Pragmatic even in its advertising campaign, a Rambler brochure said about the 1969 Rebel: “Rebel. The car for people.” It goes on to say, “The thing about the Rebel is: people like it.” This unusually-colored 1969 AMC Rebel SST sedan is posted here on craigslist in San Juan Capistrano, California, and the seller is asking $7,900. Here is the original listing, and thanks to T.J. for the tip!
Green! I love the contrast of the white vinyl top, thin white wall tires, and the nice, thin trim around the wheel wells against this very BRIGHT (sorry for yelling, but this is a yelling color) shade of green. This isn’t a factory color, of course, and once you see the inside, I’ll let you pontificate as to how you may have gone with the colors.
The seller’s description is right out of the AI playbook, as in there isn’t a description of this car, it’s just a general description of the Rebel. Bummer, who invented AI anyway? I know it has important functions and can do some big and important things in curing diseases, but it can also be annoying at times. This is literally their description: “1969 AMC REBEL FOR SALE. Clean title. Inline 6 cylinder.” At least there’s that, and it sure looks like a nice car overall.
I love the interior color, but it would have gone much better with what I believe would have been Willow Green paint from the factory. That’s just me, and as always, a person can do whatever they want with a vehicle, so it’s none of my business what color anyone paints their car or what color they use for the interior. It’s all subjective. There are a few detail issues inside, but overall it looks very nice, with redone vinyl seats in an equally bright shade of two-tone green. AMC offered the Rebel (known as Rambler Rebel in 1967 and earlier) from 1967 through 1970 in the U.S., and they came in this four-door sedan body style, and also a two-door sedan in ’67, a two-door hardtop, and a four-door wagon. A convertible was offered in 1967 and 1968 as well.
There’s a lot of what some folks refer to as “rattle can restoration” done inside the engine compartment, unfortunately. Overspray is on almost everything, and the firewall was coated in the exterior color, as were some of the wires and other things. The same with the blue on the 232-cu.in. OHV inline-six. I don’t understand it, the exterior paint looks perfect, why wasn’t this done better? You can see the classic Willow Green on the front part of the engine compartment. With 155 hp and 222 lb-ft of torque going through a three-speed automatic to the rear wheels, I’m assuming it runs, but we don’t know anything about this car other than it has a clear title. Any thoughts on this Rebel SST?
A sedan with a six? Doesn’t seem very rebellious. It does look clean though, over spray and all. I liked how AMC mounted their radios vertically. Advanced ergonomics for the day.
Could be a great project but seller is hoping someone likes as is? Too bad. Not saying it’s bad but unless your used to no a/c & casual driving experience it might seem lacking IMHO
Manual steering and brakes too. I’d bet the dash pad is shot, the pictures of the interior look like they intentionally framed to keep the top out of view.
Steve R
Might need work but I definitely want it
I love this shade of green..all my towels and washclothes are in this shade of green as are my pots and pans :D I approve!! Also like this era of Rebels classy and clean cars.
The six should move the car OK but it’s not going to be much fun with manual steering, lots of wheel winding! Kind of strange that, assuming it was ordered like this back in the day, the original owner went for optional electric wipers and automatic trans but no power steering. The standard manual drum brakes on these are nothing to write home about either.
Probably no rust problems being in California, but check the troughs under the front fenders. The drains there easily clog leading to rust-through that is not immediately obvious unless you specifically look there. (Later models narrowed the fender tops to expose the troughs, making it easy to keep them clear of debris.)
Love this one even with the bright color. manual brakes and steering will make an interesting drive, i’m imagining 4 wheel drums also. it could be a nice purchase if the new owner want’s to invest a bit. Now my Amc history is a bit sketchy. Torque Command was a rename of the Chrysler Torque Flite. Didn’t Borg-Warner also supply transmissions. I remember an article that said that although that transmission is dependable but parts are no longer available so stay away. And my last one. Now i see that the inlet/outlet for the heater core is at the far right but what is that junction a bit to the left
AMC switched to Chrysler TorqueFlite transmissions for the 1972 model year. This car has a Borg-Warner automatic. It’s similar to the Ford FMX and I’ve read that some internal parts will interchange. Some Borg-Warner transmissions use a vacuum modulator and that part is unobtainium.
I believe the “junction bit” you are looking at is the thermostatically-controlled heater valve, a holdover from the earlier Rambler Classic.
Thank you sir. :)
The problem is it’s expensive for a car like this needing more money invested. Figure another $1,000 on top of the $7,900 asking price, there are a lot of other 1970’s and 1980’s 4drs with more creature comforts for less. That’s a hard sell unless someone is looking for a particular make or model.
Steve R
$7900 doesn’t buy much verbiage. I guess the owner thinks it’s price does the talking. Nice looking car.
My Dad had a 1968 sedan with the V8 292? Manual steering, brakes, AM radio and Posi rear end. He was a service manager for AAMCO Transmission in Canton, OH. Customer brought it in and it needed a rebuilt transmission and they didn’t want to put the money into it. He bought it for $300.00 back in 1974 and rebuilt the tranny himself and drove it for about 5 years it was good car, top of fenders started rusting through when he sold it.
I believe this color is called Pickle Green. It was available from Earl Scheib for $29.95…. oops! $39.95. The price went up for a complete paint job.
Once again, anything unobtainable anywhere else, will show up in Californy, like the Opel Manta. Seems ccrvtt ^ nailed it, this was a standard Earl Scheib paint color, and yes, they actually did paint cars for $29.95. Anything not taped got painted, however. It was best to prepare the car yourself and let them paint it. Back from a time when people actually cared about what color car they drove. They did an incredible business. I delivered paint to an Earl Scheib, and they actually did some pretty nice work, just not for $30 bucks. The old mans 1970 Ambassador ex forest ranger car was this original color. Everything was green then, from toilets to moms oven mitts. Some may balk at the 6 cylinder, but we must remember, AMC catered to the Sunday go to meetin’ church, or to the A&P once a week crowd, and not many used AMCs as a road car. The 6 is fine, but P/S is a must and will hamper sales that the automatic attracts. It’s a great find without the crazy California pricing, so not all are greedy, and a big thank you to the seller for not over doing it on the price.
AI generated discription…oh joy! Doesn’t mention anything about it other than “good” condition…I wonder if it even runs…
This is what Howard said it was for: the grocery, chores, and weekend runs. Does a fine job at it, and I even like the color and styling. AI ruined the seller’s ad, maybe on purpose, and the writing and vocal narratives are awful. You can tell within seconds. Imagine what we would be driving if AI or GPT chat were in charge of what we drove.
I have had at least 5 rides Earl Schiebed! Iknow it was $29.95 for the first one and the last one was $129.00. They were fine and I did the masking on a few. The Premium was pretty good. There is an Earl Schieb were I live.
Good luck, decent price. Love BF.
This would be a great car to drive to work. Because that interior would surely wake you up. Eye popping.
I’ve always been a Nash/Rambler/AMC fan and really like the Rebel. However, the 232 is too sedate for this car. Since this one will never be original, and is not a desirable version, I’d drop in a 343, add power steering, AC, and at least power front disc brakes, and drive it every day. If only I was young enough to still turn a wrench.
Thanks for removing my comment that was about my father’s Rebel. I posted something good and you removed it. No more posts from me!
We didn’t delete your comment. We just hadn’t approved it yet. It’s live now.
Lovely looking car. You don’t see many AMC Rebel these days. I’ve never seen a 4 door Rebel, never mind one with an inline six engine.
I miss AMC.
I love the green paint…the green interior, not so much.