Does Anyone Miss AMC/Rambler?

[Stude Shoo-wop!]

AMC/Rambler, being THE last Independent on the block, does hold a special place in my heart. Studebaker will always take precedence but that will not change the fact that they were the second to last man standing. Point is, does anyone else here miss their inevitable demise and/or have any stories they would like to tell about their cars?

Don't be shy, go ahead and spill the beans!

[STEWDI]

A cousin on my dad's side bot a new plain Rambler American shortly after a great aunt on my mother's side bot a new '59 Lark Deluxe 4 door. Got rides in both as about at 10/11 year old. l could not understand why Dad's cousin bot the Rambler when he could have bot a Lark. He was a protestant minister and l put it down to not caring much about cars. He did say that he got satisfactory service out of his old Rambler. So, ok.

A neighbour gave me a ride to high school one cold winters day in the mid sixties. He had a nice looking high-end model of a Rambler Classic Station Wagon. The streets were frozen and rutted and that car rattled sooooo much that it made my Dad's "rubber frame" '62 Gt Hawk seem like the rock of Gibraltar by comparison.

Rambler got the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award in significant part because of the "new" one-piece construction of the side sheet metal of there cars. Well - go look up the Automobile Quarterly article about the Rockne. It had that technology in it's construction back in 1932 model year!

l had a Hornet for 3 years in the early '80's. not a bad car, but interior was plastic-y and the front fenders and windshield header rusted out by the time it was 6 years old. l was enamoured enuff to buy ONE share of AMC - and l still have it. Good conversation piece in a frame.

[sweetolbob]

Drove a Gremlin for a while, always like the AMX and built a CJ5 Jeep into a neat offroad vehicle with a 4.3 Liter GM V-6, fiberglass body and body and suspension lift. Miss the Jeep can't say the same for AMC/Rambler.

Bob

[Lark8girl]

From 1973 thru 1977 I was a new car AMC/Jeep salesman at Fort Wayne AMC/Jeep. Yes I do miss these cars , they found unique places in the marketplace and were in demand during the time I sold them. AMC had cars that were Home Runs, and cars that missed the mark, but always a reliable value.

In addition to Many new demos I drove I owned, 74 Gremlin, 79 Concord, and 77 Pacer.

Husband of Lark VIII girl.

[studegary]

Studebaker quit making cars and eventually went away. American Motors was absorbed by Chrysler and cars continued (especially Jeeps)[Also Renault was mixed in there.]. This is a big difference.

My best comparison is in 1964. My father and I both bought new Fury hardtops. My father-in-law bought a new Ambassador hardtop. I put 33K miles on mine in ten months and traded it in on a '65 Sport Fury hardtop. It was a great car, but not a fair comparison to the other two. My father and FiL were both about the same age, the cars were both garaged in NYS, they both used their cars about the same - their only cars, commute to work, go shopping, etc. My father's Fury was in great shape when he bought a new 1975 Dodge Coronet. My FiL's Ambassador had many mechanical problems and the interior had many failed areas by the time that he traded it in on a new 1972 Ambassador hardtop, which wasn't much better.

[Milaca]

The last true AMC car was the Eagle station wagon, which ended production on December 14, 1987. These may have been the first 'crossover SUV', as you may recall that they had four-wheel drive and high ground clearance.


Interestingly, Jeep history keeps repeating itself. It was Willys-Overland that created 'Jeep' during WWII which it manufactured along with Willys passenger cars after the war.

Willys-Overland merged with Kaiser Motors in 1953 and Henry J. Kaiser soon phased out the production of Kaiser and Willys passenger cars (in 1955) and concentrated on the Jeep brand as it had no direct competition from other manufacturers and therefor was very profitable.

AMC bought out Jeep from Kaiser in 1970 and eventually discontinued various models of passenger cars due to a lack of profit, but Jeep manufacturing continued as it was very profitable.

Chrysler bought out AMC in 1987 and quickly ended production of the last remaining model of AMC passenger car, but continued Jeep production. And now recently, Chrysler has discontinued various models of it's own passenger cars (Dodge Viper, Dodge Dart, and Chrysler 200) and focusing more on Jeep production as it is the most profitable.

This makes me wonder....why did Willy-Overland merge with Kaiser?
Despite Jeep having been owned by four automotive manufactures (and ultimately owned by foreign companies based in Germany (Daimler-Chrysler) and Italy (Fiat Chrysler), it keeps on going. It would appear to me that Willys-Overland had the best thing since sliced-bread! Despite the many ups & downs of the automotive industry, the sales of Jeeps have been strong for 75+ years. Amazing!

[6hk71400]

The U.S. Army contacted 135 companies to create working prototypes of a four-wheel-drive reconnaissance car. Two companies responded: American Bantam in Butler PA and Willy Overland in Toledo. The Army set a seemingly impossible deadline of 49 days to supply a working prototype. Willys asked for more time, but was refused. The bankrupt American Bantam Car Company had no engineering staff left on the payroll and asked Karl Probst from Detroit. After turning down Bantam's initial request, Probst responded to an Army request and began work on July 17, 1940, initially without salary.

Probst laid out full plans for the Bantam prototype, known as the BRC or Bantam Reconnaissance Car, in just two days, working up a cost estimate the next day. Bantam's bid was submitted, complete with blueprints, on July 22. While much of the vehicle could be assembled from off-the-shelf automotive parts, custom four-wheel drivetrain components were to be supplied by Spicer. The hand-built prototype was completed and driven to Camp Holabird, MD, for Army testing September 21. The vehicle met all the Army's criteria except engine torque.

The Army thought that the Bantam company was too small to supply the required number of vehicles, so it supplied the Bantam design to Willys and Ford and encouraged them to modify the design. The resulting prototypes looked very similar to the Bantam BRC prototype, and Spicer supplied very similar four-wheel drivetrain components to all three manufacturers. 1,500 of each model (Bantam BRC-40, Ford GP, and Willys MA) were built and extensively field-tested. After the weight specification was revised from 1,275 lb (578 kg) to a maximum of 2,450 lb (1,110 kg) including oil and water, Willys-Overland's chief engineer Delmari "Barney" Roos (a name that should be familiar to Studebaker folks) modified the design in order to use Willys's heavy but powerful "Go Devil" engine, and won the initial production contract. The Willys version became the standard Jeep design, designated the Model MB and was built at their plant in Toledo, Ohio. The familiar pressed-metal Jeep grille was a Ford design feature and incorporated in the final design by the Army.Because the US War Department required a large number of vehicles in a short time, Willys-Overland granted the US Government a non-exclusive license to allow another company to manufacture vehicles using Willys' specifications. The Army chose Ford as a second supplier, building Jeeps to the Willys' design. Willys supplied Ford with a complete set of plans and specifications. American Bantam, the creators of the first Jeep, built approximately 2,700 of them to the BRC-40 design, but spent the rest of the war building heavy-duty trailers for the Army.

As Paul Harvey used to say "Now you know the rest of the story" Good Day

Counting American Bantam, five different manufacturers at one time or another, could count Jeep as a brand, albeit the first one was on the ropes but the Jeep survived.

Back to the original post, my first new car was a 1970 Hornet, 199 six three speed. Here is the heart breaker: I was 18 and working as well as school. My dad did not think I should keep pouring money into my old car. My payments for the new car were $74.85 for three years which my dad had to sign for at Valley National Bank. The old car that was traded in was a 1955 Studebaker President Speedster with a 3 speed overdrive. The trade allowance covered the sales tax, that's all.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[wittsend]

Two AMC stories:

The short one. In the mid 80's someone had listed TWO AMC Scramblers in the San Fernando Valley Recycler for $1,500. Not sure how I would get them home I decline to proceed! Not one of my better decisions.

The long one. I saw a somewhat rare '63 Rambler American hard top (one year only roof) in the Auto Trader. Rushing my dilly dallying wife we raced the 70 miles up to Santa Barbara to see it. I got to the guys house and he stated because the car had no reverse it was parked up the street. As we were walking up the street some else had already arrived at the car. So, who was first, me at the guys house..., of him and his son at the car??? Anyway the guy was being a bit of a bully and seeing the seller felt very uncomfortable I declined to fight for the car. Very disappointed I left admonishing my wife how important that LEAVE NOW means IMMEDIATELY.

A few years later I see a very similar car advertised also in Santa Barbara. I arrange with the girl to see it at a storage yard the next day. At this stage of my life I also have two very small kids and around noon we make the 70 mile drive to see the car. Turns out (and I had a slight suspicion) it was the same car from a few years go. Apparently the bullies son didn't care much for it and they sold it to the girl who only wanted it for the cylinder head. Regardless of a disassembled engine I wanted the car. So, I called the girl. This predates most people having a cell phone (certainly not me) and thus I had to use a payphone. I used it 13 times as we lingered in Santa Barbara for at least nine hours.

On what was going to be my last call at 9:30pm (the kids needed to get to bed) I finally got the girl at home. She was apologetic and promptly accepted my $300 offer on an initial $400 price. A week later my friend and I trailered the car home. I put a Pick Your Part engine in it but it was in marginal shape. Eventually I parked it but 22 years later I still have the car and plan an engine/trans swap, most likely a Jeep 180 HP, 4.0/AX-15. People say it won't fit so that is surely enough to bring me to the challenge. I'm thinking outside the box (engine back slightly, radiator down and forward, pusher electric fan etc. to squeeze it in.

I guess this time nice guys don't finish last.

[Noxnabaker]

I've had a blue metalic/black vinyl top -66 Ambasador coupe with 6-cyl & auto, a red 6-cyl -73 Hornet fastback with Hurst shifter & one of those Rebel coupes that looks like a slightly short version of a 68-69 Plymouth GTX/Road Runner, it was a 360 with 4 speed Hurst & dark green metalic/black vinyl top.

In Sweden AMC was always thought of as reliable but also a bit boring & I still have that feeling in me even if it aint true.

[jnormanh]

The '57 Rebel was a way cool four door Muscle car. 0-60 was abt. 7,5 seconds, 1/4 mile 16seconds. Maybe the quickest 4Dr that year.

Here's one at what I think is a very reasonable price.

http://www.collectorcarads.com/Rambler-Rebel/64504

[wittsend]

The '57 Rebel was a way cool four door Muscle car. 0-60 was abt. 7,5 seconds, 1/4 mile 16seconds. Maybe the quickest 4Dr that year.

Here's one at what I think is a very reasonable price.

http://www.collectorcarads.com/Rambler-Rebel/64504

Yes, and they only made 1,500 of them so they rate right up there with the Scrambler. The 1957 Rambler Rebel had the 327 engine and, NO, it wasn't the Chevy 327. AMC had their own 327. This does rate as a sleeper much like the 1976 360 Dodge Dart that was only bested by the Corvette as the second fastest American car that year. https://www.caranddriver.com/compari...057-mph-page-5 (page 5 of a 6 page article) Of course that was also a dismal time in the automotive performance world.

[Commander Eddie]

In a way I do miss them. I owned a Javelin before going in to the Navy and I really liked it. It had a 290 Cu. In. V-8 and automatic transmission. It was pretty basic but it ran well and was quite comfortable. I think, like Studebaker, they made some fine automobiles.

[rbruner]

I worked in the art dept. at American Motors in the late 1970's. When the new models came out they were on display in the Southfield MI lobby of their headquarters. The employees gathered around to admire the new Pacers & Hornets.
The art director handed me his keys and asked me to go down to his car to get a portfolio for him. I returned sheepishly after trying several luxury AMC car doors but not the right one. All the cars in the executive lot looked the same to me!

[Hallabutt]

Folks that attended the International meeting Colorado Springs, will probably have fond memories of the "Rambler Ranch." It is really an unbelievable collection that one man has put together.

[Blue 15G]

AMC made good cars, with their biggest problem being the same as one of Studebaker's problems: Not enough people were willing to venture out of Ford-Chevy-Plymouth territory to buy a car from a smaller manufacturer.