Available in a dizzying array of body styles, including two-door sedans, four-door sedans, two-door convertibles, two-door station wagons, and four-door station wagons, the second-generation Rambler American was a nice upgrade from the previous cars. The seller has this 1963 Rambler American 440 two-door hardtop listed here on eBay in Gurnee, Illinois. There is a $3,500 buy-it-now price listed or you can make an offer.
Clearly a project car, this Rambler American doesn’t look too bad on the exterior, or more so than a lot of project cars that roll across our cyber desks here at Barn Finds. The seller gets a gold star for providing a few dozen great photos, well done! They show almost every square inch of this car, and some of the underside photos show that there will be a lot of rust work to do.
The 440 was the top model other than the hardtop 440-H, which I believe this car is with its bucket seats and center console. Although, there is no “-H” after the 440, so maybe this isn’t a 440-H? Below this model would be the base 220 and the mid-range 330.
The headliner and door panels need help as do the seats, but all of that should be able to be repaired by almost any good upholstery shop. The seats look good overall both front and back, but, the incredibly rusty floorboards will need a lot of help first. The big thing with this car, other than being a two-door hardtop, is the Twin-Stick shifter in that center console.
Here’s a note paraphrased from the Marlin Auto Club regarding the Twin-Stick: the “transmission has a bigger gap between second and third than a normal three-speed with overdrive. This was so the transmission could be shifted as a five-speed — 1, 2, 2+OD, 3, 3+OD. The normal three-speed with OD was shifted like a four-speed. The Twin-Stick shifter had the kick-down button on the three-speed lever to facilitate shifting five speeds as well.”
The standard engine in the 440 series is AMC’s 195.6-cu.in. OHV inline-six, which would have had 125 horsepower. The 440-H had 135 hp. Sadly, this one runs but has a bent pushrod, according to the seller, so add that to the to-do list. For sure, the Twin-Stick option makes this car worth saving, but it’ll be a big project. Any thoughts on this ’63 Rambler American?
Nice to see listings like this that are affordable being featured.
There’s one of these in our neighborhood I noticed one day, when
a garage door was open.Someday I’ll catch up with the owner.
There was a story in Road&Track years ago,about a guy who,
as a teen was given one of these.He hated it,& tried to kill it,but it
just wouldn’t die.Later on in life,his Dad told him that he knew about
the abuse his son inflicted on it.It was a true story.
I’ll be darned, foolishly questioning the author, I thought ’62 was the last year for this style. ’63 Rambler was Car of the Year, I thought partially because of the “new” American, but that was in ’64. This car still had “frumpy” Rambler styling, the ’64 was a whole new car. The “Twin-Stick” makes me laugh. I wonder how many truck drivers got jobs because of the Rambler Twin Stick.
“Can you drive this thing, Marv?” “Sure can, pa had an old Rambler we practiced on”,,”Great, you’re hired, get going”,,it literally wasn’t much tougher than that.
Not to sound redundant, but I feel time has passed on these types of projects. Years ago, couple hundred bucks, OR FREE,, clean it up, fix the motor, sounds simple, no? Not today. No bids= no interest. Shame,,for some kid in HS, be a great project, shows some individuality,,if you could get them away from their phones, that is. Couldn’t handle 1 stick, much less 2. Never did I ever think it would be an effective anti-theft device, but here we are. Cool find.
’63 was the only year for this hardtop. Gotta wonder why AMC spent so much money tooling up for it.
1963 Rambler Classic was COTY.
I didn’t know the American could even be had with the Twin Stick. I knew Ramblers had them at least through ’66.
Howard, I beg you, stop watching your favorite news channel and go speak to a young person.
“And that’s the way it is” was my last trusted news anchor. SPEAK to a young person? They don’t talk. More like text them, and I don’t have texting capability, oh, the shame,,,
SO YOU LIKED THE COMMUNIST SYMPATHISER.. HMMM.. That explains a lot about most every post you make. constantly critical.. my way or the hiway type. And that’s the way it is.
You have to let him rant or he will go on and on. No one seems to know more or have a one sided opinion.
This thing cries out for an…..
6bt and 6sp stick swap.. .
Had a 62 American. Motor was a flathead 6. Drove it through high school. Not much of a chick magnet.
The flathead was the base motor in those, the OHV the option. BTW those OHVs were a clever adaptation from the flathead to OHV, as the lower end and bore/stroke dimensions are the same.
If it’s only a pushrod (the straight thing that operates valves), that’s quite easy to deal with; an outfit in Oregon can make any pushrod of any size for any car engine…even make them adjustable. If it were a connecting rod, that would all but sign that engine to a spot in the recycle bin.
I’m not a huge AMC fan, but I’ll admit this to be an interesting rare find. Somebody somewhere should have resources and desire to revive it. After all, somebody revived the sole Jet convertible when it was in even worse shape.
Not rare at all. I have two of them. Given the soft market, ugly duckling status, and overall condition the car is well overpriced by $3K.
Pushrods are available. Bent pushrod means a valve job cause someone tried to start it with bad gas and sugared up the valves. This is a $500 car.
I agree with your valuation in general, but I’d be in at $1200 or so if it was in my area. Can’t ship it or go get it and make the math work in my head. All that aside, I love these and my parents had one prior to me coming into the world.
Was this sitting in a field with the windows down? The floors are basically gone and the rest of the interior has a lot of moisture and mildew damage. I was sure hoping to see a V8 under the hood but oh well..
Looking at the drivers door panel, I’d say the left one was at least partially down .
Worst part about this post is the accuracy. Second worst is the gushing language. Third is some of the replies. The car IS a 440H. This is indicated by C pillar badges, two holes in the trunk lid that show where the missing H emblem had been, the console, and the long snorkel on the air filter also indicating the Carter WCD 2 BBL which came standard on the 440H and produced 138 horsepower NOT 125. This is not a barn find as the presence of vegetation intertwined with chrome suggests a field or forrest find. Sadly, this is a $500 car, and, sadly its owner will likely hold out for a while, fail to part it out, rising from more misguided ideas as to value, and will finally crush it. Kudos though to owner for great pics. I have 2 now in progress and no room for a third.
Looking at the the trunk lid pictures, I see two holes next to the “440” emblem. Perhaps the “H” just fell off.
This would make a cool hot rod, but the amount of rust is a no go for me.
i believe this is a unibody i would be concerned about the floors rusty and the structure of unibody under the car could be a problem other than that awesome fixer upper
Always wondered if Ford copied some of the styling for the MK1 Cortina.
Definitely is a 440H. Very rough condition and very overpriced. Parts are scarce and the overdrive solenoid, governor and vacuum switch are far too expensive to make it worthwhile to resurrect the shifter, as cool as it is. Just finishing up a restomod of another 440H. Long and expensive process.
AMC should have put their 327 V8 in this car along with a 4-speed (scrap the Twin Stick), give their customers something to remember!
I owned one of these back in ’73, paid $400 for it., same body style and model but minus the H. Yes, the 440 2 dr hrdtp was a real slug back in the day but got you from point A to point B just fine. My 440 was a column shift auto, bench seat with am radio and heater, was Beige exterior with gold top and side coves. Sold it a year later to a friend of my brothers who not long after the sale got drunk one night and drove it into a bridge pillar, needless to say it was totaled. These are quite rare today. I do hope someone will save this from the crusher and bring it back. I also agree with Sean, this is overpriced by a good $3k.
SO YOU LIKED THE COMMUNIST SYMPATHISER.. HMMM.. That explains a lot about most every post you make. constantly critical.. my way or the hiway type. And that’s the way it is.
my dad gave me 1 as well.
I was a lill shy w/it as they were a #4 company & a lill stodgy to the other kids.
Scotty tells me the vert wuz a 2 dor so mine musta been (thought it mighta been 4). So to over come I did the teen impression thing. Top stowed I’d jump off the porch, one bound acc the brace tween trunk and folded vert’n hop into the driver’s shoutin ‘cowboy’ “Yeeeehaw” to drive away. Black top (a wind snag dropped to pop a hole in it) white body, it wuz a bit dulled 7, 8 yrs later when I got it.
Amazing motor. I’d heard the brag “I can balance a nickle on the hood” so accomplished it to capture ona “Swinger” (polaroid instant camera of the day). Motor was so quiet they laughed at me (as a ‘stall’) when stopping at traffic lights in that lill town. Perfect size inside’n out. Love to have the same exact car today !
Huh ??
Golly geee
Projects like this are long passed. I think it is fair to say 80% of car folks are in it for the $ return when it flips. Cable TV. The internet have turned the car hobby into a money frenzy. I have way too many cars that I accumulated over the decades of my life, some are now unaffordable for me to even consider restoring. Running complete or whatever. Parting things out is a waste of time as the headaches mount and the shipping costs exceed the value. Yup this is a neat car that would be great in an eclectic collection like mine but times have changed. Car rebuilders in for passion are gone, money rules the highway.the next stop for this little tin fellow will be the same road most of mine will take, a claw onto a conveyor and a drop into oblivion. The current owner will wake up and hang the console on the garage wall with other trophies from neatos past and move on.
Had a 63 Ambassador 990- H Station wagon(sleeper) 327 4bbl. Twin stick. Posi. Paid $ 900.00 at the AMC dealer in Modesto, Ca. in 1968. Kicking myself for selling it.