Resurrecting the 1964 Rambler Classic

Just bought the car for $400, it has a 287 v8, a 3 speed automatic (needs a rebuild), and best of all, its a coupe!

For the next 6 months, im gonna put on updates every few weeks.

Starting with these pics, from when we found it in the junk-yard.






Sorry that the pictures are oversized.

More pictures will be uploaded soon, as my camera is messing up on me.

 

Cool!

I had one of those a billion years ago. Bought it for 50 bucks for the motor. It was nice too, but I couldn't keep 2 and I was trying to get my '64 American going.

They are neat little cars!!!!

 

The first car I drove was a four door similar to that,that was ended after I took out some pickets on the neighbors fence though.I was a couple of years short of LEAGAL driving age.
Nice find the car looks solid for our neck of the woods. Car Craft has been doing a build on a similar one you might find some useful stuff I some of their recent back issues...

 

I drove a 63 all this summer. The motor finally let loose this fall and I sold it. Mine had a 196 and a three speed manual.

 

I have more pictures finally, heres the last round before i get it into the garage.

 

Nice car.
Notice the "Classic" 3rd brakelight on the package tray?

 

That was a tail light? Hmm. I never thought about that.

Anyone know how to fix "Weather-eye"?

 

looks like your in for some fun.bet you can get it running and driveing for cheep.

 

Unusual car, very cool.

I think the classic brake light thing was a joke, but to me it's a really good sign. Around here the only people who'd put that accessory on that car would be 60 year old original owners.

 

I think what he was talking about was the brake light in the rear view window.

 

a cool looking project good luck with it

 

I'd like it better if it was a post car but.............

 

"Weather Eye" is just the heating system, nothing fancy about it but the name. If you need any help just ask! I have a 63, but it's basically the same thing as the 64 except for the grille, hood, and tail lights. Check e-bay for a 64 Rambler TSM (Technical Service Manual -- what AMC called their factory repair manuals). I don't have an extra, but it will be the best $30-$50 you spend on the car. It details everything, no guessing about how to do something! When you get one you can post the page number of anything you don't understand and I can look it up to see exactly what you're talking about. I wouldn't even do anything else to the car until I had a manual! Wish someone had told me that and there had been a relatively easy way to get one back when I got my first Rambler!!

 

Cool car. Get it running and start having fun with it.

 

Well, if anyone by some chance has the chrome, 2 "classic" logos, and maybe four barrel intake, that would be perfect.

Guys, its a hardtop, so if anybody has Rambler hardtop stuff at all, or any hardtop accessory's, i could really use them. (wind shields, chrome. you know.)

I would ask for v8 287/327 pistons, but i know thats kinda pushing it.

 

Ramblers are so cool!

 

My dad worked for AMC (Nash, AMC, Chrysler, etc.) for 42 years. In my H.S. years he had a '61, '62, '63, '64; later I had -among an assortment of AMC products - 2 '63s.
The '64, esp. w/287, was the best of all . . style, style and more style. Still seveal beauties running around here in the hometown. (Show me a twin-stick Typhoon.)

 

I hear the seat lets down into a full size bed....never tried it with the '64 I used to have though. Darn thing had a dodge 360 in it when a friend bought it, a jacked up rear end that was about 3" further back than stock...someone's idea of a hot rod. By the time I got it, it had a slant six...$200 and drove it all that winter.

Passed it along to a friend who tore it all down for a rebuild and sold it for fifty bucks...pity. Said he couldn't find suspension parts for the front? This was in 2003...I haven't looked for Rambler parts since then.

Have fun with it!

 

Ive heard about the bed thing too,

Its a shame, it had original interior as of this morning, and i ripped it all out!

Smelled like rat piss though.

 

who needs int.?it just slows you down!!!

 

Is the other stuff for sale to

 

The front seats on all Ramblers made into a "travel bed" up until the late 60s. If it's square back with reclining backs they will make into a bed. Starting around 67-68 reclining seats became optional, and some of them were bucket seats. By the 70s even the reclining bench seat backs were too tall for the travel bed to work, and it was no longer a selling point anyway. In fact, it had ceased to be for some time, but the reclining seats were nice when hardly anyone else had them.

All parts from any 63-64 Classic will fit your car. The only differences between 63 & 64 models are the hood, grille, and tail light housings. The hood must match the grille -- the 64 hood has a lower lip in the front center that matches the 64 grille, won't fit over the 63 grille, which is straight across (would be a big gap with a 63 hood and 64 grille). Hardtops and convertibles use a different windshield than the sedans and wagons though. 64-66 hardtop/convert windshields interchange (no hardtop Classic in 63). Doors and door glass from a 64-65 American will fit too, but that's about all from the smaller car.

 

Probably had an AMC 360 in it not the dodge 360. Im in tacoma and just got two 64 rambler wagons. Some parts will cross over. I need to go through and see what im useing but I may have some parts you might need of the parts wagon.

Seats make a full bed and i would try and keep the originals if you can you can get new upholstery for them for what you would pay buying seats from a junkyard late model that you have to make work.



C.L.

 

Cool car, my first car was an early 60's Rambler, got it in 75'. Bought it from my brother, couldn't come up with the cash so I did his chores for a year. LOVED it!!!

 

The 64 could have had a Dodge 360 transplanted in it, or anything else for that matter! It's possible to swap an AMC 360 in IF the car was originally a V-8 car and IF you find a 70-71 AMC 360. The end of the crank changed when AMC switched to Chrysler transmissions in 72, and a 72 or later crank needs machine work to work with the earlier automatic trans. If the car has a manual trans (still a V-8 car) the flywheel will bolt up, might need some work on the center hole though.

Most people swap any brand V-8 into these cars if the engine is bad because there aren't any performance parts for the GEN-1 AMC V-8, later 67-71 AMC V-8 bells are hard to find (and AMC V-8 engines!), and the rear axle has to be changed to get rid of the torque tube even if you do want to use an AMC V-8. The GEN-1 AMC V-8 mounts different than the later ones, so nothing is a bolt in. It's just as much work to put an AMC V-8 in (unless you happen to have a 67-71 bell and the trans in the 63-66 Rambler is good) as anything else. If it were a bolt-in job to stick an AMC in it would be a different story!

 

Im putting a Dodge 318/727 in mine with a few performance parts and a Ford 8.8.

Great to see others working on Ramblers too.

A friend of mine is putting a AMC 360 in his. Looks like it is going to be a fair amount of work on his. For mine the biggest thing is the motor mounts.

 

Should be the same amount of work for either. I will add that you have a 1964 Rambler AMERICAN though, which has an open driveshaft and leaf springs. A lot less work to transplant an engine in one of those! The model we've been talking about in this thread is the CLASSIC, which has a torque-tube (enclosed driveshaft). If your friend has a Classic or Ambassador (both were basically the same except for trim and engine size) then he does indeed have a lot more work.

 

neat find! have fun with it. a buddy of mine had one in high school, think he paid 100.00 for it. drove the heck out of it for 2 years before the trans cooked. too dumb/young to fix it.

 

Yeah, everything there is for sale, hell, the truck that was next to the rambler runs, and is for sale for $500, you better act quick though, hes gonna crush most of those cars.

Hes got a jeep ?forward control?.

A 50s ford pickup (right next to it)

He has a Willys Van of some kind.

He had a diamond T flatbed truck.

He has a whole bunch of ford buses,

He has an international travel-all.

Message me if you want prices.

 

Well, I got bad news, it appears we have found a crack on the back windshield, normally this wouldent be a problem, but its a hardtop. so im hunting a parts car, anyone have leads to a 2door hardtop rambler?