I miss the era when vehicle companies redesigned vehicles more often than they do today. I realize that it can be bad for those who like the latest styles and then have to keep paying for the latest and greatest, but it sure is fun seeing all of the two-year designs from back then. This 1965 Rambler Ambassador 990-H is posted here on craigslist in Auburn, Washington, and they’re asking $17,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
Most of you know that the fifth-generation Rambler Ambassador was only made for the 1965 and 1966 model years, and that the easy way to tell them apart is that the ’65 cars have the wraparound rear window as seen here. The ’66 models had a flatter rear window that didn’t wrap around on the sides. I prefer the 1966 models, but that’s like saying you like red better than green. There is no bad choice for this generation of the Ambassador. Here’s a 1965 Rambler Ambassador brochure.
We’ve seen a few 1965 Rambler Ambassadors here on Barn Finds, and one was a similar two-door hardtop, but with a painted black top, and it wasn’t an “H” trim level car. The Ambassador came in a base level 880, then the mid-trim 990, with the 990-H as the top trim level. I’m a big fan of stacked headlights, and this generation has some of the best.
Frost White paint is a nice contrast to the beautiful teal interior in the 990-H, which included “slim bucket seats” with a center armrest. The interior photos are a little lacking in this listing, unfortunately. We don’t get to see a driver’s seat view of the wheel and dash, but the interior looks pretty much like new from what is shown in the many detailed photos. In fact, the front seats were reupholstered in NOS fabric, so that’s why. The back seat looks perfect (no word on whether the hat goes with the sale…), as does the trunk, and they even included underside photos, showing what appears to be a rock-solid car.
It’s always a win to have an engine photo, especially in a craigslist or facebook marketplace listing. This one is AMC’s 327-cu.in. OHV V8, which, with the 4-barrel carb had 270 horsepower and 360 lb-ft of torque when new. Power passes through a BorgWarner Flash-O-Matic three-speed automatic and sends power to the rear wheels. The seller says this one has rebuilt heads, a new timing chain and gears, a rebuilt radiator, a new water pump, a new heater control valve, a new Holley 4-barrel carb, a new fuel pump, and more. The AC has been converted to R134a, and as almost always happens, it leaks, so it will need to be checked out. Are any of you fans of the fourth-generation Ambassador?
Super cool Scotty. The cars in the brochure are really sharp. The CL ad was deleted, so it seems this car flew off the shelf.
I realize some of you “Big 3 ” types laugh, this is the best they could do? And yes, this was the best that came out of Milwaukenosha. This is the last Ambassador to be called a Rambler, 1966 it was the AMC Ambassador, and never meant to compete with the Impalas and LTDs. George Romney still believed smaller cars were the answer, and threw everything they had at this car. Thing was, AMC couldn’t shake it’s Rambler image with a mere name change, and a lot of people missed out on a truly wonderful car. I read about 64,000 Ambassadors were sold in 1965, no call-out on how many were the 990H, but it couldn’t have been very many. Certainly not the million Fords and Chevys, but kept us working. While the author lists the updates, he failed to mention the most important one, the electric wiper update! Not sure if “deleted” means sold, but someone will find out what great cars they really were.
The ’65 and ’66 Rambler Ambassadors are great looking cars. I always liked the stacked headlights. Until reading Scottys write up, I never realized the difference in the back windows between the two years. And I’m usually pretty good at spotting stuff like like. Add that to the list of new things I learned on Barnfinds that I didn’t know before. Nice write up Scotty, thank you .
Too bad AMC didn’t make it. It would be interesting to see what their modern offerings would be.
Call me a pessimist, here is my $.02: Unfortunately, due to overzealous government mandates, manufacturer unions, and the fierce competition, they’d probably make the same generic, unreliable crap that everyone else does. And warantees will be useless because of most parts on nationwide backorder.