American Motors survived as an independent company until the 1980’s, but for all its years of existence, it had to hear the term “Big Three”, with them being number four. So being a smaller company, cash was not always plentiful, so they had to be creative in how they designed cars. The Rambler American was introduced in 1958 with a tooling cost of only $800,000. But it wasn’t an all-new model. American Motors got creative when it was designed. Here is a barn find 1959 Rambler American 2 door Club Sedan for sale here on Craigslist in Chenoa, Illinois.
When the Rambler American was introduced in 1958, American Motors took a body that had last been used for the 1955-1956 Nash Rambler. The rear wheels were cut out, but for some reason, the rear wheels always look like they are trying to get ahead of the wheel opening on the American. They put in a new mesh grille, removed the hood scoop, and turned the taillights upside down to make it look fresh. It was offered only as a two-door sedan in 1958; a 2 door station wagon was added in 1959, and a 4 door sedan was introduced in 1960.
This is another one of those barn finds that the seller doesn’t really give any history of and is brief with information about the specifics of the car. It is a complete car with a clean title. There is no mention of rust unless that’s what we’re seeing at the bottom of the trunk opening, but if it is it appears to be minor or surface only. The 1959 American was offered in Deluxe and Super models with the Super having chrome trim around the windshield and back glass. Looking at the pictures, I think this one might be a Deluxe.
The engine is an L-head 6 cylinder with 195.6 cubic inches displacement producing 90 horsepower. It does not currently run and has been sitting for a number of years. It also has an automatic transmission. The seller doesn’t tell us how many miles are on the car.
The asking price is $3,000 which seems reasonable. The Rambler American is probably one of the simpler cars to restore and can possibly be done with less cash outlay than a lot of others out there. Is this a project that interests you?
Straight axle gasser….
good luck to the new owner!!
The first stop, if I purchased this, would the body shop to “fix” those rear wheel openings.
Same here. Or move the rear axle backwards about an inch and a half. Lengthen the driveshaft if need be. My OCD wouldn’t let me look at it like it is now.. lol
This car is not far from my hometown of
Bloomington, Ill. When I was younger, I
used to buy cars in the Chenoa area as
there was more of a selection there than
what was available in Bloomington. And
what a selection it was too! Ford, GM,,
Mopar, and so much more! If ever there
was an old car buffet, this was it. Our
local newspaper was full of fantastic deals. Here is just some of the cars I
bought up there or pulled home for free.
’52 Chevy 4-door sedan $10. Needed
brakes, drove it home. ’46 Plymouth
P-15 4-door sedan $50. One of the
first cars built after VJ day. All paperwork
in the car when I bought it. ’49 Chevy
Fleetline 2-door fastback freebie. Owner
wanted it gone. Towed it home, tuned
it up, sold it for $75. ’51 Plymouth wagon
$25. Drove it home, tuned it up, fixed the
floors, sold it to a friend of my sister’s
for $100. Could tick ’em off all night but
you get the picture. The areas of McLean
and Livingston county were a hotbed of
barn find activity in the late ’60’s and on
into the 1980’s. My Mom sure hated
Saturdays, she was afraid of what my
buddies and I might drag home that day.
That’s how I made extra money after
school, how ’bout you?
Dear BF writer: Why complain that the seller doesn’t mention mileage. Of what relevance is it?? It’s a fifty eight year old car where low miles from decades of neglect are as bad as high miles of use. When I see a junker being offered with a claim of low miles, I just figure the seller is a liar and will say anything for a sale.
Chop the top 3 inches, channel the body another 3″, put some Steelie wheels with smoothie hubcaps, a flathead motor and bam, classic lead sled
These were obsolete when they were new but sold like hotcakes – at least by AMC standards. I remember when these 1st-gen Americans were common as dirt. They frequently changed hands as $50 used cars once they were several years old. (The flipper selling this one probably picked it up for a couple of hundred bucks and couldn’t be bothered to clean it up or take pictures of the interior, let alone the underside.)
My mom bought her 60 deluxe two door for 300$ in 64. The only other car she could have bought was a 56 vw for the same dollars in the local paper that week. Ramblers were cheap back then.
My MIL’s first car. Mom said her father
bought it for her and that she didn’t much
like it because it was a 3-speed/overdrive
car. Sure would like to get my hands on
this one. Wouldn’t take much to make
her road ready either…just fix the brakes,
clean the tank, service the engine and
cooling system, and you’d have a nice
classic at a down to earth price. As
AMC Guy pointed out, rust out is a serious issue with these cars and though
I don’t see anything much on the body, it’s
the floor and trunk pans and the frame
rails that scare me the most. These were
unibodied so that if the tin worm got the
floors, wouldn’t be long before the car
itself would literally break in half. The
ad, or lack thereof, says this car has an
automatic tranny but I don’t recall the
company that made it. Despite all that,
this car would be a great uncle-neice
project for me to get something for us
to cruise at Old Town over in Kissemee
when we get the car running and safe
to drive daily. Note to self: switch to
electric wipers! Vaccuum units really
really suck in a Florida style rainstorm!
Rust can be vicious on these, no doubt about it. The lack of serious rot in the body is encouraging but any prospective buyer will want to check carefully underneath.
The automatic transmission is a 3-speed Borg-Warner unit which AMC started using in 1958, continuing through 1971 after which the Chrysler Torqueflite was employed. (Prior to 1958 Nash/AMC offered the GM Hydramatic.)
Electric wipers were not offered by the factory on these early Rambler Americans.
Cool little Rambler, I had one a few years back. Easy to restore and fun to drive.
Love this car. Thanks for featuring it.
And to everyone out there: I know the differences between most body styles, however, what is the difference between two door sedan and club sedan or club coupe?
I had an 84 Citation II notchback. The notchback was referred to as a “club coupe” in the brochures.
Fancy name [ glamour marketing like “pillared hardtop instead of “sedan’] for a bog stock two door notch or was there, at one time an actual difference ?
Not being snarky, Bill, have wanted to know for years now and what better place than BF to ask ?
dweezilaz, generally I try to describe the cars by the names given to them by the manufacturer. When consulting the sales brochure for the 1959 American, I saw that they were called Club Sedans. There were no four-door Americans in 1959, only a 2 door and a station wagon. In 1960, a 4 door was added known as a 4-door sedan and they still referred to the 2-door American as a Club Sedan.
Thanks for that.
I like your process. Old car ads and brochures are a wealth of information.
And they sort of turn up the heat for a potential customer seeing other people “living the life” with a new car in all the pictures.
One of my favorites is an ad for the 59 Ford wagons pictured at a hot air balloon event. It hits on a lot of different levels.
I was told that the reason the rear wheels are where they are is that they had to be moved forward to accommodate the gas tank. Is that true?
Despite having spent a considerable amount of time underneath these cars in the past I cannot recall how much clearance there is between the rear axle and gas tank. I have the factory shop manual for 1961 (same basic car with restyled outer body) but it doesn’t have a photo showing the car from underneath. It’s possible there are underside photos of a similar car somewhere in the archives here.
’50s here.
the American (’64?) I had wuz a big square box…the corners were rounded. Might have had the same motor (170 ci 6?).
It kept goin into the ’70s w/a nice straight line (called 440?).
This would make an interesting sleeper….. Find a high performance engine/trans combo that will fit without a lot of surgery ( I’ve seen several of the wagons with SBCs up to 383 cu in in them ) , go with steel wheels and dog dish caps hiding the disc brakes and coilovers with rack #& pinion steering, put in a decent set of bucket seats or re-upholster the reclining originals ( which were great for drive in movies, etc ! ). With a nice quiet exhaust, no one would know until you opened the cut-outs that you were about ready to blow off their muscle car.
I hate hearing and/or seeing ideas like that. A sbc in anything BUT a Chevy (or another generic motors product) is an absolute abomination.
Ok, put an AMC 390 4 speed combo in it.
Loved that engine in my 1969 AMX. Lots of torque.
That car has the Borg Warner T35 Automatic Transmission with the reintroduced 196 L-head engine. The OHV 196 6 cylinder with a single bbl Carter or Holley carburetor was available as an option. The manual 3 speed transmission used in the Rambler American and the Rambler 6 was the Borg Warner T96c. On the 1958-62 Rambler American, Rambler 6 and the Rambler Classic, if you swap an engine from a parts car, you need to make sure the donor car is equipped with the same drivetrain as the one receiving the engine. If the car receiving the engine has an automatic transmission and is between a 56 to 62 model, the donor 56 to 62 year model car must also have an automatic. If the donor car is a 63 to 65 year model, the donor car’s engine will fit a 56 to 62 American, Rambler 6 and Classic with an automatic, even if the 63 to 65 donor comes with a manual transmission. A 1956 to 62 Rambler with a 6 cylinder and manual transmission comes with a crankshaft that will not mate with the automatic transmissions.