Oh man. About 1978 I bought an old rambler, used it as my everyday driver. Had a 100 mile commute to work, wasn't going to mile up my good car. I can't remember what model it was. 6 cylinder, 3 on the tree and yes vacuum wipers. Those stupid things darn near got me killed more then once, overtaking another vehicle on a rainy day was special. Hit the gas to pass and you go blind. But it did have the big bench seat in the front. You slide the seat forward and the seatback would recline all the way, slide the seat back and you had a huge bed. I heard that in the day, they were banned from drive in theaters. I wonder why ;)
When my sister was 19, my dad bought my sister a white 1962 Rambler American Convertible with read interior. That was one of those cars I would like to buy now in my older years. Great memories in that car riding with my sister.
Your video of vacuum powered wipers brought back memories. When I was a kid our first car was a 1959 Meteor. I remember my dad driving up the hill in the rain where the wipers would slow down and even stop. Down the hill they would go very fast. Good Times!
This was a fun one to watch. I had a 67 Rambler American, which was a very base model (former telephone company fleet car). I had to add a backup-light switch to the steering column, since that was a deleted option for this fleet spec - that's really base. It also had this OHV engine and vacuum wipers, but the fuel pump also supplied vacuum, so it did not slow down as much under acceleration. When you started the wipers, I remembered that I turned the knob counterclockwise, like yours, and it was continuously adjustable. It was a pretty reliable car, and had a few more owners after me.
That's really sweet. I had a '68 International Harvester Scout back in the late '70s. That was their little 4-wheel drive offering, sort like a Jeep, or a Bronco. It had vacuum wipers, individually controlled. Yeah, if you got on the gas, or going up a hill, the wipers would die. Anyway, the fuel pump failed. That's when I found out the fuel pump included a vacuum pump on top. That vacuum pump was connected in series with the wiper connection to the manifold. Once I hooked that up, no more dying wipers. When you got on the gas the vacuum pump took up the slack and provided vacuum to drive the wipers. Enjoyed looking under the hood. That old breather cap on the oil fill. So much has changed. Such a simple, easy access engine. A heater core that can be replaced without tearing the dash apart! Although that oil filter was a mess to change, I remember them.
My parents had a 1965 Rambler is this same gold color. Whenever it rained, the car stalled. I remember my poor mother being very traumatized by the car's stalling. :)
Beautiful car. My father was a Rambler man. We always had a AMC product in the driveway, along with a larger car from various other US companies. My parents wedding photos shows them getting into a pink 59 Rambler Classic. If he was still alive he'd tell you to re torque the head bolts on your 196 every so many miles to prevent gasket failure.
I love the bread box Ramblers. Yours is to die for. Sounds solid when you close the door. I remember vacuum wipers as a boy growing up. Our ‘64 IH Scout had them. They operated independently of each other and it drove me crazy when they didn’t wipe in sync together!
That's a great car. I see there must be an electronic ignition hiding inside the distributor since the ballast has been bypassed. You can gut the ballast and solder a wire inside to give it the stock appearance.
My favorite feature was how the wipers stall when you pass a semi in the rain on the interstate. I will never forget my Rambler Rogue. "Rambler' Rogue, Rambler' Rogue, How I loved you, Rambler' Rogue.." To the tune of Ramblin' Rose and "Sing Along With Mitch." I also used to surprise Camaros at the stop light, across the intersection first. Retrofitted a tow hitch and air shocks from a Gremlin too. AM-Bad-Ass-a-Door-Blower?
Its just a beautiful car ! Had a AMC hornet with the larger 258 wich was derived from the 196 and it was very nice ! Ramblers are very nice cars ! You could get 258 with rotating valves ( rotocap ) actually ! Love your whitewalls !
Love the car. If I lived in the rainy Northwest, I would have had to put electric wipers on it, however. When I started driving, vacuum wipers were the norm and I hated them, almost got me killed more than once.
Great conversion i learned back in high school engines class. Liter to ci conversion is 61.30. So 196÷61.30=3.197... Also works the other way. 7.7×61.3=472.
Real sweet car. I owned a 61 Mercury with vacuum wipers and they actually worked fairly well. Most of the issues with vacuum wipers have to do with worn out seals. Those motors can be rebuilt. Many cars had dual action fuel pumps that also supplied vacuum to the wipers as well. Sometimes the rubber diaphragm wears out causing vacuum leaks. Address both systems and your wipers should work better.
..good old "three speed on the column", aka "three on the tree"...that's one old school feature I love!..:)....vacuum windshield wipers...that's one old school feature I despise.. :(
It would be cool if you would do a video on the overdrive. How to drive with it and how the carb governor switch works with it. I have a Borg Warner OD 3 spd that I want to put in my 59 truck.
Are those bias-ply tires? Hard to believe anyone is even making those anymore. I miss vent windows (called wing windows in our house in the 60's). Wish they were still around.
ok, Horse power on the 196, with 1 barrel, 120 horses, optional 2 barrel, 130 horses, now if it had the flathead, it was 90 horses, had a few early 60's Ramblers, both Americans and Classics
sadly those cars are hard to find any parts for at all. i know a guy that just got a 1967 ambasator and he said he had a hell of a time finding anything and only came up with a carb :(
On the 2 stroke Subaru 3 sixties they have afloat in the tank and a light comes on to alert you when the oil level gets low they are oil injected into the crankshaft
Jusb1066 having suffered vacuum wipers long ago, I reckon that would be a brilliant upgrade in keeping with the time of the vehicle. Like most folks, I would have thought, just convert them to electric motor. But if the vacuum can be constant the darn things work well enough!
@@smallcnclathes yes i was thinking of maintaining as much originality but fixing some issues, a lot of vintage cars are improved by a little 12v fuel pump ,esp some of the gravity feed cars, like the austin 7 or ones with mechanical pumps that are slow to feed the carburettor in cold starts, and you hide it of course,, back in the 80s i did the same with a couple of my own carb cars. electronic ignition is another thing often done just for the points. the austin 7 suffered from fuel starvation going uphill, the tank was under the hood, by the windscreen... the racing version had a hand pump fitted !
