1961 Rambler American - Jalopnik Comments

1961 Rambler American

wildpony — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:49:44 EDT

OMG I had a 1961 just like this only with no primer and it did have upholstery...I didn't even know what it was when I first saw it and fell in love immediately...bought it for $400 and my son drove it 500 miles each way to college in San Luis Obispo...sold it :-( and eventually bought a 1961 Rambler convertable...these are just about the cutest things on wheels ever...bah humbug to anyone who disagrees...kat

wildpony

1961 Rambler American

Cam68 — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:06:14 EDT

My eighth-grade English teacher had one of these, in light blue, even. If you'd specified the prototypical, straight-from-Central Casting (forgive sexism here) old spinster English teacher, she was who you would have gotten. Strict, absolutely humorless, puritanical, tyrannical, and several others -icals. Her car was absolutely perfect for her. If I saw one of these on the street today I'd still cringe and dread fourth period.

Cam68

1961 Rambler American

highmile — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:51:51 EDT

My first car was a red 1962 Rambler American Convertible. It looked identical to the red convertible on the wikipedia website. I bought the car from my uncle for $300 drove it to high school for a year and sold it for $4500. Maybe it is still driving around the Houston area? I remember driving that car in some big rain storms in Houston...I think the windshield wipers were some sort of vacuum type system and would stop wiping anytime you were excelerating and then go super fast as soon as you let off the gas pedal. Made driving in the rain quite interesting. Fun car for high school. I drove a 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider after that which was super sweet!

highmile

1961 Rambler American

brandegee — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:03:39 EDT

@BartMack: Having been a two-time AMC driver (Cherokee, Hornet hatchback), I felt AMCs models were almost always somewhat awkward. The 50s Hudson Hornet, the 70s Hornet Hatchback and the 1964-69 Americans were among the few that were not "off" somehow. My fave would the 440H with the 3.2-liter six that made 138hp and 27mpg. It's a car you could easily live with today, as long as you didn't get hit by anything.

brandegee

1961 Rambler American

BartMack — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 22:44:18 EDT

I did not know that AMC was created from a merger of Nash and Hudson!

It seems odd to me, because both Nash and Hudson made cars that seem very cool to me (Nash Metropolitan! lol), but the AMC I remember from the '70s made the ugliest, nastiest looking cars I've ever seen... Matador? *shudder* Gremlin? eeesh... Pacer? OMG.. even the Javelin/AMX were just off somehow.. I could never understand how AMC managed to make mediocre so repulsive....

BartMack

1961 Rambler American

Mr.Fourn — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:46:24 EDT

I just love it!

Column mounted manual trany and a little something of so est-europanish. Looks nice and kind of unique.

Mr.Fourn

1961 Rambler American

SexCpotatoes — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 19:47:37 EDT

The Club is so superfluous, you can hacksaw or take a pair of bolt-cutters to the steering wheel to get it off. If someone wants your car bad enough, they will get it.

SexCpotatoes

1961 Rambler American

smoke~ — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:58:02 EDT

Banned from drive-ins through-out Dixie!

smoke~

1961 Rambler American

larsenf — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:25:43 EDT

mMMMmmmm...

i have a 63 amc rambler 660 classic wagon with a Flash-O-Matic transmission and weather eye a/c.

@biminitwst: definitly a great feature, my front bench seat is spilt to so you can fold half down and make a smooth surface from the front all the way to the rear door. you can fit a long board in that car easy!

larsenf

1961 Rambler American

AlamedAdam — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:08:49 EDT

I'm really digging this series, Murilee is slowly working around my block, catching all the unusual cars like that Nova wagon and the Rambler. Although, parked right next to this American is another Rambler under a cover that y'all missed... there's some other big old iron further up the block too, a chrysler and a buick, that I expect to see show up soon. '

As nice as my block is, I recommend checking out Buena Vista between Park and Grand, there's lots of unusual stuff there, like a suicide door Conti on dubs, an old Montego wagon, too, and something that looks like it stepped out of Mad Max.

AlamedAdam

1961 Rambler American

SpudMills — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:52:54 EDT

I wonder how many of us were, um, created on fold-flat Nash seats.

SpudMills

1961 Rambler American

UCBert — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:33:28 EDT

I grew up in the back seat of a two-tone blue '56 Rambler. Muy roomy.

Fully equipped meant automatic, white walls, and a radio.

These cars were only peculiar looking to people not from Wisconsin.

Dad bought it after the '57s were intro'ed. It lasted until he got a raise and, in a fit of self-confidence, sprung for a '61 LeSabre sedan.

Also blue.

UCBert

1961 Rambler American

MeMikeYouNot — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:50:01 EDT

Many Jalops have never seen one of these cars...here's a great Wikipedia page about the car. Look at the red 2nd gen convertible [en.wikipedia.org]

Also, the "inventor" of the American was none other the George Romney, father of the Mittster, who loves to give his dogs rides on the top of his car.

MeMikeYouNot

1961 Rambler American

MurileeMartin — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:28:01 EDT

@wookie1901: Lot of car break-ins here, often perpetrated by not-very-skilled thieves who break all your locks and windows, then start slashing underdash wiring before giving up and going on to the next cars. If you have an obvious steering-wheel lock it might discourage them from even taking a shot.

MurileeMartin

1961 Rambler American

dculberson — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:48:42 EDT

Well, the steering wheel wouldn't have a lock on it, and old cars are amazingly easy to hotwire. (And that's assuming the key cylinder still resists other keys!) So the club might be pretty important. 14-yo hoodlums don't really care if they're stealing a nice car.

Oh, and: Cool car! This series makes me want to give my car to my wife and switch back to an old daily driver.. sigh...

dculberson

1961 Rambler American

wookie1901 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:18:48 EDT

The Club is probably superfluous. I would think the primered passenger door would go a long way towards keeping that little gem parked in front of one's house.

wookie1901

1961 Rambler American

scotte — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:58:28 EDT

The Rambler American you see here is a freshened-up (sorta) version of the Nash Rambler that first apeared in 1950, and stayed in production thru '55, appearing in Nash & Hudson guise in the first year after the Nash + Hudson = AMC merger.

For '56, AMC brought out an all-new, slightly bigger Rambler (again sold at Nash & Hudson dealers)...then before the '57 model year ended, with sales of their big cars tanking & Rambler sales strong, George Romney & the AMC top brass said, in effect "They want Ramblers? Let's make 'em ALL Ramblers!" So they ditched the Nash & Hudson brands in favor of Rambler as the AMC corporate brand, did away with their big sedans, then dusted off the former Nash Rambler tooling that had been packed away in '55, gave it a facelift & a new name (Rambler American), then they laughed all the way to the bank as AMC was the only US car maker to show a sales increase in '58.

This version of AMC's small sedan soldiered on thru '63, eventually swapping its flathead six for a modern OHV one around the time this car was built. For '64, the American got a total re-do that kept its geeky charm (and low price) intact, and it finally got a V8 option in '67.

There was a convertible version of this version of the Rambler American starting in '62, and it's likely some of the survivors will see parade duty today.

scotte

1961 Rambler American

HDC — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:33:20 EDT

That oval speedo reminds me of my Grandma's old Grand Prix. Fabulous.

HDC

1961 Rambler American

biminitwst — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:27:52 EDT

The best feature of the Ramblers was the folding front seatback. It actually met the rear seat to make a bed. Thats why they had an odd roofline and way more rear seat legroom than you would have expected in a car like this.
The club is a nice touch. Like car stealin' young punks would even know how to drive a car with '3 on the tree'.

biminitwst

1961 Rambler American

junkman — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 11:01:06 EDT

@Jimboz-The Golden Hawk was a Studebaker, another independent automaker, though unrelated to AMC. I agree with your statement about the combination of good and weird angles. I think that's universal to all postwar independents.

junkman

1961 Rambler American

IamZardoz — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 10:09:46 EDT

Learned how to drive on a 63 Rambler American 440 coupe. Looked the same as the 61 but with a better roofline. I remember it was a 3 on the floor but it had two stickshifts, the second one put it in overdrive! Probably a car ahead of its time.

IamZardoz

1961 Rambler American

Jimboz — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 09:27:38 EDT

I always found a lot of AMC/Rambler cars to be good looking from one angle and just plain weird from another (ex.-AMC, Golden Hawk). This one really carries that trait. That funky-ass C pillar almost kills the whole car.

Jimboz

1961 Rambler American

danio3834 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 09:27:34 EDT

I think people forget how horrid the 60s/70s beetle was as a daily driver. At least it sure was here in the northeast. For that $1500, you didnt get much!

danio3834