Appearing like a true desert find, this simple but stylish AMC Rambler American is a solid start to project. Although the interior is worn, and the engine is questionable, the body itself is rock solid, and could make for a great weathered hot rod of some sort for the $800 asking price. Check out this simple classic here on craigslist out of Tucson, Arizona. Thanks to reader George G for this desert find!
While the flat head inline 6 is still in place, I can’t help but notice that all of the hardware for the cylinder head has been removed. Almost as if this AMC blew a head gasket while taking a hot trip through Arizona. While the engine may be questionable, the engine compartment is in awesome shape with loads of paint and zero rot. Seems like this could be a great opportunity for an interesting engine swap?
While the interior looks to be worthless, the dash is quite simple and likely in good enough shape to be enjoyed. There is some surface rust, but for this car, it seems sort of charming if surface rust is your thing. I will say I am disappointed that the windshield is broken, and the door glass is questionable as well. The body appears to be rot free, and very straight minus a mentioned minor dent in the passenger side rocker. Would you take a chance on this Rambler?
I couldn’t help but notice the resemblance between this Rambler and my ’66 Volvo 122. Seems that compared to the stuff the big 3 were putting out at that time, Rambler and Volvo were stuck in the past.
The Rambler was 6 years earlier than your Volvo. Rambler was definitely not “stuck in the past.” But I’d say Volvo was if they were still making those sort of cars in 1966
In the early 90’s I watched a 2 door like this go through a local car auction for about $200. It was obviously pampered, with original paint and interior and needed very little.
My mom had one of these. The radio was just two knobs, on/off volume and tuning. There wasn’t a dial, the station numbers were written on the knob and you had to align the number with a line on the dash. And it wasn’t lit up, so tuning at night was by sound.
looks like a parts car to me .. Not much value in this model.
Take a good look at that engine compartment – installing almost any other kind of engine in there is going to require major surgery.
The early Rambler American is really 1950 Nash Rambler and most of the technology was obsolete even in 1960. AMC had discontinued the small Rambler in 1955. The company dusted off the tooling and brought it back in 1958 with minor updates so they’d have something between the tiny Metropolitan and the bigger Ramblers to sell.
1960 was the last year for the original rounded body style. 1961-1963 saw the restyled “breadbox” Rambler American, which was still a Nash Rambler under the skin.
Yes it does.
I love it! :)
I like these 50s Farina style Ramblers over those ugly second generation boxy Ramblers by a long shot. Throw a more modern six banger in, fix the windshield, brakes, paint job etc and just drive and enjoy.
I think the OHV 6 was available as an option in the 61 and since the 61-63 was essentially a reskin would probably fit in the engine compartment.
I think the radiator support has to be modified to fit the OHV version of the 195.6 engine but it otherwise fits. (There may be an issue with the heater box being different on the OHV cars as well.) I’ve also read that the compact Ford Falcon six will fit. The engine compartment is very short and narrow, so V8s or the newer series AMC sixes will not go there without major work. (Of course with enough time, skill, and money you can put any engine into anything!)
OHV was available in 1960. In 1961 the Aluminium 196 OHV became available. Slap the 2 BBL carb power-pack OHV engine in, and be happy with 135 HP in a 2600 LBS car.
I never knew Pinin-Farina had a involvement with the Rambler design until now! Makes sense, my ’62 Lancia Flaminia looks very similar to this car, minus a hood scoop. Learn something new every day!
Has the rare airconditioned windshield option………
A bunch of people are going to get upset with me, but, if I was going to drive around an AMC Rambler, I would drop a N/A LS into it with a Manual Transmission. I have nothing against the Flathead 6, but I would prefer a little more power.
I have a tremendous love for Ramblers, most especially the late 50s-early 60s models. For $300-$400 this wouldn’t be a bad buy.
Cummins diesel ASAP! Lets “roll coal” and raise hell!
Truly a American made car! My dads first new car was a 60 rambler! My first car was a Rambler Ambassador! I liked that car, but it always blew out head gaskets!
Regular maintenance on the Rambler 195.6 OHV engine, which was a conversion of the old flathead, includes periodic re-torquing of the cylinder head. Needless to say a lot of people didn’t know or didn’t bother especially as the cars aged so head gasket problems were pretty common.
I wished that someone would have told me that way back when I was 15 years old! That’s probably where I was going wrong because I replaced many head gaskets on that Ambassador I had!
Wrong Way, come to think of it I think in 1960 all Ambassadors came with AMC’s 327 V8 engine which did not have the re-torquing requirement. (You mentioned your dad’s car was a 1960 model, not clear if your Ambassador was as well.) If you had the V8, or a later Ambassador with the newer six, then possibly your car had warped head or some other issue.
I had one as a Winter beater back in 1966. You couldn’t kill that thing no matter how hard you tried.
Straight axle gasser. don’t paint it…what a blast that would be. IMHO, Kelvinator should have stuck to making refrigerators.Hated to see anything AMC roll into the garage. Made money for the boss, especially if they used Dowgard Antifreze. Killed the cooling system, freeze plugs, water pumps etc etc. Yet I had a few customers that swore by them- I swore at em!!!
Good luck to the new owner. Fun project on the cheap.
The v8 fits with cutting the sides out of the sheet metal under the hood. Any 6 cylinder other than the factory OHV from those years is to long to fit in the very short engine bay. The heater box is identical for the OHV 6 and the flathead 6. Even the next generations Rambler Americans ohv and flathead are identical. But the newer bigger Rambler 6sixes are to long to fit.
Eddie – I just saw a recent comment on this thread and re-read everything AND looked at the photos of your lovely car (outside and underhood). What engine did you put in it after the necessary “surgery” ? As a fairly old hotrodder myself, I couldn’t help but think that your ride reminded me A LOT of how ’49 Mercs were treated way back when…. Intentional ???
AMC guy, my rambler was a 64 ambassador it had a 6 in it however I don’t remember the size!
I could have sworn that for 1964 that all Ambassadors still came with the 327 V8. (In fact I had one years ago.) The Classic and Ambassador used the exact same body and were differentiated by trim and equipment. The 1964 Classic came standard with the 195.6 OHV engine I was talking about.
In 1965 the Ambo was given a different front clip than the Classic and the new 232 six (ancestor of the Jeep 4.0) became the base engine.
FWIW, Wikipedia says pretty much the same thing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Ambassador
I just know that mine had the 6 in it and I know that it was original to the car, it was a perfectly beautiful car two tone green! My dad found it and wanted me to get it for my first car! It had the push button auto in it and I remember it had a 2 speed auto tranny
Well, a lot of info gets lost over 50+ years especially with a small manufacturer like AMC so who knows. For 1964 and earlier a Rambler Six would have been that old 195.6 engine except for the limited-edition Typhoon that was introduced mid-year.
1964 was also the last year for the aluminum 195.6 which had a number of problems. I keep forgetting about the aluminum engine since most wound up quickly being replaced by the cast-iron version.
The factory recommended checking head bolt torque every 4,000 miles and retorquing the head every 8,000 miles on these engines! I seriously doubt many people adhered to that schedule.
I also remember that it was older people that I bought it from
I didn’t know that and no one ever said anything! I am surprised that my dad apparently didn’t know that either! It was a good car for me tho except for that gasket! I really liked it and my girlfriend at that time really liked it too! I don’t think that I have to explain why she liked it I think that you probably can figure that one out! Had to do with those seats! LMAO
I think I can guess! :) I had a Rambler wagon for a while where the entire interior of the car would turn into pretty much a single flat surface. Good times! :) :)
Saw this car in Oregon a few years ago – https://classics.autotrader.com/articles/how-to-build-a-ridler-winner
I guess I should have mentioned this particular Ferrari powered 1960 Rambler station wagon above was a Ridler award winner 10 years ago. Anyone know where the car is now??
My Pops owned one of these, only as a two-door model. White body, black vinyl top. Cute. He rarely kept cars for more than 2 years, but something about that car really angered him. Have no idea what…possibly not the highway power he expected, as nearly every other car he owned was a V8. Often a BIG V8. Car only lasted 6 months in his ownership. Oh, interior was black and white too, really nice. Since I never drove it, don’t have a feel for how it rode, handled, nor accelerated. He also never, ever bought another vehicle from AMC, nor any of their various owners. The hate ran deep….