The AMC Rebel Machine was fast! It had AMC’s biggest, most powerful 390 V-8. It produced 340 galloping ponies at 5100 rpm. The “standard stuff ” list was filled with a four-speed, close-ratio tranny, a Hurst shifter, a lighted 8000-rpm hood tach, Ram Air, 3.54:1 or 3.91:1 rear axles, heavy-duty shocks and springs, a low-back-pressure dual exhaust system, front and rear sway bars, 15-inch raised white-letter tires, styled wheels, high-back bucket seats and power disc brakes.
“Standing before you is the car you’ve always wanted,” AMC teased in a two-page introductory ad in the December 1969 issue of Hot Rod magazine. It showed the “Machine,” that had actually debuted two months earlier at the National Hot Rod Association World Championship drag races.
The ad copy warned, “Incidentally, if you have…
