40 grand, shaking head, just shows, certainly because it’s a 4 speed and so unusual looking and I doubt for what a quality car it was.
these cars along with Javelin AMX’s are starting to garner big price tags. There is a pretty large following of these cars. Not only in the USA but in Australia and Europe too.
AMC is the bomb right now anyone have a west coast gremlin to get rid of?
I saw an episode of Adam-12 that showed the odometer for a brief second, it looked like 97 miles on one of those AMC’s used for the show. Now I keep trying to find that episode again!
Were these winning races 🏁 vs 383 and 340 1970 Plymouths ?
If everything checked out upon a close inspection I would have no problem dropping $40k on this one. Values are starting to climb, and it’s a bucket list car for me.
I remember the a few red white and blue AMC muscle machines floating around my hometown when zi was just getting old enough to really notice cars. They always left quite an impression. And yeah, always liked the underdog vibe coming from these cars.
This is a beautiful example of a rare AMC.
Always hated the steering wheel design…I think it was like this on most AMC cars if I’m not mistaken
They had different steering wheel designs over the years but this one was probably the most common in the 1970s.
There is one for sale at Gateway Classic Cars for $95,000.00.
44k is way cheap for this car. I owned a “Machine” and sold it. When I listed it for sale I had numerous requests for the wheels, mine had the original Kelsey/Hayes on it. A gentleman offered me 8k for them as they were rare back in the day, and super rare today. Probably why they are no longer with this particular car. One Sold last year on Mecum for $142k
Missing it’s 5k dollar correct Machine wheels, but wants top dollar. For me, top dollar cars need to be correct. Cool car.
Body-on, please. No one removes the frame from the body. Think about it.
Is it splitting hairs or hairs splitting??
I miss AMC.
Has to be frame on cause its a unibody,,no seperate frame!
My brother-in-law had a red , white , blue version when I was about 12 years old , it had a bit of wheel hop issues ( probably easily corrected with proper length shocks).I remember on one occasion it also launched his cat from the front seat to the back seat, lol , oh how I miss those days.
Now that’s a good acceleration story, Dave! Boy, wouldn’t that have made a funny YouTube video! Reminds me of all the guys who used to say ‘i could tape a hundred dollar bill to the dash and you couldn’t grab it when I stomp the gas’… Oh, brother, how we all miss those days! But dang, that’s a super nice Machine! I’ve only seen one of these on the road in my 55 years, and it was black (my personal favorite color of about any hotrod you want to name), and I instantly fell head over heels, just a blocky, stocky, angry looking car.. one of my bucket list cars too, Sir Duke!
Sure is clean engine compartment!!
Wadda Street Legal car was Killin everything on the road but a Rare car now!I have a 1975 Dart Sport Hang Ten with a 340 with NOS Hard to keep it from going Sideways!Everyone wants to Race IT!Fun Cars like HIGH TEST!
Where did my comment go? Thanks,,,
No kidding, i had a reply sent to you also. 🤷♂️
I had a blue Machine with blue interior automatic 390/340 hp I bought it new from AMC dealership for $3850.
When I was 15 I got to ride in a Scrambler, my mom worked at a AMC dealership and I washed the new cars. I still remember when I finished cleaning a spruce green Machine she backed it out and crushed the right front fender! I ended up getting a 1971 Javelin – Amx with the 360 4 speed stick but marriage and baby made it go away, miss it but I still have the 47 year old “baby”! J.C.