Projects Garage Find: 1962 Rambler 2dr with 27k miles, but is it cool ?

Too funny..... Minnie was so cheap she did not get a radio or a driver's side mirror. The e-stick tranny must have been to save money since she probably couldn't drive with a third pedal.

My mother-in-law taught school in SD as well, not too far from Milbank. One of the lowest paid states for teachers.

Probably never had the seat as a bed either

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5.60 15 tires or the radial equivalent should be easy to get, they were used on millions of VW beetles up to the late 70s. Most likely the 15 inch tires were a legacy of the original 1949 Rambler chassis, 14 and 13 inch tires were not available when it was designed.

Wonder if Walmart still sells Marshal 791 tires? They were a great fit on older cars that came originally with tall skinny bias plies.

 

Cool little car, I think it would make a great mild custom.

 

If you drive it with your elbow on the window sill it will be cool !!!

How cool can it be sitting in a garage not running?

 

Definitely cool the way it is. Does it have a flathead or OHV engine? If it has the OHV, make sure you retorque the cylinder head as soon as you get it running, otherwise it will blow the head gasket/crack the head.

If you need rambler help, join the amc forum or talk to @farna on here. These cars have lots of little oddities that you should know.

 

Same here, there's something special about any low mile original that's been salted away in a garage.
27,000 miles is what a lot of people put on a vehicle in the first year (!), and the ol Rambler is almost 60 years old. The car deserves to see some road time and stretch it's legs! Great example of the early 60's compact/economy cars that most manufacturers offered.

Love the fact that it came with history, owners manual, fob. Was thinking the same thing on the seat. This may have been the first time it's ever been folded down into a bed .
Didn't realize the seat bed carried into the 60's.

 

Studebaker had 15" tire's also.

 

^^^Early Tempests had 15s as well.

I just went through a bunch of Milbank High School's yearbooks between 1950 and 1975; unfortunately there's no Minnie Ulrich listed in any of them. The books also listed the grade school teachers, but no go. Did she teach in a church or parochial school?

 

Nice find. Do yourself a favor and leave it as is or educate yourself about the chassis design before you take a part. It was a design resurrected from the 50s and the engine bay is short and skinny. Has a track width shorter than most cars too. Pretty much no other will fit in it except with the 196 that is already there. Some say a Ford 200 six will fit with some effort but not much else without some major frame and chassis building that is complicated by the way Rambler designed its unibody.

15" wheels are needed to clear the steering knuckles nothing smaller will fit. Also as mentioned earlier if it's a ohv 196 re- torque the had to spec as they tend to get loose and crack. The ohv head was a retrofit to the flathead block and prone to the issue I mentioned.

Bottom line it's a nice find and with the E stick maybe desirable to someone who loves Rambler Americans for what they are. Due to its compact size it's not a easy platform to hotrod. It can be done but not with significant engineering effort. I'd join the AMC forum and ask a lot of questions to educate yourself about the car before trying to mod it as you may find it's not a good base platform for that.

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Don't ya just Love cars like this?! Great story, too. Love the tool kit and the fold down seat, maybe there was more to Miss Minnie than anyone knew! What a neat little piece of Americana, thanks for sharing.

 

It's very cool to me. A '62 American, flat six, three speed. Was my first car. Even thou I only drove it around my grandmothers farm. Blew the clutch and at 13 put a new one in. But got caught going out on the road and the forces to be made me get rid of it.

 

...not H.A.M.B. friendly but....here you go !!

 

1. It's a 1962 2-door car.
2. It's original.
3. It's got REAL LLLLOWWWWW miles on it.
4. It's rust free.
5. Its "unusual".

I vote cool. Cooler than a salmon's ass in Hudson Bay.

I would drive it just like it is until I didn't think it was cool anymore.

 

Neat little car and story!

 

Would get rid of my daily driver for something like that one.

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I'll have to ask. I bet she graduated before 1950 if she stopped driving in 1978. I was told this was her second car. Whether she grew up in Millbank, I dont know.

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I found this SD inspection slip in the manual last night. I didn't know they had required inspections back then. It had 11,200 miles in 1968. That's around 2,000 miles per year ! She didn't get out much....

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I will agree with the majority that I would not change anything on the car. However, I would not drive it! I still attempt to maintain certain standards.

 

What a great find, and yeah, it's cool. Reminds me of my youth, when a buddy had one, and we drove that car to the beach or out to the canyons to hike all summer, what fun we had!

 

I would drive that to work everyday stone stock as it is!

 

I’d give my left nut for a car like that.
I would never change a thing.
Cool cool car.

 

I would drive it as is, as has been said it's a time capsule, if you get tired of driving it send it down the road, there just ain't that many old ramblers left that are in good condition.

This is coming from a guy that stuffed a 500 CI caddy in one and went racing, it was fun and the car was free and in excellent condition, but that's when they were a dime a dozen.

Have fun. HRP

 

Cool car, as far as what to do with it? I agree not to change anything. I don't know if I would keep it, I only have so much space (you may have more)and although it is cool there are so many cooler cars out there. Can't let a car like that sit outside.

 

There is somewhere on the 'net that VW guys were getting tall skinny 15" tires really cheap that fit the 15x4 size like you have, I'd look into that before I'd swap wheels, the dog dish hubcaps would be a lot cooler than wider wheels and moons on a stocker, and if you have to buy tires anyway, this wouldn't be any more expensive.

 

Would be a fun car,I think it’s cool.
Maybe ask one of the photoshop experts here to throw some ideas out.

 

Wide, positive offset steel wheels. Clean the car immaculate, and drive it.
I did a similar trick to a Simca Arronde I bought for $150, (welded wide hoops on Simca centers...)
But you can do with wide MoPar Police/Taxicab 15" wheels, per the 5 on 4.5" pattern. And, the slotted steel cop wheels are positive offset! The small Dodge caps (3 types) are like...Free lunch! (hub cap guys on line sell the small MoPar caps, reasonable.) W-i-d-e radial tires would also work!
That 'NASCAR' look... Husky!

Yes, photoshop it with Dodge Diplomat 'Felony car' wheels/tires!
Double-dog dare ya...

 

Its just an old car right now and not a hot rod or cool. With the right owner it could be made into something very cool.

 

Aunt Bea's car was a '66 Studebaker.

 

Not all the compacts were running 13 inchers in those days. The Studebaker Lark was only ever available with 15" wheels.

 

And I now see that both of my comments had already been pointed out by others!
This post has some traction!