Let's see your Ramblers!

my 1965 rambler american hardtop..not done yet but gunna finish up the body and go in for paint soon.

 

This is just a the Gimp . But I m working to have the same . I ll need a 65 front and cast the tooths .

 

The teeth don't have to be metal. You could cast them out of some type of resin then paint, unless you want a shiny chrome. Well, I take that back, there are some plastic chrome platers out there. For painted even a smooth wood tooth coated with fiberglass resin would look just as good, would just be hard to hand finish all those teeth uniformly!

It does look good that way though! What year car do you have?

 

WAHOO.............. here's mine

 

Farna , it s my 66. You have already seen it on theamcforum

 

DUH!!! I didn't look to see WHO posted....

 

Come on guys!! Get your pics up!

 

Excuse me guys for chiming in but I had to tell you. Never owned an AMC or a Rambler but I've been in a hundred of 'em. My Dad hauled Ramblers then AMCs out of Kenosha for K.A.T. (Kenosha Auto Transport) from 1951 to 1973. I was born in 1952 but started looking at and likiing cars by the time I was 8 years old, 1960. I always got to set in one car for almost every load as long as my Dad supervised. And the best time of the year was when the new models were coming out and Dad had to use a car cover on every car until reveal day. He would get mad because I would start to uncover them and he had to yell at me to leave them alone until reveal day. Usually the second week of September IIRC. Used to use the greased up fifth wheel for a slide too but that's a story for another time. I've always held a special spot for Ramblers and someday would like to build one. Growing up I became a Pontiac nut but the one car I really would like to find is a 2 door 1957 Rebel. I've been told that they only made 4 door rebels but I could swear that Dad had one on his truck that I sat in. And that would put me at only 5 years old. Sooo, maybe I'm not correct. I do remember my Dad talking about how everyone was so up about the '69 Rambler S/C with the big motor and him saying that Rambler did that way back in '57 with the Rebel. So I know he was talking about the '57s. Sure wished he was still around so I could ask him. My other favorites are '65 Classic hartops and 1967 2 dr hardtop Ambassadors. I won a model contest way back in '67 with a model of a '67 Ambassador that I built a gasser out of. Anywho, just wanted to pass along that my Dad hauled Ramblers and AMCs back then.
A side note. When Kenosha was slow he would haul for the government. Made two trips from somewhere east of Wisconsin (we lived just outside of Milwaukee)to Nebraska one summer carrying tanks for the Army. And one year made several trips around the states delivering specially built International Scout mail trucks.
He was traveling west one summer with two other trucks loaded with the Scouts. Somewhere out there they had resurfaced the highway but never marked the new bridge height, and with the scouts being so much taller than the Ramblers, the first truck went under an overpass and sheared off all the tops on the scouts. My Dad was the third truck and stopped just in time with the second truck stopped under the overpass and shearing off only two of the three tops. OK, I'm done. Felt good to think back. Mark L

 

No two door mid/big size Ramblers at all until 1962. Only two doors were the 50-55 Nash Rambler and 58-61 Americans those years (100" wheelbase). Only one size Rambler made in 56 and 57, the 108" wheelbase four door as a sedan, wagon, or hardtop. Beginning in 62 a two door was in every model (small American, mid Rambler 6 and Rebel V-8, long wheelbase Ambassador). You probably remember the Americans, or a 62 Classic (Rambler 6 and Rebel V-8 renamed Classic in 61 which came as a six with optional V-8 -- the two were the same except for engine).

 

My first car, which I bought in 1970, was a '57 Rambler Super with the 250 V8, Carter WCFB four-barrel, factory dual exhausts, and the GM-built Flashaway Hydra-Matic transmission. The one in the photo isn't my car, but it's nearly identical, right down to the Bermuda Green over Berkshire Green two-tone paint. The '57 250 had solid lifters, would top out at 120 MPH @ 6000 rpm, and would do it all night as long as you didn't run out of road. My dad and granddad were AMC dealers [originally having been Hudson dealers] until '60, and Granddad owned a '57 Rebel with the Hydra-Matic and a continental spare tire kit. That car wouldn't spin the rear tires on hard acceleration; with the continental kit, the rear end would just squat a little, and then launch like a rocket.

 

That's a 57 Rebel to the right of the Bermuda Green and White 57 Rambler. They were all charcoal silver (forget actual name) with a gold tone insert down the side similar to a 57 Chevy Bel Air. Looks like the insert may have been removed on the one in the photo, which looks like Larry Blatt's "survivor" Rebel. Anywhere around Pennsylvania? The "Rebel" name plate can clearly be seen on the front fender. After 57 all V-8 Ramblers were badged "Rebel", but they all got the 250, the 327 was only available in the Ambassador from 58-66. There was a 2V or 4V version of the little 250, which still weighed nearly 600 pounds like the 327. The continental spare was the only option for the 57 rebel, everything else was included.

 

I could have the styles mixed up. The one I'm thinking of is more the style like the #74 post. But I remember it was black, and it had the really thin tall fins that had a distinctive curve to them. My memory says the curve was even more pronouned than the #74 post shows, but then I was 5 and that's a long time ago. Sorry if my memory is way off. I do know he talked much later (in reference to the S/C Rambler) about the '57 Rebel though. So he and I might have been on different pages. I can still see that black car on the trailer but I thought it was a 2 dr. I had looked this up many years ago and I do remember others saying they never made a 2 dr. It's just so strong on my mind. Did those body styles have a split chrome trim line down the flank to the rear tail light? I seem to remember it being painted red inside of the trim split? Boy I better stop here. I'm starting to sound like a nut case!! Thanks for listening guys. On with the show! Mark L

 

That's looking ready to go right now. Evil family mobile.

 

Here are my AWB American pics...

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/JuhaP/Gasser/

It has been a sleeping project for some 8 yrs now. But now there is place (a new garage) to finish it. I started it before "Gasser trend" began here in Finland, and it looks like that if I finish it, that trend is over...

 

what did you do for the suspension and did you brace up the frame for all that? i have a simular project minus the 351

 

ok here it is.

 

Added a little something

 

Sweet!

 

Here`s my 64 american wagon 220 2 door altered and my 68 220 sedan (On the set of the tv show life on mar`s)in the garage is my buddy`s 65 330

 

Nice way to get rid of trunions

What s the black car behind the American ? Lincoln ?
I think I m in love again ....

 

I think thats a 68 to 70 mark III.

 

my 440H, just finished the engine compartment.

 

The photos not big enough to really see, but looks like you're using a remote filter setup. Do you recall what adapter you used? I believe it's the same as the later 232/258 filter (prior to around 1980, 80 or so and later used a small metric filter).

I can't see the oil feed line for the head, unless it's coming from whatever that is on the right wheel well. Should be coming from a plug in the flat of the block near the front, metered through the front cam bearing. Do you have a link to a larger photo?

 

Rambler/amc realy made some but ugly cars

 

I used to have a 64 rambler american twin stick. And Im glad I dont have it anymore.Ha Ha! I hated that fr$%^%en car. Rustbucket supreme. You could see me comin 2 miles away! (smoked like crazy!) I think its rear axle made someone a trailer. It was my first car and I don't want another! Thank you. I much prefer old chevs. My 2 cents if anyone gives a sh$t!h yeah I did like the laydown seats!

 

Heo, so did Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler.... along with every other manufacturer. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. But think of the Edsel line, some of the 58-59 GMs, and some of the Exner Chryslers. I think some of those are way uglier than anything AMC ever made, but I like AMCs.

I'm not real fond of the Pacer, but don't think it's ugly. It's sort of a transitional design between 70s and 90s cars. A lot of cars mimic the rounded look now. It had some short comings, but that was more due to technical limitations and the design coming out on the heels of a gas crunch. It got about the same mileage as a traditional full size car because it weighed as much due to all the safety features (more so than the glass, though it obviously had a bit more heavy glass than traditional sedan designs). AMC sold them faster than they could build them, there was a 3-4 month waiting list when they came out. 44,000 were built and pre-sold in the first three months of production because they couldn't build them faster -- they had to be assembled on a special line due to the short wheelbase and wide body. So it was successful -- until the gas crunch hit. Then it was a novel design, but people didn't want a smallish car that got the same mileage as a bigger car (though there was about as much room in a Pacer as a traditional two door sedan) -- and sales plummeted.

 

smoked1, that's typical. Start with a junker and don't like the brand/make any more. If it had been a rusted out trashed Chevy II instead of a Rambler I guess you'd not want another Chevy?? Ramblers were typically cheap used cars and got used as winter beaters up north and weren't taken very good care of. So naturally they got trashed and rusted. One taken care of is at least as good as any other make car. On the flip side, any other make abused as the Ramblers typically were would be as bad -- or usually worse. Ramblers were built to be very dependable for a long time and many have praised that quality. I've heard many say something similar to you but add "couldn't kill the darn thing!" right after. The sixes were especially tough!

 

Don't know how to post a pic here, but here's a link to my web page with 68 Rambler pic's on it
http://thigh190.tripod.com/id21.html

 

Not HAMB friendly but here's my '65 Rambler 660 wagon.

 

Maybe it's just beyond the official cut-off year, but it's HAMB style! 63-66 big Ramblers share the same chassis, just a restyling for 65-66 models (63-64 are virtually the same -- just hood, grille, and taillight housings are different -- 65-66 have different outside sheet metal).