The Marlin was a short-lived personal luxury car based at first on the Rambler Classic. A cross between the Plymouth Barracuda and Dodge Charger, it was produced from 1965 to 1967 (the latter year being based on the larger Ambassador). A lack of sales ended the unique Marlin as only 17-18,000 left the assembly line. Located in Waterville, Minnesota, this survivor-quality Marlin needs a new interior, but is otherwise a daily driver. It’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $8,500. Thanks for the tip, NW Iowa Kevin.
AMC based on the Rambler Marlin on the Tarpon show car from 1964. Like the 1964-66 Barracuda, the Marlin had a fair amount of rear and side glass when it went into production as a Classic derivative. Inline-6 power was standard, but two V8 engines were optional, including the 327 cubic inch engine like in the seller’s ride from 1966. Sales declined in both of the two years following the introduction, with just 4,547 examples finding homes in 1966. The Rambler name was dropped after the first year.
We’re told this ’66 Marlin is 95% complete (what’s the other 5% consist of?). It’s a good runner with an automatic transmission, and the overall car has 90,000 miles. The body and white paint look good enough, but the interior’s condition matches the mileage. New upholstery will be needed, but that’s not something you would need to address on Day 1.
When the Marlin was introduced in 1965, AMC was trying to up its image, and the Marlin was positioned as a “halo car”. But buyers may have had trouble figuring out what it was. It looked like a pony car (i.e., Mustang or Barracuda), but it was bigger. And the switch to the longer Ambassador wheelbase in 1967 significantly increased the dimensions. So, by 1968, the Marlin was no more. If you’re fishing for a somewhat rare classic, how about this one?
(IIRC), the Marlin was originally designed to be built on the smaller “Tarpon” platform, but the honcho in charge wanted to be able to wear a fedora while riding in it, thus resulting in the awkward “humpback whale” side profile. By ’67 they were looking much better, but it was too late. This looks to be a good starter for someone! GLWTS!! :-)
The ‘66 was just FUGLY (FatUGLY). Like MoParMan said AMC cleaned it up a lot for ‘67, like cleaning up the rear wheel wells-those on the ‘66 look like they didn’t get the memo and used metric instead of SAE for the measurements when they came back from lunch.
Looks like I fell for the optional illusion-the rear wheel arches were the same!