We’ve all been there. Most of us have had a project get away from us. Maybe our eyes were too big for our stomach or our skill level or time commitment, but whatever the reason, we’ve all been there. I don’t know what the reason is for the seller getting rid of these two 1956 Nash Ramblers but they’re listed here on eBay in Bridport, Vermont. They’re asking $1,500 or you can make an offer. Thanks to Fred H. for sending in this tip!
I have been there too many times, buying a car that I think will be fun to restore. Or, maybe more like, it’ll be fun to own once it’s restored. But, then the hard part comes – assessing the condition, coming up with a game plan, checking the secret car fund.. cough.. I mean, figuring out how to pay for the restoration, etc.
You can see that the green Rambler is in much better condition than the black and white car is, but the green car doesn’t have an engine. If it isn’t one thing it’s another. I’m guessing that these cars were collected to maybe swap parts and combine the good stuff into one complete car?
The seats were taken out of the black and white car decades ago and put into storage and they’re in very good condition, according to the seller. That’s good news. The bad news is that the black and white car has some significant rust. These are unibody cars and they say that this one will need structural work, too.
But, they say that the body on the green car is in good condition, being originally from Nevada. It’ll need help on the interior but it looks like the body could be cleaned up fairly nicely. The engine is missing on the green car but it would have been a 195.6 straight-six. The 250 V8 wouldn’t be available until 1957.
The black and white car does have its engine and you can see some significant rust on the fenders, ouch. This is most likely a parts car by this point. They say that the odometer shows 32 miles but that has to be 100,032 at least. By 1957, the Rambler wore neither the Nash or Hudson name, it was known simply as a Rambler. It gets worse, in the fall of 1956, the AMC board voted to shut down both Nash and Hudson and in 1958 all AMCs were named Ramblers.
Here’s where the SBC will go… No, I hope that a car like this or really any car can keep its drivetrain in the family. Sourcing an AMC V8 would be nice or an original 195.6 cubic-inch inline-six would be good, but I doubt if either of these cars will ever be restored. I hope that I’m wrong, but we’ve all been there.
Oh,oh, we saw this not too long ago. In Scotty’s defense, I know he’s been very busy with his “day” job, and hasn’t kept up with the posts, and I know he loves Ramblers and probably couldn’t resist. Must be a glitch in the website that doesn’t tell other authors a car has been written up already. I like both authors description of these, yet I still feel, these aren’t nice enough to restore. I think many would love to have a car like this today, but they have to be nice to begin with, restoring one would be a major project. I’m sure SOMEONE has a nice one in their grandma’s garage somewhere. The rust on the B&W one is typical, killed many a Rambler, and the green one, probably wasted underneath just from sitting, but still savable. They were very good cars. I knew several people in my neighborhood that built them and were proud of it.
Yes, these were interesting to see the other day when they were on here also. I hope they get rescued!
Groundhog day?
I think that was the funniest movie Bill Murray did,,
The green one is a rare hardtop .
Source a couple of 258 straight sixes, a couple of 727 Torqueflites, ditch the
torque tubes by converting the driveshaft to an open driveline, and have fun.
Being a glass half full kinda guy, I could maybe save both cars by doing their
drivelines in this manner. Of course I’d get the Green car running first while I
sourced parts for the pink and Grey one, which would need a lot more work
due to the rust issues and lack of an interior. The 258 is an excellent engine that
will give you many many miles of trouble free service, and are cheap to find and
cheap to keep. Once you fix the torque converter issues you have with this driveline, it’ll be smooth sailing from there. As we all know, rust is the 800 pound
gorilla in the room right now. Like other cars built in the late ’50’s, these things
rusted to pieces if you didn’t stay on top of it. Nothing like a two-fer to start the
day. At least that’s what I was thinking when I first saw them.
Was born near Manchester, UK in the early 50s. Which meant that as a child, our dentist still was not of the school to condone anaesthetics.
A Dinky Rambler from my parents eased the pain, so I have an irrational affection for the marque. These two are nice and chunky, someone save them, please.
When the maniac dentist later removed all my father´s teeth (for no good reason other than the fashion of the time, but equally without anaesthetic) we finally switched to a 20th century dentist.
I would be surprised if these are “saved and rescued” even if for free. These are unibody and I see rust. These cars do not rust out in typical fashion it starts mainly on where you can’t see. I would say it’s terminal on both. If one of these was significant say a Rebel then we would be in business. They are not and I do not hold out any hope. Sad but true.
Cheap parts cars. Someone must need them ?