The other day, I was watching Tom Cotter’s Barn Find Hunter on YouTube, and Mr. Cotter (welcome back, welcome back…wrong spelling) and his son were touring a huge collection of cars that will be auctioned online over the course of the next several months. Upon finding a nice Rambler Classic, he said “who wanted a Rambler? Nobody wanted a Rambler. And now people like Ramblers, including me.” That about sums up the way people feel about that independent from Kenosha. Only 3,499 1965 Ambassador Convertibles were sold in that boom year of 1965, a year where AMC almost went bust trying to match the Big Three in as many corners of the market as they could. These days, however, why wouldn’t you want to cruise around in an Ambassador Convertible? Barn Finds reader Curvette thought enough of it to send it our way after finding it on craigslist in Washtucna, Washington; the seller says it’s a one-owner car, and the asking price is $10,000.
Aside from that, the advertisement gives us few details. Here it is verbatim: Fully loaded, [A]mbassador convertible, one owner. My father-in-law had bought this brand new from the dealer. Needs a new top and some love. The paint is worn through in places, and dings and dents abound, but it looks like a solid driver, and there’s nothing wrong with an imperfect paint job. Ten- and twenty-footers are fun, and you can’t expect a droptop to be perfect for ten grand. Unless, perhaps, it’s a Rambler.
But let’s pass judgment later when we can survey all the details. While you could buy a six-cylinder Ambassador in 1965, the original owner of this one eschewed the inlines for the most powerful AMC V8 you could buy, the 270-horsepower 327, which was hooked to the “Flash-O-Matic” (cough…Borg-Warner) automatic transmission. You may have noticed the air-conditioning compressor atop the 327, and perhaps the power steering pump on the driver’s side. Rambler was about five years ahead of everyone in the industry (and tied with Cadillac) in introducing dual-circuit master cylinders, and this one is bolted to a power brake booster, too.
The interior looks very presentable, with a nice steering wheel and dash pad. It doesn’t have the “Shift-Command Flash-O-Matic,” as that required the bucket seats and console, but nobody needed to manually shift their automatic Ambassador. It wasn’t a race car, regardless of how much power it had under the hood.
But is it worth $10,000? On one hand, there aren’t a lot of Ambassador Convertibles to go around, so if this is the car you want, this isn’t a bad example. It’s never a bad idea to inspect a craisglist car, and maybe you can set a price in your head and take that much cash to set on the hood. Who knows? You could be driving around this weekend in the best Kenosha had to offer in 1965, a car that even Tom Cotter would approve of these days.
Is the dog included in the sale?
Kenosha’s finest. Where’s Howard to opine? I like this, you definitely won’t see yourself coming and going.
Is “opine” a good thing? MilwauKenosha, to be exact. It was “our” finest, to the tune of almost $3400 bucks. It was the most expensive Rambler, with a basic sedan around $2grand. ( your findings may differ) Most Ambassador buyers spent around $2995 for modestly equipped cars. The A/C alone added $340, considered cheap at the time, and no, not many manually shifted Ambassadors, although I’m sure some were ordered that way. Again, as if the convertible wasn’t rare enough, not many red cars were sold except for fire depts. and A/C on a convertible is a bit rare too. A set of Magnum 500s would really make this car pop. Clown wheels, not so much.
BY THE WAY, I do want to apologize for my remarks on Fox body cars, I can only assume by your handle, you like them, and hope we are cool.
A nice clean Rambler with A/C that has survived.
This same model was featured on an episode of “Roadworthy Rescues” last season.
Ok, black paint with a red interior. And I like the steel wheels and little caps, just not red on a black car.
I’d drive it. I like the idea of cash on the hood as a negotiating tool.