1963 AMC Rambler American 440 H

[@kemmerich8]

My Dad produced this commercial....and I never saw it until today! Thank you You-Tube!

[@OsbornTramain]

Wow!, that's fantastic. Can I ask you, how do you know? Did he tell you about this and the location? I'm thinking this is at Joshua Tree? in California? Please tell us more!

[@OsbornTramain]

I had a 1961 I bought as a Junior in High School in 1977. In my freshman year in 1978-79. I drove it daily for about 80 miles back and forth to school....a neat little car....loved mine.

[@ellenwoods3918]

My dad's car was a 1963 Rambler American, 440H. He bought it in 1967. I learned to drive in this car.

[@OsbornTramain]

I too owned one of these, when I was 17 in 1977, I bought a 1961 two door base model, strippo. It only had 19 thousand miles at the time. It had the original spare time in the back trunk. Drove the car for two years, back and forth to work and college. Never had a problem other than a radiator issue that left me stranded once. I sold the car for 700 in 1979. I thought that was an amazingly high price for the car. A new car then cost 3500 dollars. A great little car.

[@walterweddle7644]

Love to drive one today. No computer bs.

[@terrysellers6712]

I busted in tears when I viewed this, I remember the commercial like yesterday 😭

[@MrVampiredog]

BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MISS THEM OLD CARS. A FRIEND OF MINE HAD ONE IN THE 70S. HAD FUN DRIVING AROUND .

[@OsbornTramain]

They did get great mileage, they consistently won the Mobil Gas Economy run each year. It was probably close to 30 miles per gallon where the Met would probably be between 30 and 40. The last year for the Met was 1962 The Rambler American had very similar styling to the Met up until 1960

[@neckarsulme]

It is kinda funny how they try to portray them as being kind of high performance when the opposite is true. I have a 62 base model with a flat head six, forged steel crank and connecting rods.....that engine is indestructable though. I've owned it since 1968

[@walterweddle7644]

You still have it? My father in law had one and loved it. They would only buy Ramblers.

[@kemmerich8]

He produced most Rambler Commercials in the west....Mammoth, Joshua Tree, etc...he loved the monumental natural settings. He worked for the Ad Agency Geyer, Morey, Madden and Ballard in NYC. Sam Ballard was his Boss. His name was Lee Emmerich. Also produced the national sales meetings....San Francisco, Atlantic City, etc. At the time George Romney was CEO of American Motors....we have a picture from the 1964 National meeting with my dad in the middle of a bunch of execs.....all looking worried, Mr. Romney chief among them. The show went off splendidly! As we all know, the Rambler brand faded...they switched agencies and my dad moved on to other things in "the business"....but this commercial was a high point for him!

[@OsbornTramain]

This is a great story, I'll incorporate it into the information section. The switch to the other Advertising Agency (Benton and Bowels) was a disaster by all accounts. AMC did switch again in 1967 after the terrible sales launch of the 67 line in fall of 66. I've got a Jack Benny Commercial with the 67 Rambler uploaded which is amazingly horrible, they actually call the Rambler "cheap".....what a group of morons, they ruined the Rambler name to have Jack Benny make a joke. They then in 1968 Switched to Wells, Rich & Greene.

[@kemmerich8]

OsbornTramain Thank you so much for posting this...and for your kind words....I'm glad I found this...since I'm actually in one of the ads from 62 or 63....that would be a hoot to find!

[@OsbornTramain]

I have a couple of commercials that i'll be uploading this week.....and a few that are being sent out to be cleaned and restorred....I think 4 commercials in all from the 61 to 64 range....so let's hope!

[@rangerbean77]

Learned to drive in one of these....huge steering wheel with no power assist.

[@nlpnt]

It's interesting that AMC felt flush enough to tool up that hardtop roof stamping for one year only. For that matter, making the '61-63 ragtop a full convertible rather than simply reviving the '50-55 style that retained the sedan-style window frames and B pillars.

[@OsbornTramain]

It's a contradiction in terms too and seriously, looks like Romney made same major error before he left to run for Office. In fact, he left when the getting was good. And poor Roy Abernathy now gets the blame. The years 57 thru 61 were growth years sales expanding. They offered a full line of cars, sub compact Met, compact American, Mid-size Classic/Rebel and the full sized Ambassador. Ambassador was always a medium upper priced car under Nash. It was the same size as a Ford or Chevy, but smaller than a Buick or Oldsmobile Senior car. Romey changed and upended all that strategy for the 1964 model line by putting all cars on one size fits all platform with the exception of the Met which was gone after 62. This idea that all cars the same size is what precipitated the gigantic downturn in sales. between 62 and 65, sales tanked year after year. The one size fits all concept did offer two door hardtops and convertibles which AMC didn't have in 1961, they rolled out the Classic Two Door Sedan in 62, that was new as well as the 63 American Hardtop which did have a convertible in 61, but, the idea that all models would use the same platform to save costs was idiotic. Why would someone by an Ambassador Hardtop in 1964, when it was almost identical to an 1964 low priced American????? Abernathy made totally the right choice albeit they lost money doing it to get back to the two or three platforms instead of one.

[@ufoengines]

Neat ! I had a dream with this car in it . It was 1963 and I was leaving a resort motel in Georgia to go to work at a one man helicopter plant. Patents 672256, 3116040.

[@101Volts]

Thanks, I'd heard the Metropolitan could get about 40 but I think that depends on the speed one's going. From what graphs I've seen, It seems like fuel economy is the best somewhere from 31 to 38 MPH depending on the car, Then the faster one goes the faster the tank goes.

[@101Volts]

I wonder what the fuel economy was in these cars, It looks comparably small to a Nash Metropolitan.

[@jelanimclean6326]

Rambler.

[@GooglFascists]

Not even a prancing horse and a blonde chick could put excitement in those poor little tin cans. They were one thing: CHEAP. I rode in and drove several of those back in the day and they all were like squared off Volkswagen Beetles. Not a single plus except CHEAP basic transportation. That's it. Who would have thought someday virtually ALL American cars would be as drab as those early 60s Ramblers?

[@chuckschafer942]

RAMBLER WAS A UTILITARIAN CAR