History Did you have a Rambler?

My first car was a 54 Ford wagon a gall's parents would not let her go on dates with me in that car.
After I got rid of the Ford (scraped) I got a 63 2 dr American. They had no clue about the fold down seats and dates were no longer a problem.

 

i still have a 67 rambler tudor post, but there is nothing hamb friendly on it at all. that i'm still building as time permits.

 

back in high school, had a history that drove a rambler. his last name chasse. needless to say we said the worse part of the rambler was the chasse. no sense of humor.

 

I put this Metro together for my wife with a Chevette engine/automatic tranny. She drove it once or twice and complained it didn't have power steering or brakes so it got sold.

Gary

 

Our family had a 54 Nash Rambler 2 dr for about 5 years. I was into rods and customs so the Nash was a car I was ashamed to ride in because it was so "Square and Lame". So much for Nash Ramblers. JW

 

IMO this '66 American is the pinnacle of clean factory styling for AMC save for the '68 AMX But since you were asking for Rambler stories here are 2 epic Rambler songs....
We left for Frisco in your Rambler....

 

My 65 Classic 660 My dad bought in 1976(?) & I got it in 1982, still have it today

 

Bought a 67 rambler at a towing auction for $75, hauled it home and started going over it to see what I had done. Opened the trunk and found a bunch of sporting goods, most was ruined by moisture but there was an aluminum tube with brass ends on it that was corroded shut, got the end off it and there was a Thomas special bamboo fly rod in pristine condition with the store stock tag still on it. Got $360.00 for it on a popular auction site. Did a bunch of body and paint work on the car and drove it for a year, not a bad daily driver, ran well and everything worked.

 

I bought a 63 2 door post car 3 on tree when I was 17 in 2003 for 200 bucks. Cleaned the points, installed new battery and put fuel in it and it fired right up. It had been sitting under a tree since 1978 due to brake issues. We bled the brakes and never found any issues. I drove it for 3 years and sold it. I also had a 62 2 door wagon that an old lady gave me. I never got around to messing with it and sold it.

 

I've never owned one, but when I was a kid, our next door neighbors had one. 1957 two-tone coral and cream 4dr. Even at that young age, I was a little disappointed that whenever I looked over there, I had to see it.

 

There's a 65 Rambler American in my project fleet, needs engine & trans.
I was talking to a guy last week & he offered me a (OT) 69 S/C Rambler missing it's engine. He said it has less than 2500 on the odometer. It was a formerly drag races until the engine blew.

 

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Looking closely, it's cool how similar the 63 and 64 are. Sure it's only a 1 year difference, but still.

 

My parents had a 64 American 440, 4 hours after my brother (HAMB'er chop27) got his driver's license he brought it home looking like this. He got rear ended on Sibley Road about a mile down from Detroit Dragway.

 

Wow ! That is what I would call "regressing". LOL

 

Worked as a bus boy at a bar/restaurant. Cook who worked there had a 66 Rambler Classic that "needed a flywheel". Well taking out engine and replacing a flywheel was a big job, but a buddy and I decided to pay the cook the $12.50 a piece to buy the car. After checking out found it just needed a starter. Drove around for 6 months or so. Later I bought a 66 or so Rambler convertible , It needed something, can't remember, The one thing I remember about that car is the previous owner put a glass pac on it using 2" plumbing pipe out the side- very heavy duty and sounded cool....

 

Yea Gary, it was...then that thing got traded for the larger 4 foor strippo version that started with an M in 76. The rambler was the best. Coincidently, the Rambler was preceded by a 60 Vair coupe. Mitch

 

Here is my Rambler story.
I didn't own one, but my wife had one when I met her. She had a 1959 (I think) Rambler American. She said she paid $10 for it from a friend. It had a permanent red light on for the oil pressure. "Oh, that is ok, its always been on, my friend said its broken and doesn't matter" she said. She only drove it to work locally in Charlotte so it never caused a problem. Well, after a while we got married and were moving so we drove both cars to our new place. About an hour away there started a loud banging sound..yep....rod knocking. We were in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina forrest so I told her to just pull it into an old logging road. There I removed the tag and abandoned it. About a year later we were coming back through there and I stopped to go see if it was still there. Still there, but a state trooper pulled in after me to see what I was doing. I told him I was just checking out this old car. After a discussion about suspicious behavior, he and I then left.

 

Hello,

When my wife and I got the invitation to come to Kauai for the summer, we were floored. What? stay/surf in Hanalei all summer and tour the island of Kauai? We could not say yes fast enough. The problem back then was how to transport a surfboard without damage. Although we could fix anything if it got broken, like the fin snapping off by some rough handling baggage boys.

But, we solidified the whole custom, mid range, surfboard with a thick bedspread to keep it safe. It arrived safe and had no damage, not even to the lighter weight, thin glass covered rails. In our suitcases were parts of a custom surfboard rack to be completed in Kauai.

When we got to the island, we sat for several days contemplating the custom home, the surf and the locale. All were wonderful and we started to relax from our So Cal OC lives. The first thing we needed was to get transportation, for 5 adults and a little two year old kid. I saw a local newspaper and it listed several old station wagons and we went to look at them. They were rusted junk piles and not to our liking. So, we drove into the center of town, Lihue.

There we saw several nice-looking station wagons and the cost was horrendous. So, a used car lot next door had a dark green 1962 Rambler 4 door sedan sitting there all nice and shiny. The motor fired up after one cough and seemed to run fine. We took it for a short drive and it felt ok for all of us.

Jnaki

With the custom, rail clip on brackets that I brought from home, we proceeded to make a covered oak surfboard rack that would fit the 4 surfboards with ease.

When we got it back to our house, we cleaned it up and changed the air filter, the spark plugs and added a quart of oil. It instantly started up and ran fine, without any coughs or sputters. The morning start ups were not cold starts in this humid climate. So, our worry about early morning starts was history. It fired up instantly on command and ran fine for us during our "all over the island" explorations.

Our final island exploration road trip.
We did like a nice rear end of all kinds...big trunk, lots of space.


But, we actually got 6 adults and a little kid in the little compact car for our short drive trips across Hanalei Bay to some secluded beaches and point surf. The 1962 Rambler was a good car for all of us. We gave our share of the Rambler to our friend for allowing us to stay with them when we flew home at the end of the summer. That Rambler fit nicely under the opening under the house and even fought off the surging tide and waters of the tidal waves that have hit Kauai over the years.

It was a great transportation for us, as the road trips all over Kauai, including the South Shore, were sight-seeing worthy, including some great huge waves... and the Rambler just… “rambled on…”

“The time has come to be gone
And through our health we drank a thousand times
Its time to ramble on
Ramble on
And now’s the time, the time is now…” LZ

 

My firs car was a 1962 Classic 4-door that my Grandfather bought me when I was a Junior in High School. Ran the wheels off of it for 2 years. That fold down front seat brings back fond memories!!

 

Love this wagon man!

 

When I was about 19 I dated a girl whose older brother had a '69 S/C Rambler- the red white and blue one with big rat trap scoop on the hood, 390 and 4 speed. I thought I was pretty hot with my GTO, but when he took me for a ride I was never so scared in my life! That car was sideways more than straight, and was only in the road when we were crossing it!

 

One guy I worked with when I was around 19 had 2 in the family. A '63 or '64 American with the 6 and a 3-speed. Earl Scheib green, it was a runner until rust got to it. He had a '65 wagon, also a 6 but with an automatic. He drove it coast-to-coast once.

 

I've had a Rambler since the summer of 1979... except for about 18 months when I first joined the USAF in 83. Sold my Rambler about six months before I went in service, saw another 18 months later at my first duty station, Mtn. Home AFB, ID, and bought it! Still have one, though my wagon (avatar) is a bit of a mild hot rod with the flames and warmed up AMC/Jeep 4.0L EFI engine (T-bird rack and pinion steering, Jag IRS, and a few more items).

Only the Nash Statesman and Nash Rambler got the flat-head sixes in the 50s. The Ambassador had the larger OHV six until the Packard V-8s came along in 54, and then the Nash V-8 (AMC Gen-1) a couple years later. AMC used the flat-head six until 1965 in the lowest priced Rambler American -- the last US manufacturer to use a flat-head, as even the Kaiser Jeep used an F-head (overhead intake valve, in-block exhaust valve -- last Jeep flat-head was 1949, F-head used through 71).

 

Haven't owned one, but live in the town where they were built. The factory in town was the main employer and now it's an empty lot while they debate what to do with it. Every couple of years a reunion is held and a park near Lake Michigan hold hundreds of cars from the early Jeffery to Nash, Ramblers, and AMC products.

 

That amc reunion sounds cool, I aughta go some day

 

The AMC Reunion is held every four years. Was to be 2021, but rescheduled for 2022 due to COVID. https://kenoshahistorycenter.org/events.html#
There is a big condo complex where the Kenosha Lakefront plant stood. The Kenosha AMC complex was huge! The engine plant alone encompassed 107 acres (last one to operate, closed in 2010), and that was a fraction of the total. The former engine plant is the now vacant lot Super88 is talking about.

 

looks like it's gonna happen this year(of this is the same reunion we're talking about)
It'd be so cool to get my Rambler driving reliably before July 30.

 

In high school my folks had two of them..
I loved to pretend my old beater was not running right, so I could borrow it when I had a hot date !!
Yep, you guessed it. For the lay down seats that made into a bed.
One time when I came home I had forgotten to put the passenger side seat back up..
Hmmm.... fortunate for me, my Dad was the first to use it the next day... LOL
Later on I bought this 1947 Nash, for the same reason... Great times.