AMC muscle cars and wild paint schemes

After last weeks post about two seat cars and the AMX, I was thinking more about some of the paint schemes AMC used.

While there were many cars with some wild colors, which is a subject for another post, I don’t know of any cars that had a wilder paint/graphics set up than a couple of AMC muscle cars, the SC/Rambler and The Machine.

Lets start with the SC/Rambler, since it came first.

It was basically the Rambler with a 390 V-8 with 315 horse power, glasspack mufflers, a Hurst shifter, and upgraded suspension and brakes.  All good, and definitely into the compact/junior muscle car realm.  It’s reason for being was for class drag racing, and it dominated the F-stock class.  What really set it apart though, and the reason for this article, was the paint/graphics it had.  With a white body and red and blue graphics it definitely played off the American in American Motors.  There were color schemes, A and B.

Here is the A scheme:

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SC/Rambler by Mikes Big 429, on Flickr

And here is the B scheme:

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SC/Rambler by dmentd, on Flickr

Both had red and white graphics on a white car with a giant hood scoop.  I really like the arrow pointing into the hood scoop, just in case you couldn’t figure out what it was for.

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1969 AMC Hurst SC/Rambler by bsgalio, on Flickr

It was also the last year the Rambler was produced, so it was a fitting end for AMC’s compact car.  Next year was a new compact, and unfortunately no wild graphics.  But as a rolling bill-board, it is tough to imagine something more effective.

The other car was The Machine, which was a midsized Rebel under the wild paint.

The next was The Machine, based on the Rebel:

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1970 AMC REBEL MACHINE 390ci V8. by reidbrand, on Flickr

Another car that would stand out in a crowd.  It had the same 390 V-8 as the SC/Rambler, but it was rated at 340 horse power instead.

It was also only offered for one year.  In this case, it was also available in more conventional paint schemes with the same go fast parts.

The next year the Rebel was gone, replaced by the Matador.  That car had the 390 replaced with a 401, but unfortunately a more modest look.  After that, the muscle cars started to decline due to emissions and insurance.


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