250, 287 and 327 were the old heavy casting. 290 304 343 390 and 401 were the newer casting and all of the blocks were same same, just strokes andover bored their way through the range, so your Gremlin X with the factory 304 could become a goodly sleeper by transplanting a 401 and not have to change the suspension to carry the big block weight like the 'Big 3" cars had to do. Their love affair with BorgWarner for transmissions was also so excellent (until they started using the bastardized Mopar 727 automatics). For stick transmissions you could power your muscle car with a goodly AMC motor through a Ford 5 speed, it was all plug and play so with the overdrive 5th you could get some fuel mileage out of your AMX and still have goodly gearing to launch from the traffic lights. Earlier econo Classics and Americans you could swap in a BW from a Volvo (change the tail housing to mount to the Classics/Ambassadors pre 1967 because of the torque tube drive line) and use the OD to sip the fuel with your 196 or 232 straight 6 motor (the one that became the 258 - then powered all of the Jeeps).
They were slow to be rid of the vacuum wipers and the baggie for the washer fluid, the baggie was excellent in the winter though because you could squirt the blue antifreeze onto the windshield and let it melt the frost or ice without the wipers scraping it off before it could be effective.
Old old Ramblers had vacuum power doorlocks... odd but worked well with the factory tin can mounted under the hood as a reservoir.
Dont forget to thank Rambler for air conditioning in any car - they came out with it before anyone else and perfected it while the rest of the industry figured it was some sort of gag... for a few years...
> AMC had not used anyone else's engines since they used packard engines
> in the mid-'50's.
>
> AMC made V-8s in sizes of 250, 287, 290, 304, 327, 343, 360, 390, and a
> 401 CID.
>
> there has been some confusion over the 327, 360, and 390, because chevy
> made a 327, chrysler and ford both made a 360, and ford made a 390.
>
> that said, all the aforementioned were AMC engines, and the similar
> displacements as the big three's famous mills were coincidental.
>
> fun fact: the AMC 327 was made 5 years before the chevy engine of the
> same displacement, and in its original 4bbl version, was arguably the
> first muscle car (1957 rambler rebel).