In 1963, American Motors rolled out all-new Rambler Classics and Ambassadors. The cars were such an improvement over their predecessors and competitors that the whole line of Ramblers was named Car of the Year for 1963 by Motor Trend. The Ambassador was the best that AMC had to offer, sharing its body with the Classic but providing far more amenities. From the second year of that design is this 1964 Ambassador 990-H which has been left out in the woods for Mother Earth to reclaim. You can find it in Norman, Oklahoma and available here on Facebook Marketplace for $2,400.
AMC assembled 18,519 Ambassadors for 1964 and one of the most desirable was the Ambassador 990-H. It was a 2-door hardtop that came with top Ambassador trim and bucket seats with an automatic transmission. What really separated the 990-H from the other Ambassadors was that it came with an upgraded version of the 327 V-8 engine which gave the driver 270 horsepower, 20 more than otherwise.
We’re not given many details on this Ambassadors other than it’s fully equipped and being sold on behalf of the seller’s father. We don’t know how long as its been sitting outdoors, but it looks to be a while given the amount of pine straw that has been accumulating. Overall, the sheet metal looks good, but one has to wonder what things look like underneath. I’ve always been a fan of the ’63-64 Ramblers and it would be great to see this one saved and on the road again – if practical.
Oh, a bloody shame, this is. We were still riding high on that “Car of the Year” thing, ( how it beat the ’63 Riviera, I’ll never know) and this car was as good as it got. Very, VERY few were equipped like this. Ramblers “Gentlemens Cruiser”, and not many gentlemen cruised in this, but if you did, this was the Rambler to do it in. Judging by the “sink-o-meter”( tires sunk in the mud), this car is probably cashed underneath, and with the unibody, repairs will be futile. Too bad, check out the interior, or what it must have looked like. Sorry, “dad”, but you should have stored this one better,,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myoldpostcards/8451729412/in/photostream/
I’ve told the story before on here, so pardon to those with long memories! I had a 64 Rambler Classic 770 with the 287, Bucket seats, auto, console shift and all the interior chrome, in Tahiti Turquoise. That 287 was near dead when I bought it ($250 in 1977). I got the Ambassador 327 engine for $150 installed at a parts yard. That engine was heaven, smooth, quiet and torquey. People thought my car stalled at intersections. It was so quiet and smooth. I would love this car but I fear what Howard says is true. They are rare enough these days and would be fun to show up with! And my guess is why it beat the Riviera (which is a spectacular car) is the price for all you got. When I got my current 72 LeMans with the Endura package, it was so much less equipped than the 64 Rambler Classic 770. The Rambler had courtesy lights, glovebox lights, trunk light, “Vibratone” sound system and that 327 with the Holley 4bbl would have out run the Pontiac 350 with the 2bbl by a long shot. (I have stories). Heck, I think it would beat it with the 4bbl on the 350 now! Torque Beast! I wish that poor car a home that can restore it!
We, as Wisconsinites, could never figure how Rambler got the CotY award. I wonder if old “Roy” paid MT dearly. Whatever the reason, it sure had Milwaukenosha a’hummin’. Things were great in Wisconsin in the 60’s. Everybody had a job, many neighbors, friends and relatives, either worked for AMC or related industries and guess what we drove? RAMBLERS! Some folks even got to build their own cars. Too bad we can’t have that again today.
Junkyard Digs or Thunderhead289 on YouTube should revive this
Yeah, a guy sure would like to “test on her” don’t ‘cha know. It’s hard to imagine why this nice car would be left to sit like this. Mitch is right, it’d be fun to see this car fire up again.
It’s been sitting there long enough to get boxed in by trees. The underside has returned to the earth from which it came.
My parents had a 68. Six years of Wisconsin winters rusted the unibody so badly the car was bent in the middle. I doubt there is much left of this one.
Seems FB is for people more lazy than posting on Craig’s List. If you want $2,400, You’re not helping your cause by letting people know it was stored like this for that long.
Apparently, it’s even too much trouble for the seller to even brush off the piles of pine needles on top of the car, let alone dig it out and air up the tires.
Nice car and IFG it was removed years ago might have been salvageable.
Pine needles are acidic…
Nuf-said
I love Ramblers. My Dad had a ’59 six sedan and a ’60 Cross Country. I had a ’61 Classic a few years back. This one is in my neck of the woods. Would love to go check it out.
It’s an eco-friendly dirt floor Rambler, rare indeed.
It’s eco-boost engine consists of you and your buddies pushing it.
Who knew they had such lush foliage and pine trees in Oklahoma. Nice planter.
A lot of folks think Oklahoma is nothing but flat open land. Give us a visit, I think you’ll be surprised. From lush green forests of the Kiamichi mountains in southeast to the rocky Wichita’s in the southwest, the open mesa’s and sand dunes north west, and open prairie in between. And a few old ramblers scattered in between.
Well rust bucket or not this car is still worthy enough to be saved, but likely it would have to be purchased for around $500 to make any sense of it.
God bless America
Leave it there
Looks like it’s done it’s last Ramble…
Anyone else notice the school bus? Looks like dad has more than one vehicle in the woods.
And I cannot understand why people put an older vehicle for sale on Facebook, only a paragraph of text allowed, and I’m told they allow only 3 photos.
This is a $500 car max, simply because it’s a major guessing game as to what will be discovered when the car is dug out and loaded onto a trailer or rollback. I’m betting there’s a minimum of $3,000 in unit body repairs. And let’s not forget the real reason the guy stopped driving it. I would think he remembers why he stopped driving it, and should make that reason known to potential buyers.
I don’t think there is a three photo max on Facebook Marketplace. I’ve seen detailed pix of stuff I’ve been interested in…maybe there is more like a 10 photo maximum. Not sure about the paragraph of text description either. If you click on the highlighted word “more” below the teaser subject line, you will get all the words the seller has written. Most sellers are at an even shallower end of the gene pool than Craigslist. I shake my head at some of the games people try to play on their local Facebook listings.
Now showing as “pending”. Hope the buyer has a chain saw and some shovels.
Considering the location the trees are not unusual but either is the huge red clay oval that supports OKC and every city around it. If the dirt expert in the audience will rise and explain how much moisture red clay holds after a rain everyone will understand that all might not be well in the under world.
It’s now a Bramble-r.
$2400.00?! know where there is an older Rambler in way better shape than this parked behind a barn. I should buy it and flip it on Barnfinds for way more than what I paid for it and I wouldn’t even need to cut trees down before I moved it! Sorry but that seems richly optimistic.
The car has now been pulled out and cleaned. The grill is bent, there’s damage to the right rear quarter, right rear tail light is missing, rear bumper is bent and drivers floor has holes. The car has factory a/c, electric windows and all glass is good. It’s a very repairable car but only worth about $500-$1000 as is.more pictures have been posted on facebook.
God bless America
I have a 63. Would love to make mine a 2-door, but I’m 5,000 miles away.
What a jerk, leaving it to rot like this.
I hope someone from the AMC forum has bought it, maybe it can be saved.
Ummmm…… Basically, I like these. But, if I were to buy it, the current owner/seller would have to (1) cut down the trees and (2) pay me to take it. ‘Nuff said.
Uhm, you need to follow this thread through all the comments, Patrick. The car has been extracted and cleaned up, for what it’s worth. Photos were scrutinized by Johnmloghry twelve days ago. Not the best diamond in the rough, to me it looks even worse cleaned up without the trees and pine needles.