The dual master cylinder was available in only one "Big Three" car: Cadillac. The Falcon had a much airier and more upright greenhouse; same thing with the Nova, so the styling did have some uniqueness for the time. Copyright 2011 - 2020 Curbside Classics. It must have been embarrassing to be a dealer flogging these things to an innocent populace who no doubt were excited at the prospect of a brand new car to show off in their driveway.Its a sad inditment that the best engine in the 6 range was an ancient design and the dealers actually stocked replacement engines thats unheard of almost BMC quality. Email A lot. It is hard to imagine any other 1956 car that still looked as good as it did by 1962 (Studebaker Hawk excepted, of course ). [60] However, de Gaulle selected the slightly less roomy Citroen.[61]. The 198 hp (148 kW; 201 PS) V8 equipped Rambler Classics combined good performance with good mileage; even with the optional "Flash-O-Matic" automatic transmission, they reached 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in about 10 seconds and returned fuel economy from 16 miles per US gallon (14.7 L/100 km; 19.2 mpg‑imp) to 20 miles per US gallon (11.8 L/100 km; 24.0 mpg‑imp). One is that the refreshes of the front and rear of the car finally turned a frumpy old Nash into something modern. The sedans seem to have taken the facelift better than the 2 door. Studebakers, and Ramblers, are readily available. Later in the magazine is an article about what’s new with Edsel, Mercury and Lincoln for 1959. It would not be until the 1963 Classic with its 112 inch wheelbase that the model moved up a class into what would be considered mid-sized. The 138 hp (103 kW; 140 PS) two-barrel version of the 195.6 six was also available at extra cost. That’s why I can’t fault Romney’s successor, Roy Abernethy, too much for trying to go model-for-model with the Big 3. [29] Marketed as a personal luxury car, the Marlin had unique styling and featured an exceptional array of standard equipment. Apparently Rambler used up all its weirdness for the year on the hopelessly boxy American and the downright bizarre Ambassador. The best part? I was 10 then. For some reason, none of us kids ever got to ride with Uncle Will, for that matter, I don’t remember any of his cars ever even being started while we were there on the farm. The old Packard tagline was “Ask the man who owns one.” I think it demonstrates AMC’s problems over the years when I note that, over my 70 years to date, I’ve only known two people who ever owned an AMC. [21] Motor Trend's "award is based on pure progress in design, we like to make sure the car is also worthy of the title in the critical areas of performance, dependability, value, and potential buyer satisfaction. One other point needs to be made here – about how AMC convinced us all that the 1956-62 Rambler Six/Rebel/Classic was a bigger car than it really was. It still had almost three times the horsepower of a VW Beetle at the time (36 hp), and the VW would cruise at 68 mph all day long, on level ground. To this day, I think some of that effective, lean AMC system lives on in every Chrysler product. Thankfully, the seller has provided an engine photo. It was the same with any independent like, say, Studebaker. Several of our friends had Larks and Classics of this vintage. That kind of proliferation would eventually almost kill the big companies too. My uncle had one of these and his interior upholstery was not in this pattern. Having spent some time living with one in the modern era, I can say that these were rather decent cars. Very clean otherwise. The VAM Rambler Classic was not available in Mexico as a two-door hardtop, two-door convertible, or four-door station wagon. Not sure where the guess that only 300 aluminum block 196s were installed in ’61 Classics. They say that there is no rust on this car and the trunk is perfect, but they don’t include a photo of it. A major marketing campaign by VAM promoted the inaugural 1963 models using Motor Trend's Car of the Year award. As a point of comparison, Studebaker Lark sales fell sharply. My grandparents drove Ramblers in the early 60’s, then switched to Fords by the 70’s. NOS 1961 1962 1963 AMC Rambler American License Lens. Yes, a Nash-Studebaker tie-up would have been a really interesting proposition. Scotty, the side profile might be unusual but can be improved with different profile tires with the correct wheel offset along with a darker exterior color. South Australian sales were managed by Champions Pty Ltd in Adelaide. [63] The biggest change was AMC's new seven-main-bearing 232 cu in (3.8 L) I6 engine in 145 hp (108 kW; 147 PS) version as standard equipment and a double barrel 155 hp (116 kW; 157 PS) version as optional. With money available for only one new car, it was decided that the one new car would be the Rambler, which would be pulled forward for a 1956 introduction. By then, the Falcon had dominated its class, and the American’s sales dawdled along, about as fast as it drove along. The new engines replaced the imported L-head and OHV 195.6 engines in VAM's vehicles. I always forget the power of Overdrive, which these had as an option right? Suddenly the Rambler reminded everyone of thrift and economy, and that was now out. I wonder if any contemporary road tests compared these two, either in 1960 or 61. [13] The car was based on a two-door sedan that did "not look remarkably different from regular production models. But, yes, I do think Anderson could have done much better in pretty basic ways. Every panel is mirror straight and the metallic paint is impeccable. These two engines (AMC and Chrysler) that built iron and aluminum variants of the same engine are mind boggling to me. The amazing thing is that AMC sold ANY of these things in the 1969-63 era considering all the new snazzy compacts recently introduced to the market by the Big Three, and even Stude’s ancient Lark was more attractive! The limited funds to renew just one of the three makes pretty much had to be directed to the Rambler. It is smoothed of handles and keyholes (electronic poppers were added) and the top was chopped. My first car was a ’59 Classic. I’d never encountered a car with such bizarrely disconnected upper and lower halves. [25] Fresh sheet metal design was applied to the original 112 in (2,800 mm) wheelbase and 195 in (5,000 mm) long integral body-frame with only the roof, doors, and windshield as carryovers. I thought it was a sharp looking car. Nash/AMC President George Mason had died unexpectedly in late 1954, which moved his lieutenant George Romney into the President’s office. As would have been a Packard-Hudson merger, both being in Detroit. This Rambler (as a Six, Rebel or Classic) would be AMC’s last breakout hit, at least for something it did not later build in a Jeep plant in Toledo. As such, they don’t look ridiculous. “Bill Mitchell isn’t the ideal example because he was an admitted big car kind of guy.”. As in 1962, the 1963 Classics were initially available only as 6-cylinder 195.6 cu in (3.2 L) models. Classics with bucket seats and V8 engine could be ordered with a new "Shift-Command" three-speed automatic transmission mounted on the center console that could be shifted manually. They also say that this car has 32,000 original miles and is all original right down to the paint. The car last until ’68 when it up and died a sudden death. Consumers continued to perceive Ramblers as economy cars and the six-cylinder models outsold V8-powered versions.[18]. The iron ohv 6 had enough power and stamina to cruise at current highway speeds and deliver good fuel economy also. Unfortunately she didn’t have a driver’s license, so my dad had to take a bus from Flin Flon to drive her home for the summer, a trip of about 1800 miles. The Ambassador's standard V8 power, featuring AMC's 327 cu in (5.4 L) engine, was the chief distinguishing feature from the Classic model line. Meanwhile, imports were on a roll. Same with the Matador coupe. And as a late middle aged guy without a Studebaker, all I can do is note life’s unfairness. Passing slower traffic with no power and vacuum wipers was an adventure. Nothing, really, and as the cheapest American car in its time, it sold reasonably well, enough to warrant this refresh for 1961. This feature was to afford a softer ride quality and better handling by reducing the geometrical leverage of the car's center of gravity for less body roll "sway" in cornering. AMX (8) Did someone accidentally shift the drafting paper, thereby throwing off the proportions for the wheel well cutouts? It’s interesting to note that among this expat crowd, they pretty much all bought full size cars from the Big Three to replace their Ramblers in the mid 60s, especially from Chrysler. She was (rightly) worried about my hotfoot tendencies. In my childhood neighborhood in small town Ohio, our next door neighbors had a series of Ramblers. Gremlin (1) AMC had many, many problems in the years 1954-1979; but one of its biggest was created with the 1961-62 boom years: They overbuilt but underengineered their products. Last Nash designed car from AMC/ Rambler. [45] Some of the other components were boxed and shipped inside the car for final assembly by AMI. Clearly AMC and Chrysler were dipping their toes into the aluminum vat instead of jumping in head first, like GM, which invested in a huge aluminum foundry facility for the Corvair and the aluminum V8. Their cardinal sin in the ’50s and ’60s was that they lacked flash and frequent styling changes, as this was the height of the planned-obsolescence era. Good to see the OHV. I love the ’63 hardtop and at least appreciate the others as a curiosity, although even the HT roof can only do so much to hide the extremely weird relationship between this car’s upper and lower parts. But ever the scrapper, AMC would keep punching for another twenty years before finally throwing in the towel. (It’s notable that when Rover bought the rights to the Buick engine, one of the first things they did was to redesign the block for sand casting; I gather that there was no one in England at the time who felt comfortable die-casting an aluminum cylinder block and Rover didn’t want to chance it.). For starters, they could have turned the grill upside down on the 61 American, to give it a big smile, like the Valiant and the Lark. The point is, even when the independents did have a hit and/or solid offering in a market segment, the Big 3 would quickly move into that area and effectively crush whatever brief success the independents had enjoyed. Especially as the Rambler aged and it became well ensconced in the buying public’s consciousness, it became more difficult to break that stigma. And of course they were economical to run and big enough for the family to fit. There, the trouble was not so much with the block manufacture as with the linerless bore surfaces, exacerbated in the Vega’s case by marginal cooling capacity and oil supply. This engine was later produced in Argentina and increased the domestic (local sourced) content of the automobiles to gain tariff concessions for the imported components from AMC. Not using corrosion-inhibiting coolant was a bad idea no matter what the engine was made of, but an especially bad idea with an aluminum block. Ignore them at your peril. And as models began to proliferate in the 60s-70s (subcompacts, compacts, midsize, personal car, “stamdard” car, luxury car) they got more competition, higher costs over smaller production runs and more decisions to make that could turn out wrong. I also suspect that this car’s slightly extended length was mainly because the same body had to work for the Ambassador. The name Classic was no longer considered a positive factor in the marketplace and AMC began reshuffling model names in 1966. And if things weren’t bad enough, then I opened the hood. Someone has to be the grinch in this Rambler love-fest. I like the car, I really do. [19] The car also featured a distinctive "Typhoon" script in place of the usual "Classic" name insignia, as well as a unique grille with black out accents. So much for “all-new”. We have covered the 1958-59 Rambler here before but a couple of points can still be made. The 1962-only 108″ two-door sedan is completely inexplicable. There are even very appealing Renault Alliance convertibles to be had.

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