1971 AMX/3

Racking legend Mark Donahue checks out the AMX/3.

American Motors set out to erase its corporate econo-box image in 1966. The  Rambler name was downplayed and a classy quartet of concept vehicles hit the show car circuit.   

 

The AMX concept  was sassy and classy.

One of the four show cars was the exotic AMX.  Designed in-house by Charles (Chuck) Machigan, it was the inspiration for the production pony car Javelin and its beastly brother, the two-seater AMX. 

The 1970 compact Hornet (rear) and the subcompact Gremlin.

 

            Stockholders and consumers were excited. Javelin and AMX were followed by the stylish new Hornet compact and the adorable Gremlin, America's first domestically built subcompact. VP of Design, Dick Teague was ready to wow the public with the low and sleek AMX/2.

 

The AMX/2 was unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show in 1969.

            The response to the prototype was overwhelming.  President Gerry Meyers gave the go-ahead to modify the sensuously proportioned, two-seater AMX/2 and get it into production. 

Extremely practical but not exciting, the Rambler American targeted West Germany's Volkswagen. 

Morale was high among the stylists as they set out to make this beauty into reality. The guys in the studio joked as they worked that no longer would the company be known for winning the MobilGas Economy run with little Ramblers. For the record, stylist Bob Nixon confirms that the vehicle was referred to as AMX/2, AMX/3 and AMX/K during its development.

 

This running prototype AMX/3 was photographed in April of 1968.

            Only 43 inches from the ground and laid out on a 105-inch wheelbase, the package was simply breathtaking. Teague designed a new front and rear for the production model. Headlamps were concealed. The windshield was given a 60-degree rake. The counterbalanced engine cover opened from the rear with the aid of gas shocks. 

Bizzarrini of Italy handcrafted the bodies; the panels were beaten into shape and bolted onto a semi-monocoque frame. The engine was AMC's own 390 V-8, created by David Potter. Mounted behind the passenger cabin, the mighty 390 was so powerful that no existing transaxle could handle its torque; so one was created by OTO Melara.  

Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

            Brakes were vacuum-boosted and internally vented. Tires were different widths, front and rear. Independent suspension, adjustable shocks, anti-sway bars and coil springs made it a thoroughbred on the track. AMX/3 registered 0-60 in 5.5 seconds and did the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds at BMW's test tracks at Nurenburgring.

The AMX/3 is right at home in Rome.

            The public got its first look at the AMX/3 on March 23, 1970 in Rome and on April 4 at the International Auto Show in New York.  The automotive press raved about the luxury sports car and many swore that it couldn't have come from American Motors! 

The 1970 Chevrolet Corvette was the AMX/3's domestic competition.

 Production of the hand-built AMX/3 was limited to two vehicles a month but the retail price was still twice that of Chevrolet's Corvette. After five of the dazzling beauties were built, the order came from Detroit to cut up the others. Four were destroyed but Bizzarrini finished the sixth one and kept it for himself.

Copyright James C. Mays 2001 All rights reserved.

1961 Rambler

For 1961, Ambassador by Rambler was American Motors' flagship. The luxurious four-door Custom was imported from the US and sold for $3,388, taxes included.

Rambler might have been a new brand of automobile when it bowed to the public for the 1958 selling season but its heritage was drawn directly from the grand Nash and Hudson marques. Both of these automotive legends were highly prized by consumers for their upscale image and the ritzy, compact Rambler clipped right along that same glorious road. It represented value and economy to Canadians because it was priced right, sized right and carried all of the elegance and class of its predecessors.

Homegrown in 1961, the Rambler Classic 6 Super four-door sedan sold for $2,833 and the Classic 8 Super four-door sedan cost $2,995, fob Brampton, Ontario.

Consumers were delighted with the compact Ramblers but frustration reigned in the head office in Toronto. Just as sales began to explode throughout the Dominion, American Motors Canada, Limited had been obliged to close its Toronto assembly facility as a cost-cutting measure in the young corporation’s dark days of 1957. Studies showed that an assembly operation could be profitable if 10,000 units were built. As sales grew nearer and nearer to that point, the company was eager to get back into the game.

With great fanfare, officials launched its new, ultra-modern factory in Brampton on January 26, 1961. The doors were thrown open for a three-day gala and the nation was invited. Rambler’s return to the domestic automobile manufacturing scene was national news, generating excitement right across the country. Truth be told, the first car, a light blue four-door sedan, had been completed on Christmas Eve of 1960 but operations got underway in earnest in the New Year.

The smallest offering from American Motors in 1961 was the Metropolitan. Imported from the UK, the hardtop sold for $1,885. The 2 159-millimetre (85-inch) wheelbased cutie weighed in at  836 kilos (1,843 pounds).

The British-built Metropolitan kicked things off for the nation’s 321 Rambler dealers. Though it never carried the Rambler name, the captive import, built by Austin, was exclusive to American Motors on this continent and was offered as a two-door hardtop at $1,885 and a convertible with a list price of $1,925. 

These Mets were reserialed 1960 models because manufacture had been discontinued in 1960. The phenomenal rise of the Pound Sterling meant that the little car had lost its punch as an import fighter. Cuteness alone was its strong point, now. There had been no mechanical changes to the Met since it had been revamped for the 1959 selling season. Only the price tag had changed. Consumers were still charmed and 533 of them fell in love with the Met enough to purchase the tiny, adorable imports during the calendar year. Despite the low numbers, the Metropolitan still sold better than the Imperial, Ford’s Taunus and West Germany's diminutive DKW.

VW would have been the perfect addition to American Motors. A 1960 Beetle is seen here.

American Motors’ farsighted president, George Romney, had gone to Britain in 1957 and offered to purchase Austin but was politely rebuffed. Looking at prototypes of Austin’s 850 sedan, a.k.a. the Mini, with its $1,377 price tag, he knew small was the right trend. When The Austin arrived in 1959 it was the least expensive new car on the market. With sales of 4,034 of the micro-cars to Canadians, Romney could but wish that he had been successful in enticing the Longbridge concern into the AM family.

The 1959 Mini was a smashing success for Austin.

Romney had then travelled on to West Germany and offered to merge American Motors with Volkswagen but no one in Wolfsburg was interested in his offer. Volkswagen’s humble Beetle listed for $1,645 in Custom trim and $1,875 for the DeLuxe upgrade. With 29,754 sales, VW was the third best-selling car on the domestic market after the full-sized Chevs and the full-sized Pontiacs. 

The 2 540-millimetre (100-inch) wheelbased Rambler American was heavily facelifted for 1961. The Custom four-door sedan sold for $2,764 and weighed in at 1 169 kilos (2,578 pounds).

Necessity being the mother of invention, frugal American Motors took on the competition by dusting off the dies of the 1955 Nash Rambler and having designers freshen it up. Introduced as the Rambler American as a mid-year offering in 1958, the modestly appointed stripper was a huge hit.

Heavily reskinned for 1961, the highly stylish Rambler American was comprised of thirteen models spread over the Deluxe, Super and Custom Series. The company was justifiably proud in inviting the public to “meet the new American beauty.” In tackling the imports, American offered “the shortest and most maneuverable of any (Canadian) car” and reminded prospective owners that with American they got “50 percent more luggage space; high, wide doors for easy entrance and exit.” 

Mobilgas began sponsoring its annual Economy Run in 1936.

It didn’t hurt any that Rambler Americans won the Mobil Gas Economy Run year after year, either. Prices ranged from $2,334 to $3,001 for the ragtop, pitting the series squarely against the Chevrolet Corvair, Ford’s Falcon, the Mercury Comet, Chrysler Corporation’s Valiant and Studebaker’s Lark. 

Ragtops in the 1961 AM family were limited to Metropolitans and Americans. Tipping the scales at 1 239 kilos (2,732 pounds), the Rambler American Custom convertible listed for $3,001.

Only Classics were built domestically that first year but there were a lot of them; workers turned out 4,168 units of the fourteen (!) different six and eight-cylinder versions of the highly popular compact series for the 1961 model year. Advertising promised that the 1961 offerings were “a still more beautiful version of the car that gives the best of both: big car room and compact car economy.” Classics started at $2,681 for the DeLuxe four-door sedan in six-cylinder form and topped the chart at $3,718 for the Classic 8 Custom four-door, nine-passenger station wagon.

Four Cross-Country station wagons graced the Ambassador series in 1961. The Custom four-door (left) had a list price of $3,771 and the Super (right) carried a price tag of $3,204. Nine-passenger versions were available, as well.

Not quite a full-sized car and certainly not a compact, Ambassadors were a breed unto themselves on their 2 971.8-millimetre (117-inch) wheelbases and their 327-cubic inch V-8 mills. No two-door Ambassadors were offered in 1961. The elegant flagship with the European styling was available here in five models in either the Super or more sumptuous Custom series. Advertising predicted that Rambler’s “original compact luxury car will be the most imitated of 1961.”

Compact did not mean cheap at Rambler. The least expensive Ambassador was the Super four-door sedan listing for $3,204 while the absolutely posh Custom four-door hardtop, nine-passenger station wagon listed for $3,927—more than any Chev, Plymouth, Dodge, Ford, Meteor or Mercury on the market.

Every Rambler rolled out of the factory doors with Unit Construction, Deep-Dip Rustproofing, a Ceramic-Armoured Muffler and a Dual-Safe braking system. Classics and Ambassadors carried fireproof and waterproof Acoustical Moulded Fibre-Glass Headliners. 

The ultimate upholstery upgrade for the Rambler Classic cabin in 1961 was the Custom 400 interior with tasteful pleating on the split-bench, reclining seats. Headrests were another extra-cost option.

Popular options included the die-cast aluminum six-cylinder engine, the Flash-O-Matic transmission or overdrive, power steering, power brakes, Lock-O-Matic vacuum-powered door locks, Twin Travel Beds, Airliner Reclining Seats, a twin-grip differential, padding for the instrument panel and sun visors, a transistor-powered radio, power-lift windows, Solex glass, All-Season air conditioning and the unparalled Weather Eye heater and ventilation system.

With Arliner seats that folded flat, the Ramblulance was a life-saving vehicle in many small towns and villages across Canada, including Hudson, Quebec.

Cracking the Top Ten with 12,834 sales for the calendar year and 10,835 units for the model year, Rambler Canada celebrated a glorious 1961. It was but a harbinger of things to come; sales and production would more than double in 1962.

Rambler was perfect for rugged duty required of a taxi cab.

Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

Copyright James C. Mays 2004
 All rights reserved.

1962 Rambler

 The 1962 Rambler Ambassador station wagon whispered elegance and class.

Few cars have ever captured the nation’s imagination as the little Rambler did. Born of Nash and Hudson parentage, the stylish, thrifty compact car came from nowhere to shatter sales records month after month and year after year until the economy king jumped up to grab the Number Ten spot in domestic sales in 1961. It would do even better in 1962.

Here at home, Rambler competed with Ford’s Falcon, Fairlane and Mercury’s Comet. GM Canada offered the Corvair and Chevy II as bowties and just to be on the safe side, introduced a Chevy II clone, called Acadian, for its Pontiac-Buick dealers. 

Domestic competition for Brampton's Ramblers included the 1962 Acadian, fielded by GM Canada.

Chrysler trotted out the Valiant brand to replaced the failed DeSoto and in Hamilton, Studebaker launched its Lark. With a trio of compact cars in the market, GM Canada held a cool 36.9 percent of the economy car sales. Ford’s Falcon and Fairlane gave Oakville's blue oval 27.9 percent. Rambler grabbed an even 18 percent; Valiant took 10.7 percent and Studebaker’s Lark was sitting pretty with 6.5 percent.

Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

            In addition to doing battle with domestic competition, Rambler duked it out that year with Volkswagen, Vauxhall and Envoy, Renault, a plethora of Austin models, British Ford, Morris, Morris Minor, MG, Volvo, Standard and Triumph, Mercedes-Benz, Hillman, Austin-Healey, Peugeot, Simca, Sunbeam, Wolseley and Riley, DKW, Datsun and a smattering of other imports.

A handful of Datsuns was purchased by Canadians in 1962.

 Individual sales for most compact cars were small, but altogether they added up to 75,026 sales. By a seal’s whisker, nearly as many Canadians bought a set of pint-sized wheels as they did full-sized Chevs that year.

Rambler owners never needed to book overnight accommodations when travelling;
Airliner reclining seats turned every Rambler into a four-wheeled Hilton.

            Rambler’s Ambassador was new and smaller for 1962. In fact, it shared the exact same body shell as the Classic. In previous years, Rambler’s flagship had ridden a 2 917.8-millimetre (117-inch] wheelbase and was billed as “Ambassador by Rambler.”  It was a small but subtle way of making the car appear a mite classier. In 1962 it was clear that Ambassador was solidly popular and the distinction was no longer necessary. It was rechristened Rambler Ambassador. There were other differences that were small but important. 

 American Motors offered a 5.4-litre (327-cubic inch)  V-8 engine of its own design but only in Ambassador models.
The engine was designed by David Potter at Kaiser-Frazer. He brought the plans with him to AMC when K-F moved to Argentina.

Ambassadors were blessed with American Motors’ ultra-modern 5.4-litre ( 327-cubic) inch V-8 engine, sumptuous interiors, nice touches like shag carpeting-an industry first-and enough other posh trim appointments inside and out to distinguish it easily from the six-cylinder Classic. Canadians liked Ambassador, 25 percent of all domestic Rambler sales for the year were for the ritzy and powerful, V-8 compact.

    The Rambler Classic was a highly popular model in 1962. 

            Classic was Rambler’s bread-and-butter car. Like Ambassador, it rode on a 2743.2-millimetre  (108-inch) wheelbase.  Without being a stripper, it promised hundreds of thousands of miles (ancient Canadian units of measure) of no-nonsense, six-cylinder transportation geared to the economy minded. Classic took the lion’s share of corporate sales because it was a low-cost, value-added car that delivered all that it promised and more.

 The four-door Rambler American sold for $2,480 f.o.b. Brampton, Ontario.
Initially the compact was to be sold in Canada as the Rambler 100, according to Vince Geraci who was a designer for AMC. 

            Even smaller than Ambassador and Classic was the Rambler American. The 2 540-millimetre (100-inch) wheelbase made the American fun to drive. It came in five lively models, including a hot little ragtop version. The styling--by Edmund Anderson--was so crisp it was almost impossible to believe that the basic shell had been around since 1950.

  In its final year, the Metropolitan carried a price tag of $1,875.
Only eight Mets were sold in Canada in 1962. 

            This was the ninth and final year for the company to offer its captive import, the Metropolitan. Sourced from Austin in Longbridge, England, the bite-sized British-built car arrived on showroom floors as a two-door hardtop coupe or a convertible. 

Small did not mean cheap at American Motors. The cars bristled with innovation and thoughtful touches. Every Rambler came with a Double-Safety Brake System: two completely separate sets of brake lines guaranteed a sure stop. It was such an important feature that the Ministry of Transport would make it mandatory on all 1967 automobiles.

Each Rambler was dressed in an acoustical ceiling liner that absorbed 30 percent more road noise than other cars. The ceramic-coated muffler and tailpipe were guaranteed “for as long as you own your new Rambler.”  The oil needed changing only once every 6 400 kilometres (4,000 miles) and an oil filter was fitted as standard equipment.

Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

These cars not only came with their famed Airliner seats that made into comfy and practical beds, orthopaedic doctors had designed the front seat supports so that passengers would benefit from maximum comfort and experience minimum fatigue even on long trips. Extra cost bucket seats reclined too, turning into “Nap Couches.”  Headrests were optional, though legislation in some provinces viewed them as comfort items rather than safety features and did not allow them to be installed on the driver’s side of the vehicle.

The new factory in Brampton, Ontario had only opened officially in January of 1961. It hummed along, already strained to capacity, its workers churning out ninety cars a day. Station wagons and the Americans were imported but that was temporary situation. Busy as beavers with plant expansion, by the time the 1963 model year rolled around Americans would be home grown, too.

Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

Model year sales were ranked by the automakers and published in Canadian Automotive Trade. The picture looked like this in 1962: The most popular car sold in Canada was Pontiac with 79,834 sales. Number Two was the full-sized Chevrolet (GM listed Corvair and Chevy II as separate makes) with 76,659 sales. Full-sized Fords filled the Number Three spot with 31,229 sales. The stylish, new Ford Fairlane held down the fourth spot with 21,415 sales. West Germany’s Volkswagen owned the fifth spot with 20,733 sales. Rambler leaped from tenth to sixth place with 20,229 sales; Chevrolet’s new entry, the Chevy II started in seventh place with an impressive 17,514 sales; the Ford Falcon dropped from fifth spot to settle in at the number eight spot with 15,911 sales. The full-sized Mercury Meteor held down ninth place with 15,831 sales. With 15,382 units sold, the Number Ten spot belonged to Valiant. 

 Visit my old car website at: The Oilspot Eh!

Copyright James C. Mays 2004 All rights reserved.

1963 Rambler

The 1963 Rambler Ambassador 880 Cross-Country Wagon sold
 for $3,329 f.o.b. Brampton, Ontario and weighed in at 1 485 kilos (3,275 pounds).

After five long years of uphill battle against its ever-increasing foreign and domestic competitors, Rambler Canada was ready with an assault of its own for 1963. It was an unforgettable attack; one that caught the entire North American auto industry by surprise. Its shared Classic and Ambassador envelope was new from stem to stern. Like baby bear's porridge, prices were just right; all Ramblers were now domestically built, save the sassy little American 440 convertible.  Folks in the Brampton, Ontario head office rubbed their hands in the delicious anticipation of really knocking the socks off the competition.

At a special company picnic, the 1,200 employees and their families got a sneak preview of the new Ramblers, before anyone else. The event was made even more memorable with a visit by Peter the Clown, a popular television personality, and none other than the CBC's newsreader who presented The National each evening, as well as being Rambler Canada's spokesman, Earl Cameron.

Visit my old car website at http://www.theoilspoteh.ca  

The 1963 Rambler lineup did not include the Metropolitan.
Rambler Canada's littlest soldier retired with honour  after nine years
in the Canadian marketplace.

For the first time in American Motors’ history, there was no Metropolitan on the showroom floor. Manufacture of the tiny captive import from Britain had been discontinued in 1960 but it took two more years to clear out the backlog. Consumers took home 330 of them in 1961. In 1962, Marty Fine, a Rambler dealer in Calgary, cleaned out the last of the Metropolitan stock from head office and sold the lovable little rascals to customers in Alberta. 

For some 4,000 consumers who thought that the $2,184 Rambler American was expensive, the rock bottom priced Austin Mini, the DKW, the NSU Prinz, the Simca and the Škoda were all hands-down winners in 1963. With the adorable Metropolitan gone and no replacement, American Motors simply abandoned that entire under-$2,000 segment of the market.

 For 1963 the six-cylinder Flying Scot was offered in a 92-kiloWatt (125-horsepower) form for the Rambler American convertible. Other Rambler Americans received the tried and true 67-kiloWatt (90-horsepower) L-head, first seen in the 1941 Nash 600.

The 2 540-millimetre (100-inch wheelbase) American took the honours of being the smallest Rambler this year. It was on its third-year of the style cycle. Since the basic envelope was the same, much was made of the 45 important improvements to the vehicle, including “a wide selection of colour-coordinated interiors in rich vinyls and fabrics to satisfy the most exacting taste.” The least expensive of the tribe was the plain-Jane 220 two-door sedan. With its $2,184 price tag, it undercut the most bare-boned Studebaker, Chevy II, Ford Falcon and Valiant by a country kilometre.

The only imported Rambler this year was the 440 American convertible. All other Ramblers were sourced from American Motors Canada Limited plant in Brampton, Ontario.

Of course, the real competition for the smallest Rambler came from abroad. The rise of the Pound Sterling and other European currencies along with higher tariffs imposed by Ottawa meant that the Rambler American would now do battle with a whole host of European contenders including the Austin A40, the Morris 1100, the Fiat 1100, the Hillman 1600, the Triumph 1200 and the Renault R8.

 With a list price of $2,734, the 1963 Rambler Classic 660
represented value to thousands of Canadians.

The mid-priced Rambler Classic was a completely new vehicle. The guys at Canada Track & Traffic tested a 660 four-door sedan. They described it as a “solid, functional machine” and noted that the interior dimensions were substantially larger as a result of the Scena-ramic curved side window glass. They waxed most enthusiastic about the cabin. “From a decorator’s point of view the interior of our test car was tastefully done, using a subtle combination of colours that would be easy to live with for extended periods. Long-wearing, simple to clean fabrics are used on the seats, the doors are covered with a moulded, two-tone vinyl, while the floors are covered with carpeting of exceptional beauty.”

Despite unabashed praise for the famed Weather Eye heater, the Dual-Safe brake system and the Airliner reclining seats, they deemed the Classic to be “conventional” and rated its qualities as “satisfying” while hoping for spectacular. They summed up their test experience with this remark: “After spending several enjoyable days with it, we concluded that the Rambler is the car we would like to give our Grandmother as a present. Easy to drive, completely dependable, sensibly sized and with ample interior space, Rambler suits the practical individual.”

Airliner Reclining Seats made into Twin Travel Beds, saving frugal
travellers bundles of  money as they slept in their roadside Rambler Hiltons.

Billed as the only homegrown passenger car with big-car room and comfort, combined with small-car economy and handling ease, the Classic 550 two-door sedan listed for $2,538. It competed squarely against the domestically built Corvair, Chevy II, Falcon, Valiant, and Studebaker. It stood up most solidly against the imported Austin A60, the DKW 1000, the Envoy, the Hillman Super Minx, The Morris Oxford, the Renault Caravelle, the Vauxhall, the Volkswagen 1500 and Volvo’s PV 544.

From the rear, Rambler Ambassador carried styling cues that distinguished it from the Classic.

At the very apex of the Rambler summit shone the Rambler Ambassador. Heretofore, it had always been designated as Ambassador by Rambler. The wording of the name was a subtle nuance designed to elevate the luxurious Ambassador above its more economical kin. Management decided that was no longer necessary. For the first time since the marque debuted, every car on the dealer’s showroom floor carried the Rambler emblem. Like its sister Classic, the Ambassador was fresh from the ground up. With promises of delivering more style, more luxury and more V-8 performance, the Ambassador 880 four-door sedan listed for $2,978 and the 880 Cross-Country Wagon sold for $3,329.

The Rambler Ambassador could be ordered with reclining bucket seats and
a centre console in 1963. The Twin-Stick semi-automatic transmission is shown.

Folks have always been willing to shell out a couple of bucks for extras. Popular add-ons for this year’s Ramblers included $7,50 for a block heater, $90.50 for the Weather Eye Heater,  $31.95 for the Airliner reclining seats and $30.05 for headrests, $56.95 for five seatbelts,  $11.25 for windshield washers, $13.40 for backup lights, $212.00 for the Flash-O-Matic transmission, $15 for undercoating, $32.50 for two wheel rims (for snow tires), $20 for a set of full wheel covers and $15 for whitewall tires.

Rambler executives were more than happy with Track and Traffic’s evaluation of “satisfying” rather than “spectacular”. The prestigious publication bypassed Rambler and bestowed the coveted Golden Wheel Award on the new Volkswagen 1500. In the USA, Motor Trend magazine had named Rambler as its Car of the Year. The Brampton factory had doubled in size during the year to keep up with the avalanche of orders. The company started exporting right-hand drive Ramblers to the UK in February, accounting for half of the Canadian-built automobiles imported by Britain that year.

Rambler placed sixth in the domestic automotive sales chart for the calendar year with 27,019 sales according to Canadian Automotive Trade, (Ward’s Automotive Yearbook reported 28,602 sales) right between fifth place Volkswagen and fourth place Valiant. Workers in Brampton built 30,167 Ramblers during the 1963 calendar year and a total of 27,411 units during the model year. The 1964 picture was only going to get brighter.

Visit my old car website at http://www.theoilspoteh.ca  

Copyright James C. Mays 2004 All rights reserved.

1966 Rambler

The Rambler name was downplayed for the
1966 season and Ambassador was registered
as a make of automobile. Built in Brampton, Ontario,
 the six-cylinder DPL Hardtop sold for $3,312. 

The winds of change blew mightily over American Motors in 1962. World president George Romney took a leave of absence from the corporation to explore his political options. Roy Abernethy replaced Romney at the wheel. Abernethy was salesman par excellence who had worked his way up the ladder at Packard by being that company’s best salesman. Lured away from Packard to flog automobiles for Willys-Overland, his successes on behalf of the Toledo-based firm led to a position as VP of Sales at American Motors. 

Abernethy was a natural leader because he had developed very strong, personal ties to the dealers. He listened carefully when they talked. What Rambler dealers told Abernethy over and over was that they wanted bigger cars to sell. They were convinced that continental craze for compact cars was over. Rambler dealers were eating dust as consumers opted for larger sets of wheels offered by competitors. Figures from analysts within the industry bore that out. 

Visit my old car website at http://www.theoilspoteh.ca 

 Romney was successful at politics and resigned from American Motors. Abernethy’s position was now permanent. Once firmly in the driver’s seat, the new president was quick to sell the board of directors on a radical new direction for the company. Armed with facts and figures, he convinced them that American Motors could not achieve its full market potential until the company offered a full range of automobiles. He further persuaded the board that the Rambler name was outmoded; that it needed to be downplayed and eventually retired in order to achieve its rightful corporate destiny. The changing of the guard would take place with the introduction of the 1966 models. 

To achieve that goal, a much larger Ambassador debuted for 1965. So did an all-new luxury fastback, the Marlin. The 1966 Rambler line was truncated to include only Americans and Classics; Ambassador and Marlin were elevated from models to brands.

Here at home, American Motors Canada, Limited followed suit, breaking out the Marlin and the Ambassador from the Rambler pack. Only seventy 1966 models had been built when workers in the Brampton, Ontario plant walked off the job in a wildcat strike. They wanted American Motors to give them a deal like their union brothers had in Windsor, Oakville and Oshawa. 

Wages rose from $2,47 an hour to $2.71 and included a 21-cent cost of living bonus that would be honoured throughout the life of the three-year contract. Pensions were increased to $225 a month, two more statutory holidays were added, for a total of ten a year. Workers were given ten days’ paid holidays after ten years’ service and four weeks after fifteen years. Life insurance, sick pay and supplementary unemployment insurance benefits sweetened the deal. Weary but satisfied union officials put the package to vote and workers returned ballots with 776 in favour and 96 against. When the new contract was signed, it matched what workers at Ford were getting in Oakville.

Visit my old car website at http://www.theoilspoteh.ca 

This year’s homegrown crop of AM and Rambler passenger cars were given many extra touches not seen Stateside, all built into the base price. These included padded dashes, six seatbelts, backup lights, outside rearview mirrors and windshield washers as standard equipment. The Canadian Safety Council was mightily impressed and praised Brampton’s forward thinking.

The snazzy 1966 Marlin cost $3,525 f.o.b. Brampton
when equipped with the eight-cylinder engine.
 Ambassador and Marlin sold 7,469 units during
the calendar year.

Promising “room to swing in,” the highly styled fastback offered four-on-the-floor for him and three-in-the-back comfort for her. Marlin could hold five adults in comfort or half a den of Cub Scouts—if there was no way out of it. The trunk boasted a capacity of 12 cubic feet.

One could order the thrifty 145- or 155-horsepower Torque Command six-cylinder engine. For more speed, one could opt for the 198-, 250- or 270-horsepower V-8 mills. A three-speed manual transmission with an overdrive option was available or one could opt for a floor-mounted four-speed standard shift. An automatic transmission could be mounted on the column or on the floor. 

Now in its second year, Marlin offered oodles of extras so that “you can swing to your own tempo.” Reclining bucket seats, head rests, front and rear fold-down armrests-- unless one chose the centre console up front. Power steering, adjustable steering, AM-FM radio, rear speakers with Vibratone, All Season-Air Conditioning, power brakes, power disc brakes, power windows, Cruise Command speed control, electric wipers, a 4-Way Hazard Warning Signal, tinted glass, a Twin-Grip differential (great for banana-peel going) an electric tachometer and a black vinyl roof. The six-cylinder Marlin sold for $3,380 and the eight banger cost $3,535, f.o.b. Brampton, before the options were added onto the sales bill, of course.

Having been restyled in 1965, this year the elegant flagship was simply refined. Advertising was quick to point out, “Suddenly there’s a luxury car that isn’t oversized, overweight and overpriced.” The 115-inch wheelbased beauty came with niceties not found in other vehicles, including a pair of matching throw pillows for the back seat. 

Though seldom seen, the most inexpensive Ambassador in 1966 was the 880 two-door sedan. The modestly trimmed sedan carried a $2,845 price tag and weighed in at 2,968 pounds.

Offered exclusively in hardtop form, the top-of-the-line DPL cost $3,457 when equipped with the eight-cylinder power plant.  The 990 series included two- and four-door sedans, station wagons, convertibles and a hardtop, all equipped with a six or an extra-cost eight-cylinder engine. The least expensive Ambassador was the 880 with modestly trimmed two- and four-door sedans and a station wagon. As perfect as it was, the lily could be gilded with all of the extra-cost items available for the Marlin, too. 

The 1966 Rambler Classic 770 four-door sedan sold for $2,785
 and the Rambler Classic 550 two-door sedan cost $2,575.
The popular Classics were not available with eight-cylinder
 engines in Canada. Sales for the calendar year hit 11,387 units.

The one-off  Rambler St. Moritz  show car
made the auto show circuit in 1966.

The corporation’s traditional bread-and-butter line was the Rambler Classic. This year’s version was full of surprises. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that advertising compared it with Cadillac. The 232-cubic inch six-cylinder engine was standard. So was an acoustical fibreglass ceiling and a Ceramic-Armoured muffler. The convertible came with a flexible, scratchless glass rear window that didn’t need to be zippered in and out. A two-door hardtop Rebel led the Classic pack with its $3,112 price tag. The 770 family included a four-door sedan, a four-door station wagon and a two-door hardtop.  The low-bucks 550 series offered the only two-door sedan and included a four-door sedan and a wagon. 

Officials in Brampton gave a 1966 Rambler
American 440 convertible to Diane Landry
of St. Boniface, Manitoba when she was
crowned Miss Canada. The prize was worth
$2,945. 

Sitting on a pert 106-inch wheelbase, the Rambler American was the smallest of the company’s offerings. Smartly restyled and given the 232-cubic inch six as its base engine, a sassy new Rogue two-door hardtop was added to the line, selling for $2,620. Costing less, was the nicely appointed 440 series with a hardtop, convertible, station wagons, two- and four-door sedans. 

Visit my old car website at http://www.theoilspoteh.ca 

If the budget was of primary importance, the bare-boned 220 series competed with many economical imports. A stripped Rambler American two-door sedan sold for a mere $2,414, a four-door sedan listed for $2,392 and a four-door station wagon carried a price tag of only $2,798. 

Despite the rocky start, the season ended on a high note for the feisty independent automaker. Only five dealers had defected from the dealer body; there were 320 AM/Rambler dealers stretching across the Dominion at the end of the year. Domestic sales were off by 4,000 units but, because of the new Auto Pact Trade Agreement between Ottawa and Washington last year, production in Brampton was up to 32,912 units. 

Visit my old car website at http://www.theoilspoteh.ca 

 Copyright James C. Mays 2005 All rights reserved.