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American Motors Corporation may not have been known for producing high performance cars during the first musclecar era, but that didn't mean that they weren't in the game. By the 1970 model year, the Javalins and AMX's were making a name for themselves on the drag strips and road courses (in the Trans AM racing Series). They even had a Rambler (the Hurst SC/Rambler) that would show you it's tail lights in a fair fight on the Boulevard. However, the Rouge platform that the SC/Rambler was built on, was being discontinued after the 1969 model year. This would leave AMC with no mid-sized musclecar to start out the 1970's.   Not to fear, for the new decade AMC came out with a new look. Enter "THE MACHINE", an absolutly beautiful mid-sized sedan with an All-American paint scheme that would blow your mind and maybe blow the doors off that guy revving his engine at the stop light. The first 1,000 or so cars were painted white with blue stripes along the rocker panels and over the hood and red, white and blue striping across the deck lid with the red part of that stripe set running up to the front of the car.The scoop in the middle of the hood was live and operated under vacuum but the really cool part of that scoop was that the hood mounted tachometer was built right into the back of it!   Now, this new "machine" wasn't just another pretty face, it had just as much "GO" as it had "SHOW". Under that hood sat a 390 cubic inch V-8 that boasted 340 horsepower at 5100 RPM with 430 ft/lbs of torque at 3600. It could be backed up with an automatic transmission or a close ratio Borg-Warner T-10 4-speed. The standard gear was a 3.54:1 Twin Grip differential with optional gears as deep as 5.00:1.   The Machine wasn't just a straight line brawler, it was also built to corner and stop. Front and rear anti-sway bars and heavier rear springs (from the Rebel station wagon) as well as front disc brakes that were just under 11.2 inches and 10 inch drums in the back gave another dimension to this cars capabilities. The ride may be considered a little rough by some, but in those days you had to choose, nice ride or better handling. The Machine could be plagued by wheel hop as the E60x15's fought for traction, but a pair of slapper bars could be good for a couple of tenths in the quarter.   In summary, for a starting price of $3475, you could score a pretty sharp looking rig that can pull a quarter in the mid to low 14's at nearly 100 miles an hour, take a descent corner and haul to a stop fairly well. After the first one thousand cars, they could be purchased in any available AMC color.Sadly, of the almost 50 thousand Rebels built for the 1970 model year, only 2326 were Machines. So, if you've got one, you might wanna hang on to it. .   - Dan Davis.