1963 Rambler

 The 1963 Rambler Ambassador 880 Cross-Country Wagon
 sold for $3,329 and weighed in at 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 auto industry by surprise. Rambler's shared Classic and Ambassador envelope was new from stem to stern. 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 to see 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 CBC newsreader-and Rambler spokesman-Earl Cameron. 

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AMC's  Metropolitan was discontinued at the end of the 1962
 selling season.

For the first time in American Motors’ history, there was no Metropolitan on the showroom floor. Manufacture of the tiny import 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 his eager clients in Alberta. 

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

1963 Austin Mini by BMC.

1963 Simca by Chrysler of France.

The only imported Rambler this year was the 440 American convertible. 

The 100-inch wheelbased 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. 

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

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. 

The Rambler Classic was a completely new vehicle. The guys at 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.” 

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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.”

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

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. 

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 From the rear, Rambler Ambassador carried styling
cues that made it distinct 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--both practical for our long, harsh winters. One could write a cheque for  $31.95 for the Airliner reclining seats and $30.05 for headrests and $56.95 for five seat belts. It cost  $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. 

 Airliner Reclining Seats made into Twin Travel Beds,
 saving frugal travellers bundles of money on the road. 

Rambler Canada's executives were more than happy with Track & Traffic’s evaluation of “satisfying” rather than “spectacular” when all was said and done. 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 behind 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 and the 1964 picture was only going to get brighter. 

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 Copyright James C. Mays 2005 All rights reserved.

1955 Hudson

The most expensive Hudson in the 1955 lineup was the Hornet V-8 Custom Hollywood Hardtop. It cost $3,445.47 before the Federal Excise Tax was added.

Hudson had an illustrious history that reached back to 1909 when the first of the marque made its debut. This was an automobile with a long string of automotive firsts to its credit. At a time when motorists got by on four cylinders, Hudson offered two more and became the largest producer of six-cylinder cars in the world.

The 1919 introduction of the lower-priced Essex companion car by Hudson became extremely popular with Canadians. In the years after the Great War, Essex was often the Number Three best selling passenger car in the Dominion, snapping hard on the heels of Ford and Chevrolet.

With great fanfare, the Detroit-based manufacturer finally set up shop in Tilbury, Ontario. It was an unusual arrangement because Hudson did not actually perform any of the assembly operations. That was contracted out to Canadian Top & Body Corporation, a firm that was already fabricating parts and even bodies for other automakers including Gray-Dort and Ford.

The company weathered the federal election of 1935 in which Liberal Leader of the Opposition Mackenzie King campaigned to reduce tariffs on imported automobiles from 35 percent to 17.5 percent.  Studebaker, Reo and Packard closed their Canadian operations but Hudson would stay in Canada. The low bucks Essex companion car in the Hudson stable gave birth to the Terraplane and that light and fast car was popular with Canadians, too.

The Hudson nameplate was well known and respected, it boasted an illustrious 46-year history as the 1955 models debuted.

World War Two broke out in September of 1939. Canada would throw its might behind Great Britain against Nazi aggressors. Canadian Top & Body possessed a highly skilled work force that would serve King and Country on the home front. The Tilbury Times reported on May 23, 1940 that the company had signed a contract to produce mechanical transports for the Royal Canadian Army. Other military contracts followed quickly, including the manufacture of munitions and anti-submarine projectiles. Automotive operations wound down as the world conflict deepened.

After the war, Hudson was reluctant to re-establish assembly in the Dominion because of stiff taxes imposed on automobile purchasers by Ottawa. Chatco purchased Canadian Top and Body in 1947 and the company expanded into the manufacture of white goods.

Automobile production finally got under way in April of 1950 when the Hudson Pacemaker series started rolling off the lines. Unfortunately, a disastrous fire destroyed Plant Number One on June 29. It was a credit to all concerned that Hudson assembly was interrupted for only two weeks.

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Hudson, like the other independent automakers, fell out of favour with consumers in the 1950s. Production of the Jet, the only model produced in Tilbury, had declined to a dismal 654 units (one source indicates production to be 359 units) for the entire 1954 model year and another 218 of the larger Hudsons were imported from the US. 

The Hudson Jet was not well accepted by consumers and was replaced by the compact Rambler in 1955.

In a bid to stay alive in the automaking game, on May 1, 1954 ailing Hudson was folded into the much stronger Nash-Kelvinator firm. In the United States the combine was now known as American Motors, with Nash, Hudson and Kelvinator all becoming divisions of the new corporation.

Here at home, it would take more time to complete the merger. Hudson Motors of Canada Limited and Nash-Kelvinator Canada Limited continued as separate legal entities until January 2, 1956. The two companies, however, were billed as affiliates of the American Motors Corporation in Detroit, Michigan.

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 Corporate intricacies did not prevent the two former competitors from immediately combining all other forces in a practical way. Assembly of the Hudson Jet in Tilbury was discontinued on July 29, 1954 and Hudson’s parts warehouse was moved lock, stock and barrel into the Nash plant in Toronto over the Civic Holiday weekend. Hudson’s sales arm was still separate and a new national office was opened on September 1^st, in Toronto with its address at 1470 The Queensway.

 Dealers lost the Hudson Jet but were given the Hudson Rambler to sell in 1955. The compact Hudson ranged in price from $1,777.87 to $2385.73

The 1955 model year was looming ahead rapidly. Automotive industry analysts were predicting that this would be the biggest year in history. The May merger prompted Hudson designers and engineers to scramble like mad in an all-out effort to create a new look for the marque, which had worn the same body shell for seven seasons.

There was neither time nor money to develop and new envelope, so Hudson would share sheet metal with Nash. On August 9, Nash and Hudson people began coordinating the planned shared assembly of the two brands in the small Toronto plant. This was complex because with the addition of the Hudson Wasp, there would now be three distinct vehicles to come off the lines.  The stylish, compact Nash Rambler was built in Toronto as well as the Nash Canadian Statesman. The little Rambler would now do double duty, it would wear the Hudson emblem with honour.

With teething problems straightened out, domestic production finally got under way on December 17. Four-door Hudson Wasps, two-door, four-door Rambler sedans and Nash Canadian Statesman four-door sedans started rolling out the doors. The two-door hardtop models, all station wagons, top-of-the-line Hornets and Nash Ambassadors that were needed to round out the corporate stable were imported from the US.

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  The smallest Hudson offered in 1955 was the British-built Metropolitan. Nash dealers had their own version of the captive import.

A tiny bonus for Hudson dealers was the addition of the pint-sized, imported Metropolitan on showroom floors. Quite a change from last year, they had seven Rambler models, three Wasps and six Hornet models to sell. 

Advertising called the 1955 Hudson lineup “the most beautiful performers of them all: and they weren’t kidding when they boasted that Hudson was “completely new, inside and out.” 

In addition to the legendary sixes, Hudson now boasted a satin-smooth V-8 engine. 

.     Now billed as the Hornet Championship Six, the stock car mill was the largest six-cylinder engine in the industry.

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   Interior of the full-sized Hudson was luxurious for the 1955 selling season. 

The marque now offered automatic transmission, air conditioning, Airliner reclining seats and Twin Travel Beds. Power steering, power brakes and power window lifts were new. The clean graceful lines of the design could almost be heard to whisper, “Let’s go places.”

New for 1955 at the house of Hudson was a V-8 engine. The powerful 320-cubic inch monster was shared with Nash and sourced from Studebaler-Packard

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The  1955 Hudson Wasp was built in the AM plant on Toronto’s Danforth. For 1955 it listed for $2,505.33 in two-door form.

The domestically built Wasp was billed as “Canada’s smartest new car in the low-medium price field.” It was not available with any of the power options. Hornets and Wasps could be ordered in any of eleven solid colours or eleven two-tone colour combinations. 

Hudson’s position in the market place improved greatly in comparison with last year’s. Domestic production of the Hudson Wasp reached 1,022 units for the 1955 model year.

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Copyright James C. Mays 2007 All rights reserved.