1970 AMC Rebel SST review from North America

The Borg-Warner automatic packed up at 20,000 miles and was replaced by a (far superior) Chrysler 904 unit.

The single-throat carburetor often jammed shut on very cold mornings and needed to be propped open with a bic pen.

The front fenders rusted through in three years (an AMC problem).

The trunk lid lip rusted.

Handling was not terribly precise, with numb power steering, but it did have good directional stability a high speeds and was predictable at the limit.

The manual drum brakes were just adequate; not prone to fade, but requiring a lot of pedal pressure for hard stops.

Ride and noise levels were okay by the standards of 1970. The seats looked nice and were comfortable... the SST trim models were far more attractive and livable than the base model!

The high dash and big glovebox were fine, and the controls were easy to reach.

The best feature was the incredible amount of room, bigger than some full size cars of the day, and the trunk was gigantic.

Performance from even the base six was decent (cruise all day at 70mph, top out at close to 100mph), the car coped well with heavy loads, and fuel mileage was good for the day (up to 22mpg imperial).

Would have been an exceptional car if AMC had just refined it a bit; later versions were better, but perhaps not as well made.

The car protected us in a fairly serious collision (some whiplash, car was totaled), and we missed it for years...