1958 Rambler

The Ambassador Custom four-door sedan was Rambler’s flagship in 1958. The car sold for $3,426. The Ambassador Country Club four-door hardtop was listed at $3,538.

Oh, it was a brave new world that American Motors marched into as the 1958 selling season opened. Missing from the lineup were the two great founding names that came together in the 1954 marriage—Nash and Hudson were no more. 

Nash was built from 1917 to 1957.

Hudson was built from 1909 to 1957.

Putting all their eggs into one basket, the boys in head office had bet their corporate fortunes on the compact Rambler. Well, nearly all. In place of Nash and Hudson, a posh new flagship appeared. To distinguish it from its lesser Rambler kin, the new car was subtly christened Ambassador by Rambler. Then, there was the tiny Metropolitan, a sub-compact built for American Motors and imported from the United Kingdom.

Some Rambler models had been assembled in Toronto last year but the unprofitable factory was shuttered for good in July 1957. Now the entire product lineup was imported, Ramblers arrived from the United States and Metropolitans from the United Kingdom. Officials at the head office on Toronto's Danforth carefully gauged the public’s reaction as the new Ramblers were introduced to Canadians on October 22, 1957. 

Instrument panel of the 1958 Ambassador by Rambler featured symmetry of design and decorator-style.

The Ambassador was given a 2 971-millimetre (117-inch) wheelbase, all of that extra length stretched in front of the cowl. The car was every bit as luxurious as Cadillac and Lincoln, matching them in terms of comfort and optional equipment, save power seats.

Quad headlights in the fenders flanked a narrow upper grille opening in which the word “Ambassador” was spelled out. The lower grille spread across the entire front of the car. It was of an egg crate design, split at the middle by a heavy rib. A chrome guard ran the full length of the bumper and dipped into a “V” at the centre. Long parking lights and turn signals were cleverly tucked between the bumper guard and the bumper. Front fender tops were dressed to the nines in chrome windsplit and gunsight fender guides.

From the side, the unit-body envelope was extremely clean, punctuated only with wheel well flares and a fuselage shape that blasted off from the trailing edge of the rear fender to culminate in a taillight. Subtle, elegant fins rose in the rear quarter panel. The understated look continued into the rear. Canted knife-sharp fender creases held ovoid tail lamps. The lights were accented with a chrome bar that ran the length of the rear deck, below a distinctive emblem and trunk lift.

1958 Ramblers are loaded into boxcars for shipment from the factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

In the US market, six Ambassadors were offered. Here, only four were sold, each with AM’s 5.3-litre (327-cubic inch) V-8, generating 270 horsepower. The mill transferred power to a three-speed manual synchromesh transmission or the optional Flash-O-Matic automatic transmission.

Standard equipment on Ambassadors included a padded instrument panel and sun visors, an electric clock, the Airliner reclining seats and foam for the rear seat cushions. 

The Rambler 6 Super four-door hardtop was sold in a choice of 14 solid colours and 16 two-tone combinations. It sold for $2,874.

Ramblers shared the same body shell as Ambassador. The smaller cars continued on the same 1 080-millimetre (108-inch) wheelbase they had enjoyed since 1956 but were extensively restyled. In the open upper grille, the word “Rambler” was spelled out in standup chrome letters. The lower grille was composed of large, simple chrome rectangles, their outer edges capped by an attractive ribbed section in which round parking lights and turn signals were housed. These Ramblers promised European small car economy and handling ease, rugged dependability, with the big car room and comfort that Canadians expected.

The least expensive Rambler was the Deluxe Sedan. It sold for $2,598 and tipped the scales at 1 336 kilos (2,947 pounds).

The Deluxe, Super and Custom made up the Rambler 6 series. All were equipped with six-cylinder engines that displaced 138 horses. 

3. 
   
   
4. The Rambler Economy 6 (left) was a 127-horsepower mill that could be bumped up to 138 horses with a Dual Throat Carburetor. The Rambler Rebel 215-horsepower V-8, with its velvety performance, is shown on the right.
   

The Rambler Rebel family boasted V-8 power with a mean four-barrel carb set up. That potent little combo rated a healthy 250 horses, more than enough to allow an RCMP cruiser to eat a little dust.

Ramblers were selling just fine but top brass wanted a bigger slice of the action. They could have that if they offered a vehicle in a size between Metropolitan and the Rambler 6. Deals with Austin and Volkswagen for joint production were explored but came to nothing. 

Making a mid-year bow was the 1958 Rambler American. The two-door sedan sold for $2,398 in Super trim and weighed in at  1 113 kilos (2,500 pounds).

In a bold move, the 1955 Rambler was dusted off and re-introduced to the public, mid-year, as the Rambler American. Never before in automotive history had a discontinued model been resurrected. Advertising called the American’s styling “chic.” Company officials talked of calling the new model the Canadian or the 100 here in Canada but in the end that did not happen.

With its emphasis on economy, boasting more cabin space than any of the small European imports and carrying a rock bottom price tag, the American was immediately popular with the practical consumer. Tried and true, folks from St. John’s to Victoria welcomed back their old Rambler friend as they struggled to take inflation out of driving. With a starting price of $2,265 for the Business Sedan and $2,283 for the base sedan, sales of the modestly appointed two-door American soared through the roof.

The 1958 Rambler American was the only small car—domestic or imported—that offered an automatic transmission.

The American was powered by the 3.2-litre (195.6-cubic inch) L-head six that had first debuted in 1940. As thrifty as ever, it was now tweaked to 90 horsepower. The three-speed transmission was standard equipment but advertising wasn’t shy to brag that Rambler’s American was the only small car available on the market with an automatic transmission.

Ramblers could be dressed up with as many options as there are orchards in the Okanagan Valley. The Flash-O-Matic drive, overdrive, the V-8 Powr-Lok Axle, Power Steering, Power windows, power brakes, Solex tinted glass, the highly efficient Weather Eye heater or the industry first All-Season Air Conditioning. One could have the pushbutton all-transistor radio with twin speakers for the Ambassador or an extra speaker on other cars, the classy Continental tire, an anti-glare rearview mirror, heavy-duty rear springs and shock absorbers. A total of 16 two-tone paint jobs was available as well as front foam cushioning for the Deluxe models. Seat belts, travel rack straps and Child Guard door locks were all optional equipment, too. 

With a list price of $3,459, the Rambler Rebel Cross Country Station wagon found plenty of owners in 1958.

Colours for Deluxe and Super models were Classic Black, Brentwood Green, Lakeshore Blue, Mardi Gras Red, Gotham Grey Metallic, Frontenac Grey, Frost White, Kimberley Blue Metallic and Saranac Green Metallic. In addition, Custom models also came in Cinnamon Bronze Metallic, Alamo Beige, Autumn Yellow, Georgian Rose and Mariner Turquoise Metallic.

It would be a great year for American Motors of Canada Limited. With 5,389 units delivered, Rambler would shoot up to 15^th place in calendar year sales, ahead of Studebaker and behind Morris. In addition, Metropolitan sales added another 1,777 units to the final 1958 figure.

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Copyright James C. Mays 2005
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.

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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.

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            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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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Copyright James C. Mays 2004 All rights reserved.