The 1958 through 1960 Ramblers were updated from the 1956 and 1957 models, with more sharp-edged styling and all-important tailfins. They would be the last of the 1950s-era styling as the sleek new Rambler Classic would come along in 1961. This 1960 Rambler Six Super can be found listed here on eBay in Bothell, Washington, and the current bid price is $5,400, but the reserve isn’t met yet.
This is the one you want. Not just a 1960 Rambler Six, but this particular car, as it looks like it’s ready for any car show. The 1960 models had a thinner C-pillar and both the rear window and windshield were slanted a bit for a sleeker look. The new-for’60 split-bumper front design was unique and the tailfins were a bit smaller.
The Super was right in the middle, between the lower-level Deluxe and the top-level Custom. This car doesn’t have power steering or power brakes so those were still options in this era for this trim level. I looked at a very similar car but in red a few years ago and it looked almost as nice, but it smelled like gas the whole time I drove it, and it was a bear to drive without power steering. I didn’t remember that from my other non-power-steering vehicles.
This particular example appears to be in outstanding condition both inside and out. Even the underside. The seats look perfect both in the front and in the rear, and yes, this car has the famous/infamous fold-down seats. The seller says that this car has had three owners and is an unrestored original car, that’s amazing. It’s hard enough to keep anything looking this nice after over six decades, let alone a vehicle. Rambler sold over 314,000 of these cars in 1960, and this one has a three-speed manual with a column shift.
The super clean engine compartment is home to an AMC Typhoon 196-cu.in. OHV inline-six, which would have been factory-rated at 127 horsepower and 180 lb-ft of torque when new. As expected, this one runs smoothly and quietly. This car has always been garaged when not in use and it has a mere 37,235 miles on it. Have any of you owned one?
Would be a great playmate for my “new” Studie!!
The authors interest in this stuff defines who he is. We get along so well, partially because of our common interests. Asian cars about the one we don’t share, but his Rambler posts always hit home. While he resides in the Midwest, not really anywhere near MilwauKenosha, but a kindred attraction, none the less.
Naturally, in the midwest, Ramblers were everywhere. The further away, the less you saw, and we, as kids on trips, made it our BUSINESS to notice those things. Guy across the ally, his mom had ’59, V8, 4 barrel, it was the car of choice for cruising. Grandpa had a ’61, almost like this only automatic. This was the car, that the trunnions rusted, and even though the car had like 40K, and looked great on the outside, nobody would attempt a repair, and HE JUNKED IT! The manual steering isn’t as tough as you’d think, it’s not a Mack truck, like I drove with manual steering. The steering wheel is oversized, and the geometry of the steering makes it tolerable, although, PS is the way to go.
These were the cars you’d buy for $100 bucks, as winter beaters while the MGB sat inside. Great heaters( almost as big as the motor) and until they rusted, were great cars. How this car got from Wisconsin to Washington, is noteworthy, probably by train, and I was elated to find out, in my little town, there used to be a Nash/Rambler dealer. Long gone, of course, but makes me wonder, how many Ramblers are stashed in all those garages. Every once in a while, one comes out, and they look just like this. Great find AND, always fun to watch someone try and find the dipstick, most important on a Rambler. Give up? It’s connected to the oil filler cap and hope it doesn’t need a clutch.
BTW, I happen to know, the author FINALLY got to test drive a car like this, and wasn’t too impressed.
My Dad had a 58 3 speed on the column
Great car
My grandparents drove one as their Sunday afternoon excursion car Their other vehicles were Dodge panel trucks used for the plumbing and heating business
Good memories of those cars
I consider myself a 1956 unrestored original…
Wow that’s clean and solid. One of my first cars was a ’65 Rambler
The first car I remember my mom having was a white 1960 Rambler station wagon, straight 6, manual trans, no power steering or brakes. After she would parallel park it, she would sit in the car a little bit resting her arms. I also remember when the outside door handles got hard to open it would hurt your fingers due to the ridging on the handles and having to push up on them.
My late wife and I owned a ’62 2-door
sedan in the early ’80s. I traded my
gas swilling ’73 Ford Galaxie 2-door
hardtop for it title for title. And when
my ex wife left me for her new boyfriend, she took my nearly finished
’73 Ranchero pickup and left me the
Rambler. I got the last laugh though,
that little car was easy to fix and boy
did it sip the gas. Used to get about
28 city and 33 highway. The only real
trouble I had with it was having the
tranny rebuilt when I found out that
she wouldn’t go into reverse. Seems
like the young lady I traded with popped the reverse band and kept
mum about it. Cost me $273 to get it
done, but other than that, I was very
happy with the car and it served us
well for 3 years before the U-joints
broke inside the torque tube. I had
plans to fix it, but I had my first heat
attack in ’84 and sold it to one of my
friends to help pay my medical bills.
That top mounted oil filter was a god
send that made changing the oil a snap. Sure wish I had it now. I sure
wouldn’t be spending $100 a pop for
oil changes!
Howard I didn’t know you were a ramblin gamblin man
Howard you are right. They were not too hard to steer. My dad bought this same car, only a push button automatic station wagon. Seats made in to a bed. He bought it from an “estate sale”. In about 1967. The other car he looked at was a Buick Wildcat. Shiny, luxurious, fast. But practical Dad got the Rambler. It replaced his 1951 Cadillac that my big brother had totaled. Dad loved the Rambler. We drove it everywhere. Never a problem. He’d start the engine and let it idle when people would come over just to show them how quiet it was. I was disappointed that it was so slow. I thought since it was nine years newer than the Caddy that it should be faster. Shows how little I new about vehicles back then. Sold it in 1971 when his Dad died and we inherited his 1966 Ambassador. Also a great reliable car. Maybe my dad liked Ramblers so much because we used to live in Milwaukee
My grandfather had a light green one like this, only his was a push button automatic. My mother used it quite a lot.
My Uncle,who lived in Cedar Rapids,Iowa had a wagon
version of this,in a Beige color.Drove it out to California a
few times.
Always thought it was a sharp looking car.
Why are you even here? This site is not about the hip, latest thing.
I just sold a ’59 Super. Same engine but with the 2BBL setup and pushbutton auto. I’d much rather have had a standard like this, as the BW 2-spd autos were very torque-inefficient. In ’59 the C-pillars were still beefy enough to anchor a modern shoulder belt. Of course, the thing to always check on these is rust, particularly around the cowl. Weatherstripping was not AMC’s specialty in those years, and the front door seals are particularly troublesome to source. I had a ’65 American back in the day that would climb hills like a jeep. All I have left is my ’64 Ambassador, which has wonderful 327 V8 power and way too many switches.
I learned to drive in a ’68 6-cyl, 3-on-the-tree, no power ANYTHING Chevelle Nomad Custom. Piece of cake. Would buy this in a heartbeat.
Only a mother could love a child so ugly best wishes to the next keeper of this thing
It’s beautiful.
I had one given to me by a neighbor when I was 16… Folding frt seats, 3 in the tree, 6 banger. Got me to highschool, to my part time job, and my first date. It was a unibody and had rusted away so bad that the frt suspension had nothing left to attach to … My father welded it up for best he could but I would wear out a right frt tire every couple months.
One of my older brothers had a red one, 6 cylinder automatic with p/s & p/b. great little car.
I always get a kick out of the people commenting on a Rambler that they used to have. Did everybody and their family own one? BTW, I had a ’68 Ambassador.
I owned three Ambassadors: a ’66 880 4-door, a ’67 DPL convertible and a ’67 DPL 2-door hardtop. What I’d give to own all three again today.
We owned this exact same car5 except in metallic blue from new in SoCal until 1975 when the unibody sagged so badly that the front doors wouldn’t latch any more. I believe it had 359,000 miles on it with no major repairs. It also had overdrive. One of 6 Nash/Ramblers that my parents owned.
My first car was one of these, can’t remember if it was a deluxe or super, white roof, light blue body. I paid $250 for it in 1965 when I was a junior in college. Not bad for a five year old car with no rust and decent tires. One day in the summer of 1966, while driving with my wife and infant son, it lost oil pressure. Filled it with 50 weight oil and traded it on a 1981 Falcon 4-door wagon, six cylinder/Fordomatic. The Ford cost $800, less the $150 trade-in allowance. My dad said that these still had babbitt bearings on the con rods, making frequent oil changes a must. Apparently previous owners neglected that item.
I had no trouble steering the thing, even though I probably topped out at 5-5 and 115 pounds back then. It also had a king pin and trunnion front suspension, also requiring frequent lubrication. The neighbor had a nearly identical car and one day the left front wheel had about 5 inches of camber. The lower trunnion had come apart.
They don’t make ’em like they used to. Try to find a zerk fitting on a modern car (my 59 TR3 has about 26 of them, including the water pump and rear wheel bearings) and oil changes happen at 8,000 miles instead of 2,500 back in the sixties. Unless they have an older car from this era, a driver under 60 probably has no idea how maintenance intensive these cars were. They were considered almost worn out at 60,000 miles and one with more than 100K was newsworthy. Today, some cars on the front row of used car lots have 75-90,000 miles on them.
I’m nearing 80 and still do almost all of the work on the TR and my other old stuff (finding it increasingly difficult to return to an upright position lately) but can’t imagine having to put out this level of effort on my daily drivers.
My dad purchased a new 1961 Rambler Classic,it was the only new car he ever bought until 2009 when he bought a mercury milan. He didn’t want power steering, so the dealer removed it from the car he picked! My mother never let him live that one down.It had Push buttons for the automatic trans and if I remember correctly you pushed the neutral button to start it. served him well until 1973 when he replaced it with a Plymouth scamp.
my dad did the same thing with a 59 Ford Fairlane 500. My 4-10 mom cussed him out pretty good. I took my driving test in it in 61 and, at 5-4 and 110 pounds, had a real great time parallel parking that thing.
I had a 1957 Ambassador? with the 327 auto. That thing rocked until the metal worm ate it until it folded in the middle. Surprised a lot of chevy guys.
Roger C.
My mother had a ’68 Rogue, red, black vinal top, V8, automatic, power everything, went like a bat out of hell. Always garaged, in New England, but rarely driven in the snow, sold it when she turned 79 and decided to stop driving, to a guy who had been pestering her to sell it to him for years. She liked it because it went fast, and she could see all four corners of it from the driver’s seat, and she could find it in a parking lot, since there were not any others. She bought it used in 1970 for $1300, Chevy dealer threw in two used, but good, snow tires to cinch the deal. I think he did not want it on his lot as a distraction to the new Chevy’s he was trying to sell. A far better car than the competing Nova.
good car to get and put a frame under it and it could last a while
I think it already has lasted a while…a long while – no need to put a frame under it !
My Dad had one….. green with a white roof. Learned to drive on it. Don’t remember if it was a Super or Deluxe. My Dad got a ’65 and let me have the ’60 to use at the Nike Site I was stationed at near Herminie, PA, near PGH.
In October 1966 I skidded on gravel on a curve, on a back road near Johnstown, PA. and slid directly into a cement bridge abutment of a one lane bridge. I saw the hood crumple up in front of me. Needless to say it got totaled. Only bruised my thumb.
I had a red 1964 Ambassador . It was a 2 door hardtop with a 287 V8 engine. It was a three speed on the column with overdrive.
Transmission rebuilt twice (Borg-Warner) and had to replace the engine with not very many miles.
The nicest option that it had was the front seats. They would go all the way back until they touched the rear seat.
I don’t miss it at all. Actually it was completely out of my memory bank until I saw this one and had a flashback.
I considered them junk, although I still own a huge porcelain double sided Rambler dealer sign that i have displayed on one of my barns. I love the sign, not the cars!
Just my opinion!
Absolutly beautiful. Better styling than there 64 model run.
My Dad ordered a new 1960 Custom sedan in gunmetal gray with pearl-gray trim from Kenosha Rambler with whitewalls, BW automatic, two-barrel carburetor, radio and rear speaker. (The speaker wasn’t installed, to my dismay.) I wanted the four-door hardtop sedan instead, but couldn’t talk my Dad into it for reasons never learned. As I worked for AMC, there was a substantial discount. 7 years later we took delivery on a new Ambassador DPL sedan with the 290 V8.
Auction update: this one ended at $10,100 and no sale.
For the record, the nice red one that I looked at four years ago was $4,000.
Drove a 59 wagon off and on for a while. Not a bad put-a-long fellow. The one thing I most remember is how long it took my dumb @$$ to find the oil dip stick as it was attached to the oil fill cap..lol. I traded it for a 73 Matador wagon.