This blue beauty is a 1963 Rambler American 330 and it has 19,813 miles! This time machine is listed on eBay with a current bid price of (are you sitting down?) over $6,600 and the reserve isn’t even met yet! This gorgeous car is in Venice, Florida. The 330 was squarely in the middle for Ramber American models, in-between the base 220 and top-trim 440 models. I don’t know if it would take a “rich” American (or, person) to buy this car, but the price is already above what I would have guessed it would be and the reserve isn’t even met! Will this one make it to $10,000?
The only caveat with this car is that supposedly it has been painted at some point in its history, which I think is a shame. I would have loved to see what this car looked like in 100% original condition, even if the paint was faded a bit, but that’s just me. I think it’s stunningly-beautiful now, though, so I can’t really complain about the seemingly-perfect paint job. This car is “100% rust free, no dings, dents or prior accidents” and it’s originally a Texas car, but I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a good thing or not compared to Florida? Compared to a rust-belt, salty-street, Midwest city, I’m guessing that it is.
This car is in amazing condition, it’s probably the nicest second-generation Rambler American that I’ve seen. This is a good photo to show the unusual 100-inch wheelbase on this car, that the rear wheels don’t quite match up with the rear wheel openings. You can see on the photo of the trunk, that the spare tire is located a few inches too far forward to get the gas tank and spare tire to fit and that’s why the wheels are off a bit. That was an interesting philosophy in those days on design to just leave it like that. Maybe one of you will have Paul Harvey’s “Rest of the Story” as to why AMC didn’t redesign the gas tank or relocate the spare tire or figure out some other remedy to line those wheels up in the rear wheel wells.
This car has a three-speed manual with a column-shifter and as you can see, the interior is just about as amazing as the exterior of this car is. The trunk isn’t anything to sneeze at, condition-wise; it’s as perfect and rust-free as both the underside and body of this car is. The steering wheel shows a lot of wear, which seems unusual compared to how nice everything else looks.
This is AMC’s workhorse 195.6 cubic-inch inline-six with around 90 hp. And, is that.. wait, factory AC? Yes! Or, maybe dealer-installed AC, although this dash-mounted unit looks factory-installed, doesn’t it? One of you AMC gurus will know for sure. What do you think about this car? I think that it’s a beauty but I’ve always liked these cars. They don’t even have to be this nice, in fact I would have preferred it to be all original, but it’s hard to argue with a beautiful car like this one, one-repaint or not!
I can say, without reservation, this is what a 50+ year old car with 19K miles looks like. I wonder what the story was with this? The steering wheel, if I remember, was a painted unit, that wore off pretty quick. The A/C does look factory, although, I can’t imagine the power loss on an already low output motor. While these prices, seemingly reasonable today, places these finds out of my reach, it would be a great car for someone getting into the hobby. Great find. FWIW, this car has been flipped a couple of times ( GASP). I hope it finds a home soon.
Kind of a drag car look going on with the rear axle placement.
Ford Cortina, the design-twin from England.
Drove one of these back in the day. Only car I ever had that you could drive pedal to the metal ALL the time and not get a speeding ticket. 65 mph top speed with a tailwind.
I’m not a big fan of this body style but this is a very nice example of a Rambler American.
Doubt you would ever find a nicer one!
One of those nostalgia, you only want it if you or your parents had one
Rambler didn’t build the prettiest cars in this period, but this is in great condition. Whenever I see a car this old, in this kind of original condition, the only thing I can say is, Sombody please buy this and love it the way it deserves to be loved.
Well, for me there is noquestion that the $4000 Rambler 770, 1964 ed, in Seattle, Wa.. is a much smarter looking 2dr.
I say that without detracting anything from featured blue 63 here.
They look more like a decade (or more) apart, not one model year.
My father worked for Warner Gear (later became Borg Warner) and they made many transmissions for Rambler in Muncie, Indiana. We owned a 56 Ambassador, a 59′, 60′ Rambler wagon and two 66 Rambler Americans. They were very dependable cars and very cheap. I took over one of the 66′ Rambler Americans and it had a three on the tree. Drove it for 4 years and it was a great little car. Good miles and I could not wear the brakes out. The 59′ had a push button transmission shifter and not one of those cars steering wheels had the paint worn off. I really have my doubts on the vehicle above.
I always liked these cars, even when I was a kid. Viewed from the side, with those proportions, they’re the pork-pie hat of the automotive world.
This a sweet example.
Not a fan of the high rear suspension and low window line. Buy a Lark instead!
That is a really nice example of a now rare car. There is a good reason that these are rare; they were horrible cars. Our car was a flathead 6, rather than the OHV 6, and automatic transmission. It could go as fast in second gear as third. It could rev but had so little power it would not go faster. Thank God, actually, the drum brakes were only large enough for a small lawn mower. From it’s top end of about 68 mph, a panic brake situation would slow you to about 25 mph then the brakes were overheated, with essentially only foot dragging to get you fully stopped. But, thanks to Ramblers, that my dad insisted on buying when I was a kid, I have humility to to last a lifetime.
That steering wheel throws a lot of questions for me. Not in keeping with the stated mileage regardless of age.
Unless previous owner used some caustic cleaner on it to cause deterioration..Also possible that a lace on cover was used and wore the steering wheel surface from its inside texture.Baffling, yet I believe the car to be as represented.
It would nice to know the story behind the steering wheel.