Resembling a patchwork quilt, or a coat of many colors as the late Dolly Parton might have put it, this 1965 AMC Rambler 440 has a good reason for looking so unusual on the outside. The story goes that in the late 1990s, Champion International Corporation of Stamford, CT, created it to draw attention to the company’s recycling program. It was subsequently given away in a prize drawing, and the current owner says it’s been well cared for ever since. Now located in Blackwood, New Jersey, this cool convertible is listed here on Facebook Marketplace, where the seller has already lowered the price from $15,000 to $13,500 and also floated the idea of a possible trade. We’d like to thank reader Rocco B. for finding it and sending in the tip!
By the end of the nineties, the Champion International Corporation had already been around for more than 100 years and was the largest U.S. manufacturer of coated paper products in the early part of the twentieth century. However, environmental concerns about paper production and waste were growing by the mid-nineties, so the company created this convertible as a promotional vehicle to highlight its commitment to recycling. At first glance, it might not be obvious what the builder was going for here. However, once the objective is clear, the finish really does look like it’s made of recycled materials!
The seller says that the vehicle was completely restored in the 90s, and while he’s transparent that the car isn’t perfect, it is described as being in good enough condition to win a trophy of some sort every now and then. No photo shows the entire interior in one shot, but a couple of close-ups suggest the dash and instruments are still in fine shape, and the sale includes a new convertible top canvas in the box. The shocks and brakes were also replaced within the last 3 years, but you may want to swap the radio, since the original AM unit isn’t working.
Unfortunately, the 440 designation here is only the trim level, not the engine size, although it is the top-of-the-line for the Rambler American in 1965. The seller forgot to post a picture from under the hood, but says it’s powered by a 232 cubic-inch inline-6 paired with an automatic transmission. This seems like a fun little car to cruise around in with the top down,, and while it is certainly a unique offering, it’s also failed to find a buyer in the 22 weeks it’s been available on FB marketplace. Would you be interested in giving this 1965 AMC Rambler American a new home?
Aw, darn it Mike, you had to bring Dolly into this,,,I think we all shed a tear upon nearing that news. Get used to it, Shatner is 95. What is this, Partridge Family? ( Come on get happy) Sorry, get out the DA sander and remove the graphics. A nice paint job will attract a lot more buyers, it’s a sharp car.
Recycling,,,pfft, what a joke. Our community has disbanded all recycling efforts, ALL trash goes to the landfill. Why? The recycling company went broke! I’m as resourceful as the next, but we’re just the user, and compliant materials have to come from the manufacturer. Want a chilling vision of the future? Just watched a great movie again, WALL-E.
The idea of recycling is great and the public is more than willing. But those in charge just use it for marketing. Those recycling companies selll themselves as being environmentally friendly, then just take all that carefully sorted recycling material and dump it in the landfill with everything else. Whenever a corporation is involved, you can guarantee the only motive is money.
Fresh paint may draw more interest, but would lowering the price by the cost do the same ?
Too bad the history does not add value to the car.
Like Howard suggests, if this were Red, it would not have sat for 22 weeks.
I would lose the paint job on Day One! Otherwise it appears to be a great little convertible.
My mother’s 1st NEW car! I learned to drive in a Rambler 440. Great car for a teenager to learn on, kinda’ small & easy to park. Not very quick so I couldn’t race it with much success!
A shame about the crazy paint job, otherwise the car looks to be in great condition. Being a NJ car you’d want a real careful look underneath. Also the trunnions in the front suspension should be checked. The factory installed “lifetime” rubber bushings in the American but they were not counting on the car’s lifetime being over 60 years. A quick check is to see if the front spring are straight. If they’re bowed the trunnions are shot. (Parts are available but good luck finding a mechanic that knows how to work on them!)
Lose the graphics and respray it in either a cream or a butter yellow paint job to really make that black interior and top pop. And yes, I could see my niece or
my SIL driving this car on nice days. But that’s just me. Sadly,
AMC products, for many years, have been overlooked over time.
Low demand has kept their prices low. There was a time when you could pick up a 32K car
for under $3K. And then there’s the matter of finding the right parts to keep it running as it should. It’s been over 50 years now, but I still recall the days when you had to take your VIN
number into the auto parts store
just to get a proper tune up kit as
the company had cobbled together new Ramblers using Ford, GM, or even Packard parts in their engines. And then there
Was that torque tube drive like Ford, Buick, and Chevy were using back then. You had to pull
the rear end just to get to the U joints or to service the transmission. All that did was make them twice as expensive to
repair over other cars of that era.
If you had to have the tranny serviced, you put new U joints in
to keep from having to pull the rear end. Of all the cars being sold at that time, AMC and MoPars were the most expensive
low priced cars to repair and maintain. Don’t get me wrong, I
like the car, I like it a lot. But the
issues I just mentioned make me
a bit gun shy after having seen all
this stuff first hand. And can you
even get parts here in Florida?
I’ve worked on AMC cars for over 50 years and still have a a couple of them in the garage. The parts and service situation is not quite as dire as you paint it.
AMC used GM/Delco distributors from around the mid-1960s until electronic ignition was introduced in 1975. Ignition parts for a 1965 Rambler with 232 six are not a problem. Electronic conversion kits are readily available, including HEI distributors.
Only the larger Rambler models used torque tube drive. The American has an open driveline with exposed universal joints. Torque tube drive was discontinued on the larger cars starting with the 1967 models.
The only Packard parts that were used were Packard V8s and Ultramatic transmissions in the Nash Ambassador back in the mid-1950s before AMC’s own V8s were introduced.
The worst service item on a car like the one being sold is the front suspension which used trunnions instead of ball joints on the upper control arm. Replacement parts are still available but few mechanics know how to work on them today.
Alternators are from Motorola on AMC cars from the mid-1960s through about 1975. Still available but GM/Delco conversions are available and common. Starters are typically from GM or Ford from the mid-1960s until the end. GM power steering gear was used from 1964 until the end.
That’s not to say that all AMC parts are readily available. Many that are not available through mass market channels are available from AMC specialty vendors as repops or new old stock. Some even have good used parts available. In some cases old parts need to be rebuilt. Hemmings is a good resource in such cases.
By 1970 the trunnion suspension was gone in favor of full ball joints. Vacuum wipers were eliminated for 1972 as was the ancient Borg-Warner automatic transmission. Also since AMC owned Jeep from 1970 until Chrysler bought them out in 1987 many mechanical parts were shared between Jeeps and passenger cars and are still available from the Jeep crowd.
I don’t know if AMC parts are available locally in Florida parts stores but rockauto.com has many available.
This sounds a lot like parts for International Harvester light line trucks—I hear all the time that “parts are impossible to find”. With a few major exceptions (Lockheed drum brakes, I’m looking at you) most of the mechanical gear was sourced from major vendors, and what you can’t get from the local counter store you can find from a group of committed specialty vendors. It used to be the hardest thing to find was clean sheet metal for your rusty Scout II, but even that is being produced today.
My brother had a 1966 Rouge before going to Vietnam. My other brother had a 67 660, put a sb chevy in it. Nice cars. I’d take any of them, no matter what color. PATRICK SOBECKI.
Americans were open drive. The large cars, Classic, Marlin and Ambassador were still running the torque tube until 66.
Looks like the painter the recycling company hired was just coming down after his latest acid trip.
Neat little convertible driver for not too much money. Since it has been on the market for a while I would think you could negotiate an ever better price. The top looks like it is in good condition. With the cars history as being used as a promotional vehicle it could be suitable for display at the Rambler Ranch in Colorado where there is a very interesting collection of unique AMC vehicles.
Nothing new here. In the mid twenties of the last century Sonia Delaunay coloured a Citroen B12 and others with very desirable chequered art-deco patterns. Go to JustaCarGuy and other websites to see.
More surprised I am that many of the readers here want to spoil the fun and turn back to a simplistic one colour scheme thus ruining the originality and concept.
rather drive the green LTD next to it.