The Rambler Rebel is an automobile that was produced by the American Motors Corporation (AMC) of Kenosha, Wisconsin for the 1957–1960 model years, as well as again for 1966 and 1967. Introduced as a stand-alone model in one body style, the 1957 Rambler Rebel is credited for being the first factory-produced intermediate-sized high-performance car. This later became known as the muscle car market segment. It was also to be among the earliest production cars equipped with electronic fuel injection. The second and third generations essentially became the equivalent Rambler Six models, but equipped with a V8 engine. The Rebel nameplate was reintroduced in 1966 as the top-line intermediate-sized two-door hardtop. For the 1967 model year, AMC's all-new intermediate line took the Rebel name. American Motors dropped the historic "Rambler" marque from these intermediate-sized models to become the AMC Rebel starting with the 1968 model year. Both the Rambler Six and Rambler Rebel V8 were assembled at the former-Nash Motors plant in Toronto Canada until July 1957 when the Toronto plant closed. Canadian-market Ramblers were then imported from Kenosha until AMC opened its new assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario in December 1960. The cars were also produced in Argentina by Industrias Kaiser Argentina (IKA). History The strategy of American Motors President, George W. Romney, was to avoid a head-to-head battle with the domestic Big Three automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) by focusing AMC on cars that were smaller than the "standard" models in the marketplace. The "legacy" large-sized Nash and Hudson models were suffering from dwindling sales in a marketplace where consumers were only offered large-sized sedans and small economy cars. The new Rambler was designed "to split the market wide open with a mid-size model that featured aggressive styling and plenty of power." Development of AMC's new overhead-valve V8 engine began in 1955, under the automaker's chief engineer, Meade Moore, as well as David Potter who was hired from Kaiser-Frazer. The new engine evolved because component sharing relationships with Packard were terminated and AMC managers decided to manufacture a V8 engine in-house. The new engine debuted in mid-1956 in the Nash Ambassador Special and the Hudson Hornet Special. At that time, the engine was the smallest American V8, but its was more than either of Chevrolet's contemporary two-barrel V8s. The 1956 model year four-door Rambler models were completely redesigned. Edmund E. Anderson and Bill Reddig styled the new model