I have a '69 Rambler 440 4dr. Born a 232/auto, 2bbl. I swapped in a T5 trans, cam, intake, Carter AFB and ditched the one legger AMC15 axle for an 8.8 w/trac-lock diff. It's a great little car and has no problems keeping up with modern traffic.
I have a 65 American as my daily driver and I gotta say this one isn’t too bad a shape. Hopefully someone will save it because you don’t see many of these on the road.
Growing up in Finland we had a 1966 Rambler American 220 from 1967-74. Great car,cherish the memories of it. In Finland it was not a cheap nor a little car though, as a TV presentation said, a car for those with a fat wallet or friends in the bank, LOL.
I had a ‘69 American two door with a 199 3spd on the tree. It was a former New England Telephone car with 95k on it. Used it as a winter sled for three years, and put a grand total of $150 worth of repairs in that time. 😂 Great little car. Plenty of heat, vacuum wipers, great on fuel.
To this day these cars and this company is an enigma to most. Soooo misunderstood. This guy [Steve] knows his stuff and speaks truth. AMC built good solid cars. As an AMC enthusiast I appreciate this vid! Thank you.
Right, also AMC would've been around to this day had Studebaker and Packard merged together with Hudson and Nash along with Kaiser and Jeep to create AMC in 1954.
My first car was a 1970 Hornet, with the 232 in line 6. Yes 3 on the tree and vacuum wipers the wiper control broke. So I drilled two holes through the fire wall, and routed the vacuum hose into the car under the dash. Put a ball valve in the hose, and routed it back out to the windshield wiper motor. I could control the speed of the windshield wipers by opening or closing the valve I put in the hose. Worked perfectly, and drove the car this way for 3 years.
Fun fact Steve! IKA (industrias Kaiser Argentina) grab a 65 rambler and hired Pininfarina to redesign it with a European touch bringing the IKA Torino 380w to existence. it was powered by a Chrysler 3.8 inline 6 tornado engine with triple Webber carburetors. 220hp out of the old tornado doesn’t seem like much but that engine bay is a pleasure to look at. A race version of this car was sent to race the 84 hours of Nürburgring in 1969 placing in first place all race long but do to a bunch of penalties do to exhaust noise the car was brought back to 4th place. The team was consisted by no other than Argentina and f1 hero Juan Manuel Fangio among other argentina greats and till his death, Fangio daily a 380w. his personal car was actioned at a price of around 35k a couple of years ago with his license and registration still in it. what a bargain for such piece of history.
The Tornado engine was actually a Willys design, just to make it more confusing, and the car itself was sold in some markets as a Renault. So it was a North American platform, a different North American engine, South American built, restyled in Italy, and sold under a French nameplate.
@@RadialSkid First used in the '63 Jeep Wagoneer, and J series Truck. I had experienced what the Tornado engine was capable of as a 12 year old, when I went on a camping trip with a friend's family to northern Michigan. About 12 miles short of the State park we were destined for, The 1948 city bus my friend's dad had converted to a camper, broke down. The dad called his son in law, who was keeping their gas station open for the weekend. The plan was for the son in law to bring their new '63 Wagoneer up from home, with more tools and parts, to try to get the transverse mounted Ford flathead V8 truck engine running again, in the diminishing daylight. With no success, and almost dark, they hooked a tow chain from the Jeep to the bus, and towed the bus to the park, where they tried, the next day, to get the bus running. Failing at that, they decided to give up on the camping, and flat towed the bus back home, with the Jeep, the 120 miles home. The only damage to the Jeep, was a bent (3 on the tree) shift lever, from powershifting when trying to get the whole rig up to highway speed. Us kids thought it was adventurous, not so much, for the adults. 😊
Correct, with the VIN, you will win: A for American Motors, 8 for 1968 model year, A for three speed column shift automatic, non-overdrive, ("O" would be column shift three speed with overdrive), 0 for American, 5 for four door sedan, 0 for 220/550 model (this is a 220 as noted), A for 199 CID straight six with one barrel, and yes, production sequences starting with 7 were made in Brampton, Ontario Canada and those beginning with 1 were made in Kenosha, WI. The Brampton plant operated from 1962 to 1992 and was located on Kennedy Road. Today there is a Walmart on that property. The Kenosha plant assembled vehicles up until December 1988 and there's a YT video that an employee shot on some of the last days that that plant operated. It's worth a watch. We got the tag, we can brag, and go all the way, don't you say? The body number is the sequence/scheduling number for the body and has nothing to do with the production sequence number, 6805-0 for American 220 four door sedan, 828C for Gray/White interior trim, and 54 (54A) for Turbo Silver Metallic exterior paint. Correct, that plate just certifies that the vehicle meets US standards and can be sold in the US. Production in Brampton and Kenosha didn't matter for final destination/sale so much as capacity of the plant and demand. If Brampton had production capacity and the demand was there, they were made there. The Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement of 1965 eliminated tariffs on vehicles between the US and Canada and allowed more free-flow of product between the two countries. I find that items made in Canada are just as good as those made in the United States and I consider them "American made" in my book. I have a Husky toolbox made in Canada by Stanley Works and it's every bit as good as my US made Waterloo supplied Sears Craftsman tool storage. I had a 1979 Cutlass that was assembled at St. Therese, Quebec and it was every bit as good as one assembled in the US and I think in some ways, it was better made. Correct, some fuel pump listings back in the day would say "All with electric wipers" or "All with vacuum wipers". People would ask, "Why is that important?" LOL. As Mr. Magnante pointed out, now you know......
Hey , G P , excellent info as always ! It's great how you dig up all this info . All I get is flash backs to the past but that's O K . Have a great day !
@@daynadiggle8169 LOL, you too and sure thing. You have to know where you came from to know where you're going and we're all different, and that's OK. When everyone contributes, everyone wins. I've been in the automotive/fleet industry for 35+ years. I worked for a parts manufacturer who was both an aftermarket and OEM supplier, so we had to know them all: domestic, light and heavy duty, small engines, exotics, industrial, etc. At the auto parts manufacturer, a friend and I converted the library from books and microfiche to electronic. We kept the old books and microfiche, but just set up the library with programs for electronic parts look up. A lot of the information is in my head from the years of doing it, and I'll look up the rest only when I have to. A coworker showed me an old (circa 1980) title for a vehicle we used to own and I said, "That's a 1978 GMC van with a 350 V8 made in Scarborough, Ontario Canada". He said, "How did you know that?" I said, "You need the VIN to win.......". LOL. We had that library really nicely set up with (at the time) modern computer technology, but I've since found out from my friend (who still works there and sometimes posts here) that they've dismantled that library and now purchase their OEM research instead of conducting it themselves. A total shame.
@@anthonynofi4871 Correct. They had a special higher exposure lens that was unique to Ford's magnification rate. Leave it to them to be different. Every other manufacturer's microfiche used standard exposure.
That sure looks like a Trico vacuum wiper motor! Those were designed, cast, plated (if necessary) assembled, and shipped right here in Buffalo. AMC was the last of the car makers to utilize this design. Of course Ford, GM, Mopar, AMC, Willys, Stude, etc. all used parts built by Trico from the 20s to the 80s+. Ford products were Trico's biggest customer, with vacuum headlight actuators and even Lincoln, Mercury, and Thunderbird's hydraulic driven variable speed wipers. Anco was the only major competitor. Trico has since closed it's 5 plants up here, and moved to Mexico in the early 2000s. The blade and washer pump manufacturing is what kept them going after vacuum production ceased. My grandfather worked there 35 years as a maintenace repairman. Let's just say I have enough blades and refills to last my classics for 5 lifetimes!
Great video as always. I do enjoy the Jo-Han models included in your videos. These base level cars are often forgotten. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
My dad and I used to go to Freeport Speedway on Long Island in the 1970s. I'll never forget one Saturday night during the "spectator drags" that an unassuming little Rambler with likely a 290 or 343 embarrassed the crap out of a 70 Barracuda. The Barracuda was jacked up in the rear with big fat Ceneterlines and skinnies on the front. It couldn't make the turns around the oval and that little Rambler made short work out of him. As much as I love my Mopars, I respect any good sleeper....😎
@@Scalihoo Yep. Dad and I went to Freeport, Islip, and Riverhead. Riverhead is the only one still operating. I went to Westhampton during it's final year of operation.
Rode many a mile behind a 199 cubic inch Rambler 6 cylinder in a then new 1959 Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon with a pretty black over turquoise blue green paint job with black accents going down the sides to the small fins. Was allowed to play around in the back behind the rear seat no big deal as we traveled at 88 feet per second (60 mph). Mom had it up to 100 mph on a two lane black top, one time, thinking someone was harrassing her. Turned out to be her brother, Uncle Bill.
That 65 Ford Stationwagon revives Memories. Dad bought one as a Parts car for Our 66 Country Squire here in Austria (not Australia), but soon figured out not many Body Parts will fit. If there had been 10 0f them here, I would wounder.
The first set of points i changed was on a car like this one but with a V8. I was 9 years old in my grand pa's garage. I dropped a screw in the distributor. That's when my grand pa showed me how to magnetise a screwdriver with a wire and a battery. I still use this trick today at 62. Thanks for the souvenirs.
My uncle had a 66 it was a good car. Those 199 were a great motor. Be nice to be able buy a new car for under $3,000. Nowadays thank you Steve for posting this.
My grandmother replaced her 1947 Ford with a 1966 Rambler. After she died in 1974, it was our family car for a few years. Hated it, actually. Talked my dad into buying a 1977 Matador with a 304. It think it was $3500 in 1977/78
Back in the early seventies we used to put out our old newspapers on the curb and a guy would come along in a rambler American and pick them up for recycling. The rear bumper was about an inch off the road and the headlights pointing at the sky
I just sent a deposit on a 5.7 diesel '81 Bonneville in San Francisco... road trip is planned!!! Corvair rampside pickup awaiting pickup in Muncie Indiana on my way east!
Are you keeping the diesel or changing the engine? The GM diesels were "OK" when the head bolt saga was rectified. By then it was too late in the public's eyes---their reputation was tarnished.
@@googleusergp Yup, brought to market too soon, just like the Corvair, the Vega, the Citation... GM could do no wrong... Until everything they did was wrong. Cadillac 4.1, Northstar, Quad 4 305 cams, gauges and digital dashes, 700R4 trannys etc etc etc...
These were sold in Australia as well. I think they were assembled in Australia from CKD kits and naturally converted to RHD. People in my town had one of them.
They were indeed. I have a ‘67 440 that was sold new in Australia through Australian Motor Industries, who also assembled Toyotas and Triumph cars, amongst others. They were all 440s 232 2-barrel engines and auto trans. I’ve done some upgrades to mine with an AMC 360 V8. I’ve also built one of the Jo-Han kits into a two-door coupe version of my car, but the model is actually based on the ‘66 body style, so not quite correct, and the V8 engine is based on the earlier 327 V8 not the 390.
Back in the late’70s, my brother had an American with the 232 /6, 4 door and it ran pretty smooth. Plenty of room for 4 big guys to go cruising in downtown Montreal. 😂👍🇨🇦
I had a '67 Rambler American base model, 2 door, 199 engine, 3 on the column, ex-fleet vehicle (former Southern New England Telephone Co.) with those damned vacuum wipers. It was a good, solid car during the time I had it, and later, my father used it. He worked nights in a sketchy area, and the American was a model that no one would want to steal at the time. Being a '67, it didn't have the illuminated side marker lights like this one, but J.C. Whitney came to the rescue. I bought a kit from them, that let me add these to my car. I also bought a wiring adapter kit from them, that kept the front turn signal lamps lit at the low setting when the headlamps were on, as was required from 1968. So it was almost a 1968 model. But the 1967 had a larger rear window, that wrapped around to the sides a little. It would be great if someone could save this one, since these are rare nowadays.
I had a '69 with a 199 and 3spd manual I drove for years in college. I paid $150 for it in like, 2006 from a junk yard. Was a sturdy little car. The vacuum wipers worked pretty okay. Going down a hill off throttle the wipers would go so fast they would fling the water of the windshield. Who own these cars? Anyone not concerned with looking cool or going fast. Just a car to do car things. Love Ramblers.
I remember these two brothers. They were Hawaiian and so were called that. They each bought the red white and blue ramblers. One an American one a javelin or amx whichever body style that was. They raced quite a bit at bithlo. Those cars were really competitive.
I'm 67 and had a '62 Comet 4 door in 1971 ( cost $50.). It was the oldest car in the parking lot, everywhere! And it was no chick magnet either, that's for sure. But it got me where I was going for a year. But it still left me with psychological scars! 🤣 No, not really, my girlfriend wasn't into cars, and it didn't matter to her. She really was a nice person.
For years there was a Rambler parked by the side of a house in the town I grew up in. I always suspected it was somehow special, but never knew for sure. One day they added a portable tent garage for it, which made me happy. I finally saw the car with the owner at a local car show. It was indeed special , having the 390 and a four speed. His father had owned it since new. It must have been quite the sleeper in its day!
I had a '68 American 440 with a 232, AT, AM, Dealer Installed AC, and she had factory American Motors "Rambler" floormats. I sold her in 1999, and regretted it as soon as she left my driveway. When I saw the thumbnail to this video, I yelled and scared my kids. LoL! I LOVE these videos, and the "lessons" I'm getting in each one. What breaks my heart is seeing these cars dying a slow death! I wish I could locate my Rambler! :(
Back when even the cheapest car was good and a regular guy like me could buy a new car at least once in his lifetime. Now, even the cheapest new car is too expensive. And there's nothing worth buying anyway. Too much unnecessary technology
Hi Steve, great video on the little Rambler. I have that SCRambler model, but it's not a Jo-Han. One of my uncles had a 68 American 440 wagon. It was a V8 AT car. I had this problem when I was a kid to "borrow" cars with keys left in them. So, one time, I borrowed my uncle's wagon. He was temporarily staying with my grandparents. I think at the time he and his 1st wife were having a disagreement about whether he cheated on her while out on the rd. He drove a road tractor on mostly West Coast runs hualing produce and furniture, of course not at the same time. I think it was furniture to the west coast and produce back to the east coast. Anyway, so I'm out touring around and beating on this little Rambler in his wagon, looking around for somebody to pick up. Finally, I picked up one of my friends, and we went down to the rock quarry to swim and whatnot. Well, I met a girl there, and she was a little older than me, and man was she finer than frog hair. Something happened with her, and she asked if we could give her a ride home. So we took her home, of course she rode up front with me. 😎 I'm showing off spinning tires, making the tires bark rounding corners the normal stupid stuff. So a few days went by, and my uncle pulled up in his cabover 'Pete', and he was fit to be tied. Turns out his wife saw the wagon and the girl! So that phone call home a few days earlier became a blindsided battle. I can only imagine what was said, it probably wasn't any pleasantries, said I'm sure of. Well, eventually, they found out it was me because I forgot to replace all the fuel I used up! Life lessons, have a bless one everyone and great work Steve, out in Scottsdale Namaste 🙏🏼
@daynadiggle8169 Hi, thanks for commenting. Hopefully things are going well for you. I wish I had more time to add more details. So many other things happen that day that may or may not be car related. I either can't talk about it or I feel as if I'm just jacking my jaw way too long. Thanks again, Namaste 🙏🏼
You are amazing.. but you should have mentioned ( I might have missed it) the fuel pump driven vacuum pump eliminated the manifold vacuum slow down issue .. great stuff as always
My sister had a 1967 Rambler American 2 door with an in-line 6 and a 3-on-the-tree for her first car. It was a totally stripped down car; no power steering, no radio, no A/C, no power brakes, vacuum operated wipers (that slowed down to nothing when you were going uphill) and rubber floor mats. It ran great and was reliable but the lack of power steering made it a real PITA to park. She got into a very bad head-on accident with it and got seriously banged up by the all metal dashboard and interior, also the lack of shoulder belts. Great looking car though IMO and easy to work on. Neat to see one again!
Always found it amusing where base models had no rear door arm rests, rubber floors, no cigarette lighters, one less tail light on each side and not even a heater.
This base car is in the 220 series. The 440 had carpeting and bright side trim and other minor upgrades. Also, the Borg Warner automatics used at this time were all aluminum cases if the car had a 6 cyl or the 290 2bbl.The bigger V-8's and the 290 4 bbl came with automatics that had a cast iron center section, but the bellhousing and tailshaft were aluminum.
in 1973 my parents lived in an apartment complex and i used to deliver the morning news paper. i would walk by a 69 s/c rambler every morning that was a beautiful car,390 4 spd,hood scoop !
My folks had Ramblers and my second car was a 1960 American with the flathead 6 and an automatic. What a ball of fire! 😂 Love your channel, watching is part of my morning ritual. 👍🏼
Hi Steve, good video! I am 63 years old. I used to work at a transmission shop and also a high performance/classic car shop. The BorgWarner iron case three speed transmission that you are referring to is a transmission much the same as a Ford FMX three speed automatic transmission, but in the mean time, most parts do not interchange. I saw a few BorgWarner iron case three speed transmission(s) in American Motors Ambassadors (before American Motors went to the Chrysler Torqueflite A- 727 transmission) and Checker Marathons (before Checker went to the GM Turbo 400 transmission) The three speed automatic transmission in the car that you profiled is a BorgWarner aluminum case T-35. The BorgWarner aluminum case T-35 was also used in Volvo cars as a metric version, and most parts do not interchange. In 1970, American Motors trademark "Am" went form "Am" to "AMC" after American Motors bought Kaiser Jeep in 1970. After that time, AMC"s light duty automatic(s) went to the Chrysler Torqueflite A-904, and the heavy duty automatic(s) were the Chrysler Torqueflite A-727. But in the mean time AMC/Jeep trucks/SUVs usually received the GM Turbo 400 automatic, i.e. "Jeep CJ-7" but in many cases a Chrysler Torqueflite A-727 was used. You see, their was not much standard on a Am and/or a AMC vehicle. The same thig applies to a International pickup/SUV, Checker Marathon, and even Studebaker. The vacuum windshield wiper system used engine manifold vacuum when cruising along, but in the mean time, when engine manifold vacuum would drop during heavy load and/or acceleration, the vacuum pump located on top of the the fuel pump was used as a backup vacuum supply. Vacuum operated wipers where popular before automobiles went from 6-volt electrical systems to 12-volt, and before automobiles went from the use of generators to alternators. Please reply. Dave...
Thanks Steve, for rambling on about the Rambler American. Come for the history lesson, stay for the floor show. Please be safe in the old tetanus factory. We would like to see a lot more of your videos. Thanks for sharing.
My first car was a 69 American 440 - it was the ex family car - bought it from my dad for $300 - he had bought it new - we lived in Brampton Ontario where the AMC Canada factory was located - at the factory they would pull off a few cars at the start of the model year and use them for factory runabouts - at the end of the year they sold them cheap at Jeffrey-Lynch (the local Brampton AMC dealer) - my dad found out about this somehow and got himself in line for one! It had the 232 and the Borg Warner automatic - my brother and I both drove that car - it went over 130000 miles before the rust finally got to it but it still ran great
Great looking car! My brother had the Rogue version, and it was a pretty hot little runner! It was light yellow with black interior, and had the 290 V8 with four speed! It would give a small block Mustang or Camaro a run for the money! Thanks Steve!
Great Video Steve, I went to the Drag races at Cayuga dragway Cayuga ont. starting in the early 70s. Im amussed today how we didnt pay attention to what was in the spectator Parking lot. The one image I recall was an AMC Rambler Scrambler,AN AMX 390 4speed both parked beside a Daytona Superbird! We didnt give them a second look because Jungle Jim was there doing fire burnouts! Today the cars in the parking lot would be a bigger draw than the races. How things change!
I really appreciate your video’s My hobbies was astronomy and making telescopes I loved cars I just had not time to work on them with kids and family . But I sure enjoye the history and you are a good story teller
Ramblers are nice.. I own 7 Americans, 4 Eagles, 3 Hornets, 2 Matador coupes, one 2 door Classic, one Concord and one Sundancer... Guess what is my favorite car brand...
Most of these bodies wether labelled Rambler American,Classic or Ambassador built from 1961-69 were made at the plant in Brampton Ontario. From 70-78 they built Hornets,Gremlins and later Concords. After 78 all car production went to Kenosha Wisconsin. Brampton built Jeep CJ's and later Wrangler/YJ's from 79-92. When I started working there in 1987 we were building the Wrangler/YJ line until Chrysler moved all this to Toledo Ohio. In 1992 all employees were transfered to the newer Bramalea Assembly(later renamed Brampton) where we built the Intrepid/Concord cars and and later the 300's,Chargers, Magnums and Challengers. I retired in 2017 but Brampton Assembly continues to build awesome cars to this day.
That door plate said in the green section that they deep dipped the body and it had some galvanised sections as well. Here in Australia they imported mostly Canadian built cars to be converted into RHD units and they had hot galvanised rockers
I acquired a '68 Rambler Rogue this fall. Mine is complete, but rough with the aforementioned 290. I've got some plans for the current one, but would also love a 4 door for summer daily driving as well. Thanks for discussing these little units.
