There it sits, moldering in the California sun: a 1966-69 Rambler American.
I see cars like this in the junkyard all the time. Straight, complete cars with no obvious accident damage. Cars that went through life unscathed, but still have reached the end of the line. Perhaps someone forgot to keep the oil topped off, or the transmission lost a gear. It could be that the owner passed on, and their children simply auctioned the car off for scrap value. Or the owner may have listed it on Craiglist, and received no inquiries. We’ll never know the whole story, but we are witnessing the final chapter.
A chapter I’m sorry to see arrive. Nothing about this car screams, “I’m special,” but any clean survivor from this era deserves respect. In addition, it appears this two door sedan could clean up with very little effort.
In this fender close-up, you can see paint discoloration caused by an “American” badge in the 1966/67 location. The interior lacks headrests and the engine is red, which also helps confirm that it’s from one of those two model years.
Update- Based on the comments, the clues identified here may be red herrings. Based on the greenhouse (specifically the rear window glass), this car may be a ’68.
Based on the up-turned chrome on the bottom edge of that head light opening, I’m going with 1966. The bottom edge of the grille ran beneath the headlights uninterrupted for 1967. I’d have more confidence if the grille remained in place, but I’ll stand by the evidence I see.
Looking in the engine bay, there’s no evidence of catastrophic failure. Give a patient mechanic time with this motor, and it could return to life. The simplicity of all the components represents one of the virtues of this car. Like the Falcon and Valiant/Dart sixes, this AMC engine is simple, cheap, and durable. Resurrection only requires time and parts.
On the other hand, interiors from the sixties are not as easy to deal with as engines. While there are exceptions, you generally can’t order interior parts from your local Pep Boys. However, it appears all the critical pieces remain on this car, and a restoration project would only involve some clean up, along with new upholstery and carpet.
Alas, a restoration will never occur, given this car’s current death sentence. At this point, the only thing we can do is provide this eulogy: may it crush in peace.
That’s the problem with dry, salt free areas…many people don’t appreciate how good they have it!
I may be wrong, but a Michigan AMC fan would love having that car, because the ones around here are often not worth the effort in rust repair. Sad. It looks like you could have driven that thing away before people started picking parts from it.
+100. Even though it would not be my first choice for an AMC, it would make a great little project car up here in rusty Michigan.
It’s fairly complete at least in these pix, and I think you could make a reasonable driver out of it pretty easily. (I may be wrong, don’t know about some of the parts availability.) I would find a way to shoehorn in a SBC and a TH350 for kicks, but that’s just me.
I try not to look at these junkyard pix often, as all they generally do is depress me…
Agreed. People in Indiana would advertise something like this for $4k on Craigslist, and could probably get $2k if it ran and drove.
+3 There goes another piece of our history. It bothers me to see cars like these end up this way. I cannot subscribe to the “throw it away if it breaks (or even if it doesn’t break)” mentality.
I’m an Ohioan and I’d love the chance to save a specimen like this Rambler. Sigh…
In dry areas, is it common for rust free, but lived in 40-50 year old cars like this to still be used as daily affordable transportation by working people?
Here in LA, it would more likely occasional transportation for retirees.
Paul makes mention of a group of younger people up in Oregon who look for 60’s era compacts for their daily driver (especially the Falcon and Dart), but I haven’t seen much of that in our area.
I need a rear windshield for a Rambler just like that one American Rambler 2 door post car I have one is also in excellent shape I just need the rear glass . Does anyone have any sugestions. Its a 1966 also
A rear side marker light and lack of a wrap-around rear window on the C-pillar suggest 1968-69.
This car is a ’68. It has the 68/69 only rear window, side marker lights, and is labeled “American”. A 1969 would just say Rambler.
I hate to see this, but if no one wants it, what are you going to do? Maybe the former owner didn’t know where to advertise it, or was just lazy and wanted it gone. Sad.
I checked Old Car Brochures and the seat and interior door patterns fit the 1968. The front end of a 1966 has been grafted on.
that is sad. could have easily made a SC /Rambler type car out of it.
or better yet returned it to its base I6 roots. 🙂
I’d say the restoration market would be small, but considering around here any 60s 70s car that could concievably be made into a hot rod goes for at least 3k for a body shell I’m surprised this is getting crushed.
That engine looks familiar. Is that the basis for the I-6 in the Jeep Cherokee under the AMC nameplate?
Yes, that is “new” AMC inline six that served as the powerplant in Cherokees (and Wranglers) until fairly recently. This American likely has either the 199 or the 232 CID version. This is a modern engine with seven main bearings and a relatively short stroke. The later versions, which displaced 4.0 liters (242 CID) or 4.2 (258 CID), had a higher deck height to accomodate a longer stroke. If the American was scrapped because of a blown motor, a replacement would have been easily sourced.
Thank you, Joe.
Speaking of familiar, is that a Plymouth Valiant steering column, shifter, and wheel?
This car takes me back to the 70s. A friend in school had an older brother who bought a medium green 69 Rambler 4 door from his grandmother (who else?). The Rambler owner was a championship tightwad who drove everyday like he was on the final leg of a Mobilgas Economy Run. I will never forget riding with him, doing everything in my power to resist screaming “Will you just step on it and get that last 5 mph so you can upshift this poor car!”
My friend told me that his normal routine was to turn the corner on his street at a specified speed, then turn the car off and coast down a slight hill, turn into his driveway and coast into the garage. If he failed to make it, he would get out and push the car in rather than re-start it.
The only thing I really remember about the car itself was that the interior did not seem especially well isolated from the powertrain or the road. I am sure it had the smallest six with a 3 speed. I had also ridden in some similarly equipped Valiants and Falcons and remembered them as much more polished cars.
Sounds like he was hypermiling before it was cool.
So how much better was his fuel mileage than typical for all his efforts?
My friend told me that his brother could eke 40 mpg out of that Rambler. There could have been a bit of exaggeration there, but having ridden with the kid a few times, I would also not be surprised if it were true.
My neighbor while growing up had a Rambler wagon with an inline 6 (don’t remember which one), manual transmission and overdrive. One time I asked him about its fuel economy, and he said that it would get in the mid-20s (mpg) in overdrive. That was pretty good for a car of that size back in the 1960s, but when gas was $.35/gal, who cared?
What a waste of a handsome and simple machine! If I could get my hands on it, I would be measuring up the engine bay for a Ford 300 six!
Sad end to what could have been a nice classic.Bet you don’t find this happening to Plymouth Roadrunners!
Oh man! Count me as tempted, Rambler Americans had more rust in this area during my wrecking yard cruising days in the early 80’s.
At least parts are missing, which means that this one is helping keep others on the road rather than being crushed straight away..
Hopefully it will be thoroughly stripped before the literal EOL comes. The real tragedies are the old cars that end up at the recycling yard — nothing gets spared there.
Cars in this condition here usually mean inspection failure and more expense to fix than the owner has or can raise so off to the wreckers and begin payments on a used Jappa, This looks like it could have easily been revived if anybody was interested at the time.
Life is wonderful here in Ohio, the land of no inspections… 😀
This body style always had a quiet dignity about it. IMO
+ 1
“El Pulpo”
That says it all.
Believe me, there are those of us out there, looking to restore these beautiful classics. I need body parts to finish fixing my 67’ AMC Rambler American 220, that I had fully restored. These Ramblers posted above, are the same model as mine. Mine was hit by a reckless driver on a rainy evening & i’ve been looking for replacements body now for the last 5 years. So, there are a lot of us out there restoring these classics. And if you could tell us where you find these cars, we would be happy to not only restore them & bring them back to glory! but the ones that can’t, we will use the parts to restore the ones we can keep alive! So pretty please! Where are these cars pictures above located now? 👍🏻 I have attached a pic of what my AMC looked like, before the accident.
Here are a few pics of she looks like now. Awaiting to find the right parts to let her live again.