2014 CAR of the YEAR

Cars On Line has announced the 2014 CAR of the YEAR, a 1969 AMC Rambler SC/Rambler. The American Motors muscle car is not only one of the really impressive featured cars from the Cars On Line newsletter in 2014, it was chosen by Cars On Line’s readers as their choice for the coveted Cars On Line CAR of the YEAR honor.

Over half of the votes for Cars On Line’s CAR of the YEAR came in over Christmas eve and Christmas day (an indication of how popular Cars On Line.com is during the holiday season.) And the 1969 AMC Rambler SC/Rambler, listed by American Muscle Cars of Crystal Lake, Illinois, got the lion’s share of those votes in the last two days. The owner of this consignment car must be a popular guy because after he posted a comment about how proud he was of his car the votes just came flooding in. Congratulations to American Muscle Cars and the owner of this legendary AMC muscle car.

Documented as “fully restored” in the 1512 Registry, this incredible 1969 AMC Hurst SC-Rambler is rare beyond belief. Few cars have the kind of collector credits that this “A” paint scheme “Rambler Scrambler” enjoys.

American Muscle Cars of Crystal Lake, Illinois notes in their description of the 1969 AMC Hurst SC-Rambler that it is one of only 26 “A” paint scheme Rambler Scramblers in fully restored condition. In the very short lived era in which American Motors produced muscle cars, this one is an incredible find for collectors who like their muscle cars served up very rare.

First off, American Muscle Cars tells us that this 1969 AMC Hurst SC-Rambler is fully restored to concourse condition, including the undercarriage. (You can check out several photos of the detailed undercarriage by clicking the link to the ad.) And it is noted as a concourse restoration in the 1512 Registry.  (The 1512 Registry gets its name from the well known fact that only 1,512 Rambler SC-Rambers were ever built by American Motors.) If you have ever tried to track down one of these very rare cars you know that most are not done to this detail. A lot of these cars are still being raced at nostalgia drags. For instance, this past summer there were only two “A” scheme cars at the AMC Homecoming Show in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Whereas you’ll see many more at the AMC Nationals at Cordova Dragway Park in Illinois. These cars were built to duke it out at the dragways. That’s why you don’t see many of them restored to this detail for the collector investor.

American Muscle Cars notes that this is one of only 322 SC-Ramblers known to exist. Of those which are known to exist only 249 have their original door tags. Then, of those, this is one of 182 that are “A” paint scheme cars. Only Hemi cars and Cobra Jets were in their class. The door tag shows the trim color designated as “SP3CIAL” instead of “SPECIAL” a detail that makes this car a “one-of-one” to a discerning collector. This one also has the dual exhaust with Thrush Hush mufflers with Glasspacks. During the restoration the interior was redone by Doc’s Upholstery in Belvedere, Illinois. It has the Sun Tach ST635 and the Firestone F70/14 Redline tires.

Click the video window below to see a special video of this car done by American Muscle Cars:

AMC and Hurst Performance thought it would be a cool idea to take the compact sized AMC Rambler Rogue and rig it with the AMX’s 315 horsepower 390 ci V8 engine with a 4-barrel. Then they gave it a Borg-Warner 4-speed with a Hurst shifter and transferred the power to the ground through a 3.54:1 “Twin Grip” limited-slip rear end. Heavy-duty shocks, anti-sway bar and anti-hop rear links from the factory gave the suspension the right stiffness.

 AMX’s 315-hp 390-cid four-barrel. A Borg-Warner four-speed with a Hurst shifter and a 3.54:1 limited-slip completed the drivetrain. AMC had optional heavy-duty brakes and front discs to add tot he mix. Although the interior was pretty much just like the Rogue, there was a Sun 8,000-rpm tach on the column to let you know what this car was all about.

At the track the red, white and blue color scheme surly got attention. But most muscle cars that lined up next to them only saw the rear valance when the lights turned green.