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.)
