1969 AMC Rambler American: Regular Car Reviews
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AMC Documentary: • The Life and Death of ...
Intro: 00:00
Factor Ad: 1:35
Philadelphia: 3:48
Shifting and Acceleration: 5:55
Ka-Chunk!: 8:47
Glorious Performance 14:41
FM Receiver: 18:57
Class is Started: 19:50
Final Thoughts: 24:21
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Regular
I started off judging these ads and the Factor product. Then I realized, as a new piece of information slotted into place with each ad read, I'm not the target audience. It's a guy who gets a majority of his meals from a gas station. It's a guy whose soda pop consumption is so out of hand, he isn't just cutting it for health, he's "trying to quit" like one of those guys with shaky hands who goes to four or five meetings in a church basement each week and who everybody knows not to loan money. Getting that guy to eat some vegetables is a public service.
Ima use REGULAR100
Man, your videos don't get any views or traction anymore... I wonder why?
This car was made for the Catholic Wisconsin man who had 5 kids but were far enough apart in age to never have them in the house at the same time. He fought in WW2 and one of his 3 sons fought in Vietnam, neither like to talk about it. He liked AMC because his friend was the service department manager at a local dealer and really had no passion for fast and stylish cars. When AMC went out he farmed scapegoats until the memory of the AMC dealership faded. He never thought of that car after he sold in in 74. As many core memories that were formed in the car, it never received the recognition it earned, not even a single held-back tear 30 years later after accidentally stumbing upon one at a car show. He wasn't a car guy and the tool he used for transportation, was nothing more. He lived until 2014 before him and his wife died within 3 weeks of each other. He was survived by 5 non-car enthusiasts kids.
This story feels oddly specific
@@Spectacular66 yet general enough to be a niche.
I'm old enough to have known this guy. Tortoiseshell glasses, spent 80% of his life in a white short sleeve dress shirt. Uses pocket protectors unironically. His one link to current pop culture is that he really likes Procol Harums Whiter Shade Of Pale, the only record he bought in the last ten years. It's the one song he plays on repeat when he drinks Gallo red wine from a coffee cup at the end of the workweek.
@@dannycapra plus he's had the same haircut since Nixon
...and never wore bell bottoms until they were about five years out of style...bought 'em on the sale rack.
That's a surprisingly clean and understated car for 1969. Not everyone needed a big block V-8 and a ton of chrome.
it's beautiful
AMC only had one block size, there's no big block or small block
I couldn't agree more, if parts could reasonably be gotten, I would totally build a 69 Rambler American wagon for a hot rod/cruiser. I've always thought they were GREAT looking cars.
@elihecox3900 @biobrat86 didn't say it did, they said not everyone needed one, so they got the AMC Rambler (that didn't have a big/small block V8.
Of course, AMC offered the exact same car in a garish red white and blue paint scheme with a factory hood scoop and small block 390 V8 and four on the floor!
Am I alone here, or is this a nice looking car? I like it.
No, you're not alone.
I think it looks great and that's coming from someone who generally hates the aesthetics of pre-1970s American vehicles.
It's handsome
It's very clean and non-fussy. I love it. It's understated but neat, with no creases and bulges where they shouldn't be. Like a well fitting suit.
It's very nice looking
Big props to owner for using this regular car as a regular car.
For real, most people I know leave their stuff in the garage all year.
I know that guy! He is a 'classic' too. Miss you Robert!
Man that thing is factory-mint. Hard to believe a car that was conceived to be a beater came to this condition to present time.
My guess is that, unless the new owner is meticulous about aesthetic maintenance, it won’t be in that condition for long. East coast (did he say Pennsylvania?) weather is not a friend to American sheet metal of that era.
It's always a fun if provocative thought when you see what had historically been a cheapo car in gorgeous condition in the present. "Who saved you? And why?"
@@malikcarr9872 It was like the time he saw the Plymouth Omni at...I think it was at a Corvette show, a few years back. "Someone saved this, and I find myself asking...why?"
Finally! The car for the man who’s most exciting hobby is Saturday lawn care.
i was wondering why i loved it so much 😆
Why would anyone do drugs when they could just drive a Rambler.
@@thejunkmanAlthough, it would have been a perfect drug runner's car...who would suspect?
Fun fact, front and rear bumpers are the same part. AMC pinching pennies anyway that they could. Great car Robert.
And also the turn signals in the front bumper and reversing lamps in the rear bumper were identical, except for the color of the lens.
AMC had a concept car where nearly every part was symmetrical. The front left fender was the back right fender. The driver's door was the back passenger door. The proportions were odd but it was interesting.
And the doors were shared with the Classic model line
Ah yes, the AMC cavalier, wish that thing got made.@bwofficial1776
@@riogrande163 Many of its styling features made it into the Hornet
Square lines were everywhere in cars by 1969, but square headlights weren't even legal until 1975. Remember, from like 1940 all the way until the mid 80s the US had very strict headlight regulations. At this point, in 1969, you either had two lights that were 'X' size, or you had four lights that were all a little bit smaller. No exceptions.
Ford paid a lot of money to lobby for composite headlights on the Taurus in '85
Took us forever to get get proper halogen bulbs
@@TheSDB13They didn't get it in time for the release of the Tempo in '84 but made it for the Taurus.
I had one of those when I was in high school in the mid 70s. I loved that car. Gas was 31 cents a gallon back then. Good mileage, and I knew better than to try to race anyone. It was reliable. Not sexy, but back then, because I had a car, girls didn't care.....
I'd argue that a car that hardly breaks down, if ever, is pretty sexy...but, maybe I'm just gettin' old.
i absolutely love the no-frills design, here is car, cube on 4 wheels, now buy it and drive away
A.k.a. Volvo 240 sedan with its shared, Stalinist design ethos.
This is the car that Joe Friday and Bill Gannon drive when they are not on duty.
@@thejunkmanActually, I remember seeing an episode that showed Joe driving home after work, and you're not far off...it was a stripped '64 Fairlane with dog dish hub caps!
My first car was a '69 Rambler that I bought for $400 as a young sailor from my retiring Masterchief in 1979. It was ugly with faded paint, surface rust, and a pink fuzzy dash and homemade seat covers. People laughed at it, but i drove it like I stole it and it was pretty bullet proof. Nothing but fond memories of that car.
Finally! A pop-culture related joke I'm not too young for and can understand!
GENESIS DOES!
Beautiful car. As a german i compare it to a Ford Taunus or a Opel Record from this time. A car for everyone
The Opel really looked like a 62-65 chevy nova they hit with a shrink ray.
Everyone wants the V8 swapped Opel Manta tho...
Although I owned 1968 Rambler Rouge 2 door pillarless hardtop in early ‘70 when I studied in Graduate School in the USA, I owned Taunus M12, M17 while I was in Japanese University. I still like Ford Taunus even in later models M15, M20. The last time I saw Taunus M17 was in Santiago, Chile in 2007. I looked for Taunus while I was in Europe quite a few times including Germany but never seen Taunus models.
This is one of the best videos this channel has ever produced. It embodies that which makes has been the stalwart of this channel: detailed, historically accurate, contextually relevant automotive entertainment presented in a serious way with undertones of humor.
And it’s a really nice car too, which helps.
I keep forgetting (we're not in love anymore......had to finish the line) that mitt Romneys dad was head of AMC
It should be noted that while this is where the block of the legendary AMC straight six basically got started, the engine did undergo numerous revisions through time that increased output significantly, to 190 HP and 235 lb-ft torque -- it was always a torque focused engine, which made it perfect for the Jeep line. In the modern era, fairly minor modifications that most hobby mechanics can do can boost the output to 270hp and more than 300 lb-fit naturally aspirated, and the engine turbos VERY well. All while maintaining the 400k+ mile longevity these engines are famous for.
Barney Navarro put twin turbos on a 199 in the mid 1960s and put it in an Indy car. The car didn't make it, but it wasn't due to any engine failure. Rugged design!
1969 AMC Rambler: if The Roman was a car
But sadly but fruitfuly joyous owns dat.camry
I wish!
@@LimitedTimeRoman uhm...I have a problem (doing my best uncle pulltab)
Why beige?
You talk about the brown...you exalt the virtues of the brown....
You spread across hither and to of the Gospel of the Brown ....
But when it came time to ride or die with the brown.... you went beige?
C'mon....at least Tommy Finstemaker rode his trust fund into to the soft Allegheny clay!!
Why not Brown?
Ask Richard Hammond said about a hearing aid: "It's a symphony of beige"
AMC Rambler. What Al Bundy would've driven if he wasn't able to buy the Mighty Dodge.
The AC was available as a dealer added option back in the day. Affordable automotive air conditioning was new at the time so no/few cars had it as a factory option. I had a 68 f-250 that had the same Cust-O-Matic AC system installed on it. See how the vents aren't molded into the dash. The only difference between that one and the one in my truck was I had a different shaped vent housing bolted under my dash with the controls in between the vents. That's why that car has AC despite being a base model.
A/C was widely available by the late 50s, the automakers, being their greedy selves and the majority of the US population being in the North Eastern US were AC wasn't necessary is why it wasn't standard on every vehicle like now.
You can tell that the A/C in this car is an add on unit. Being from Nevada, I don't wonder why. When I was in Arizona in the mid 1980s, virtually every old car I saw had aftermarket air.
This is the factory a/c setup
In Finland we used to call these the American Mosse (as in Moskvitch) since they looked alike, and the Rambler had about the same equipment, looking from the perspective of other American cars, which were usually very well equipped. Back about 10-15 years ago, these used to be real cheap, and not at all a rare sight.
I am from argentina, one of our best cars was based around the rambler. It was the torino and here was one of the best gt cars that we had
The renaul torino
This is brilliant, it was the base from wich Kaiser Industries Argentina (IKA) and Renault made the Torino. Redesigned by Pininfarina it was a much more attractive car, also made for the masses, in direct competition with the Chevy nova sedan and Ford Falcon. It raced in the Nürburgring 24hs with Fangio.
Yo sabia que iba a encontrar un argentino en este video hablando del toro sjajssajsj lpm
@@maratonvic7960 Y si papá, cuando hacemos algo bueno en estándares internacionales hay que decirlo.
vine a buscar este tipo de comentario 😆
@@SantiagoAntonutti Olvidate rey. Ojala nos saliera hacer algun auto asi otra vez, y no la bosta del tito xd
And yet, I like this car. No frills, easy to work on, gets the job done.
Basic transportation, dependable, solid. Runs like a 'sewing machine'. Easily maintained and repaired. Qualitys sorely lacking in modern vehicles.
You uploaded this while tweakers were trying to steal from my convenience store. Glad to have something to make the night better
Tough buddy:(
flex that 2A
Tweakers at least sometimes they pay
I like tweakin' occasionally but I wouldn't steal from your gas station. That's not cool bro
Damn, what an inconvenience.
This is my idea of a perfect car. Simple, understated and just enough car for the task at hand. No frills, no excitement. Just a good car. Great example, btw, rare to see them so well kept!
Like the Toyota Camry of its time
Love the structure of this episode. The "welcome to class" section is A+. So much more interesting than "look at this flashy stupid car we're giving away."
Well he's pulling from experience as a former teacher
Square headlights weren't legal in the US until 1975.
Square headlights were a thing in europe since the early 60's.
@@kylesoler4139Correct. But they were federally banned on new cars in the USA until 1975, when new sealed beam shapes were approved.
This car was the Toyota Corolla of it's time and I admire anyone who still has one running after all these years
Nah man,
The Rambler is the Master System of AMC. Popular enough to keep the lights on.
The Gremlin and Pacer is the Genesis/Mega Drive, namely the Gremlin was the pre 1991 Genesis, and the Pacer was the Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog as pack in.
The AMX was the Sega Saturn. Did what it did well, but didn't compete well.
The Eagle was the Dreamcast. A return to form, a quality car, it has new ideas that would be adopted by competitors.
Now Nash and Hudson are the SG-1000 and SG-1000 Mark II
Lou Costabile just posted on his TH-cam channel, this car's bad ass, cool older brother, the 1967 Rambler Rouge 343 V8, Borg Warner T10 4 Speed which featured the first Hurst shifter. It was purchased at a Ftankford, Pennsylvania dealershipIt ran 14 second 1/4 miles right out of the factory.
There a strong family resemblence to the '69, you're featuring today, but what a contrast!
I do apologize but nobody knew of the Master System... And if this was somehow the Master System how would you explain it actually being sold? XD
Sadly back in the day Nintendo actually had exclusive contract with stores which pushed Sega out. :0
And again eagle was definitely not Dreamcast. More Saturn with it's complicated build lol
Maybe those last jeeps with the straight 6 were the DC:
Lasted for years because of add-ons and support unofficially through other companies but in the end was faded out. (Border Down being one of my favorite post Sega supported Dreamcast games!)
@@Planag7 the Eagle had AWD before contemporary examples like the Outback. Jeeps were more like their arcade offerings like the Naomi.
GM is Nintendo, Ford is Sony, Stellantis is Microsoft in this analogy? Ok so what is Atari, Colecovision, Intellivison, etc.?
@@jamesbernald2850 Atari's would be Opel. Had a bit of success in the US but was more successful in Europe.
Colecovision is Saturn. Well thought of but only had that one bit of time they were stressful.
Bravo, Robert, for this gorgeous American. I had a 1967 Rambler American ex-fleet (telephone company) base model. Mine was also the 199 C.I. 6 and 3 on the column, no radio, no A/C, and no power steering (which this one has). I also had the vacuum powered windshield wipers like this one does. And I also had an Audiovox FM receiver in the car, after I bought an AM radio from a neighbor's 64 Rambler American. You plugged the antenna into the FM receiver and then plugged the cable from the FM receiver into the radio. It sent the signal to the radio at 1400 kHz. And you had to adjust the trim control on the radio to set the AM reception back to its max. For its overall size, there is very decent interoir & trunk space in this old compact car.
i honestly think these are fantastic looking, its like a different version of a Dart
I think Bill Bryson's dad had a Rambler (wagon?), as - if I remember correctly - told by the author himself in his book reminiscing about his childhood in iowa, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid". After watching this video, this makes perfect sense.
Great read, and as an Iowan I whole heartedly endorse this product!
The quote is "Everyone not in favour of moderation should be castrated".
It's an amazing TV series
What series are you referring to?
@@Anzehlm "John Adams" on HBO. It is currently available on Max (in the USA). And coming this year from the same creators is "Franklin" on Apple TV+.
I respect this car.
I truly admire not only the quality of this restoration but his choice of a car that represents a time which is not centered in noise, performance and second hand glory but a true cultural icon of a type that has had so little (this comes from a guy who's first four cars were a bug, two pintos and Gremlin.....)
I'm an AMC guy. AMC gets overlooked but they served an important role, cars that were nice enough if you didn't want to pay for the Big 3's cars. I'm always impressed by how much AMC did with so little. My first car was an AMC-built Jeep CJ and it has everyone's parts in it so it's easy to fix.
@@bwofficial1776 I owned a '72 Gremlin with inline six and three speed stick, good car. My wife bought a '76 Pacer. new, piece of junk
@@bwofficial1776 Rambler/AMC was so unfairly lambasted in its day. Especially in the late 50s/early 60s. Looking at those models with modern eyes, I vastly prefer their understated style, great interior packaging, and an exterior small enough to actually fit into a parking space. Those ostentatious 20-ft-long land yachts of the era don't do much for me -- as a driver, most of those do not seem very practical to me.
Of course, the bog-standard American trim was designed to be boring, and it does not appeal to me. But I would've loved the more uplevel Rambler Classic, a car that brought any number of innovations to the class (like unibody construction).
I kinda like how simple it is
Nowadays simple cars are just trying wayyyy too hard to not be simple
Thank the US Govt. for all the extra's that are manditory, and the consumer for wanting it "all" in a simple car.
After I was born, my parents drove me home from the hospital in a 1969 Rambler and here I am today watching videos about cars on the internet. You've come a long way, baby!
This prompted me to look up Ramblers in Australia as my grandfather owned one a long time ago. Turns out there was AMI (Australian Motor Industries) which was a different company originall but signed on with AMC. Anyway, turns out we made Ramblers locally here in right hand drive, though I cannot find one resembling this one. All the ones I'm finding here look actually kinda cool.
‘69 or ‘70 was the last year of the Rambler.
@@seed_drill7135 The Rambler nameplate was used in export markets well into the '70s, on cars that were otherwise the same as US '70s AMCs (so, "Rambler Hornet", "Rambler Gremlin" etc).
There was also a V8 available for this thing, in case you wanted something a bit spicier than Taco Bell.
How about an SC/Rambler aka Scrambler!!. 390 cubes and 315 HP!!
@@RoadRunnergarage8570Sure, but you're comparing cream of the crop vs bottom of the barrel. There were mid-tier V8's like the 287 available. Even that would've been night vs day compared to the 6 in this car... Assuming it had aged gracefully.
@danebeck7900 a stock 199 with AC is pretty lethargic, yes.
But don't cast out the I6 just yet, the later 4.0 block can be mated with a 258 crankshaft to create a meaty 4.6l inline 6, 300 streetable horsepower is quite easy!
We used to have the Iranian version of this rambler that was modified for Iranian families in early 1970s! Basically the same lock with four doors slightly bigger to fit four kids in the back had the record player upfront underneath the dash! brings a lot of memories back. Thank you for sharing.
Both of my grandfathers drove Ramblers for years. Both swore they were the best American cars in the 60s. Both bought Ramblers for their kids.
My dad has a ‘65 Rambler convertible that he has restored. Used to be his older brother’s car that he bought new when he was going to school. Not much, but it’s special for the family.
its special in the sea of 67 Chevelle's and mustangs
I grew up in a small upstate NY town that's only car dealership was an AMC. Where AMC struggled to achieve a single digit market share in our little town a third of the town was driving one model or another. My Dad had the Rambler station wagon. I took my drivers test in an Ambassador. They kind of had a hip to be square vibe after it was gone.
I also grew up in upstate NY, and a guy who lived two blocks from me bought a new American in '64 and drove it until '75. That one was so stripped that it had a flathead six! I think that '65 was the last year of that.
I bought a 1972 AMC Hornet for $150 in 1990.
It just kept going.
And going.
Those straight 6 motors were tanks.
It sat in a 5 foot snow drift for a week and I dug it out and it started and it backed out of that drift.
God, I loved that car.
AMC doesn't get the glory the other big 3 get, but they always had the guts.
Well, not always.
My mum had a Gremlin when she was young. It was grocery store paper bag brown. She discovered this because the car had rusted through just under the hatch/trunk. Mum used a grocery store paper bag to occlude the hole from the inside. Looked good enough to disguise the blemish for her job at Taco Bell. Anyhoo...
That bit about the “Rambler Owner” was oddly soothing.
My in laws had a 68 four door with that same engine trans setup. Car lasted forever and was a lot more car than the base falcons or novas and had more power. It wasn't a 69 hemi road runner but it didn't have any trouble from gravel roads to the interstate keeping up with traffic. Those were the days 🤗
My mom had a Rambler when going to UC Riverside in the 60's. A car so simple even my dad could work on it.
My dad had a 1967 Rambler in dark green, with an automatic and A/C, but no power steering, and the 6-cylinder engine. It lasted him 10 years until the motor mounts rusted out and the engine almost fell out.
Lou Costabile just posted on his TH-cam channel, this car's bad ass, cool older brother, the 1967 Rambler Rouge 343 V8, Borg Warner T10 4 Speed which featured the first Hurst shifter. It was purchased at a Ftankford, Pennsylvania dealershipIt ran 14 second 1/4 miles right out of the factory.
There a strong family resemblence to the '69, you're featuring today, but what a contrast!
"They didn't have issues, they had an entire subscription." What a fantastic line!
Reminds me of Life with Louie. They had a whole episode about his dad's Rambler
WOW! I saw this car LIVE, as it drove past us on the Garden State Parkway this weekend! MINT MINT MINT! The fella was happily driving with his arm out the window, not a care in the world ... THAT'S a good time! All the very best to the owner of this gem ... 😁
+7 for the Strong Bad Hoodie in the Ad Roll. So serious.
Your three-on-the-tree experience reminds me of college in the early 80s when because I was the only one the group who was setting up for a festival who knew how to drive a manual that I got to drive around the college's late 60's Ford pickup that had three-on-the-tree. It was surprisingly easy to do, but you could not shift fast. Every shift had to be very deliberate!
My older brother got a 1969 Rambler when I was about 15. The purest definition of basic. My brother somehow rigged his boombox into the speakers because it only had AM. I learned how to do so many repairs/replacements on that very car. His was an automatic tho.Everything is accessible and parts were pretty plentiful. Was almost the same color as this one. Had a dark weirdly metallic blue interior. He put over 200,000 miles on it before he sold it and got a '71 Riviera
This and the Corvair turned out to be the most affordable 60's cars for anyone who wants to get into classic cars with a low barrier for ownership.
Add the Studebaker Lark to that list and you're there.
Beetles too!
I drove a '62 rambler classic through the 90s. Old folks loved to tell me they were known as the 'Mormon rocket' in their time, I always understood that to mean they were the fastest boring car of the 60s.
George Romney, the then head of AMC and Mitt's father, was a Mormon.
That's an awesome title for a car. Right up there with "Tröllblazer" for the Saab 9-7X and the Tin Lizzie.
Glad someone brought this car to the spotlight, its description is spot on imo. I have a 66 american, and although its not even close to ready to drive, I intend to use it as a daily while still enjoying friday nights at the local show with my friends.
Fun fact: a guy named Barney Navarro turbocharged one of these 199ci AMC engines to supposedly 700hp in thr 60s. It was took over 100psi of boost to make that number allegedly. It was supposed to run at Indy but never got dialed in. Newcomer racing just pushed 1000hp on an engine dyno with a newer 4.0l that's of course based on this architecture (but with much improved head, upgraded internals etc).
Cute little car, makes me wish AMC had hung around just a little longer into the new millennium. Maybe we woulda gotten something a bit more novel or interesting than a lot of the junk the Big Three were putting out at the time for commuter cars. I’m sure they’d end up going away anyways with the Recession in ‘08, but maybe their existence even as a small competitor would’ve pushed them to not settle entirely on mediocre; then again, maybe that’s all AMC would’ve become if it had stuck around. Who knows?
If AMC had just a little more money in the bank in the late 70's and sold a few more cars in the early 80's; maybe not got involved with Renult... A independent Jeep/AMC in 1990 is killing it with the Jeep brand and the Eagle wagon.
@@seththomas9105 Yeah, that would have been awesome. AMC and Jeep today would probably be sharing one or two hugely successful economy car platforms for all kinds of cool stuff. They would have forced the Big 3 to give a damn about cheap cars and they might have been kinda like Saturn in some ways, if Saturn wasn't ruined by GM.
1969 AMC Rambler American: The official car for the kind of middle aged man who never has anything notably good or bad to say when asked how his day was. Just a light shrug and a simple, “It was fine”.
Let us not forget the legendary SC Rambler with the red, white and blue paint, aka, The AMC SCRambler!!!!
great car, wish i had one
love the vids about old hunkers like this that still roll around, being from europe we dont see these anywhere
AMC Rambler. The car that took me home from the hospital when I was born. Later replaced by '68 VW camper.
Perfect timing. I got something to listen to on my way to work
I wish that this car was still in production. Not all of us want a mommy truck, or a bro dozer. Some of us just want a solid, no-frills transport.
Yeah....dad bought one in '68 ( radio delete ) after his '63 Biscayne ( radio delete ) let him down for the last time. The Rambler was steady, reliable, basic. Dad splurged for the automatic on his, $70 extra if I remember. Through it's career, it was hit on three separate occasions in the front, one of which had murky details on how it happened, the right rear was swiped from the rear of the door to the tail light ( details were murky on how that happened too ), and had a " minor " rear end collision. Came time for mom to start working again so in '71, just before the effects of the gas crisis started being felt, dad naturally bought......a Toyota Corolla wagon ( radio delete ). Everyone laughed at him. They weren't laughing in '72. So the " Bler " became mom's car and soldiered on until '77 when it wouldn't pass the PA state inspection and wasn't at all running well. So, it sat in our driveway. And it sat. Finally, it was donated to a vocational college after learning it could be claimed as tax credit, kind of like donating your body to medicine after you die. The boys came over with a flatbed, tossed a good battery into it, bypassed the fuel system, and started cranking it over while spraying the starting fluid. They brought a case of it with them. A half hour and two or three cans of it later, the damn thing started. Drove it on the back of the flatbed. I never saw so much smoke dumping out of a tail pipe, then or since. If I remember, mosquitoes weren't a problem in our neighborhood that summer. What was the car that mom bought? A brand new, bright yellow, Pontiac.......Sunbird ( AM radio std. ).
Power shifting was not impossible.....
However...
...by the time I found 2nd gear and dumped the clutch that 199 was spinning 6k.... And the benchseat broke loose from the floor because of rust...
...my uncle and I ended up hinged into the backseat
Good times....
It's silly how excited I get to hear my favorite TH-cam channel shout out my second favorite one. Loved Alex's video on the headlights.
The shoutout to technology connections is the type of content I continue to look for. Hell yes.
So my old man (I'm 50) was an AMC man. After he got out of the Army in 1961, he bought himself a slightly-used 1960 Corvair Monza Spider that he enjoyed for a few years until, while taking a corner, the left rear wheel decided to break off of the car and go by him on the road as the rest of the car went into the ditch and broke his back. After he was able to walk/work again, he bought a slightly-used 1965 American 440 Coupe with three-on-the-tree and vacuum overdrive.
That little American gave him 120,000 miles of problem-free driving, which was a rarity back then. From there he was hooked - his next new car was a '69 Javelin (with the 304) and then a 1979 AMC Concord woody wagon, chocolate brown with matching hubcaps. So AMC cars will always be appreciated by one viewer of RCR.
Back in the 1980s my dad, who was a HS English teacher, had an old AMC Ambassador as a "beater with a heater" for his work car. It was the first car I wrenched on before getting my learner's permit.
Aside from AMC's being "parts bin cars" with components purchased from the Big 3, it was a delight to work on and stone-axe reliable.
16:46 yet anather mention of technology connections in rcr video. gotta love the man in BROWN for explaining mundane daily objects with snark and MORE BROWN please
I'm hoping you'll get your hands on a '59 Rambler Six for all the "Life With Louie" references.
RIP Louie Anderson. He and the show made me nostalgic for an era I never even experienced, in a country on the other side of the planet.
I'm so grateful you made a video on this car, I've wanted one for many years
I absolutely love it! The official car of the man for whom getting "spiffy" means putting on his best Brut, Speed Stick and Irish Spring.
Oh wow, well, good morning to the RCR folks! A ramble about a Rambler? Sweet!
In the 70's you could ramble about town, rambling about something to your girlfreind, whilst listneing to Led Zeppelin "Ramble on" in your Rambler. But, I digres, I ramble on.
I revisit “the life and death of AMC” a couple times a year. Excellent documentary
Thank You! RCR is finallly back on form.
My late father-in-law, born in 1932, had a 51 Chevy Deluxe with the column shifter. He was literally the only person in town that can drive it, lol.
Living in SE Delaware County, going to Wildwood, NJ every summer in the 70’s, I can relate. The drive over the Walt Whitman bridge then the stop and go traffic through south Jersey is something you could only understand if you were there… the exhaust fumes mixed with the humid summer temperatures. If I could only go back…
The AMC special was great and what drew me into this channel and got me to subscribe. 👌
I just got a 1960 rambler wagon a few months ago. I love it because no one knows what it is.
Holy crap is this the first RCR video without a single joke? I actually apretiated the history lesson on the economics of this car and i totally get the appeal of a car like this from it's time ty.
Was not expecting that call out to Technology Connections. Love that. It's a great channel
He’s parodied Alec once or twice here
My wife's very first car of her own was a '64 Rambler American 330-the first year of the 3rd generation Rambler like this one. $800 in the mid 90s from a literal little old lady, she used it to commute to her first "real" job which was split between two locations on opposite sides of Denver. It was perfect in every way for that task except for the fatality potential. I'm glad to see that by 1969 they had upholstered the sharp steel edge of the dashboard, but it still felt a bit like riding a tricycle on the interstate. It was a lovely car, but I slept better when she replaced it with a modern Honda.
I can smell the exhaust thru the screen
damn I shouldn't be awake right now but I'm glad I am
I'm glad to see a Rambler finally get reviewed it's been a long time coming.
This was my first car. It was my dad's winter beater for years. He gave it to me in 1983. It was an automatic. I loved that thing. Was in rough shape but mechanicaly sound. Drove it all over NY State . That fat ac duct saved me and my friends from a weed bust😂 . Pete shoved the bag deep into that duct. No bust. But we never got it back either. However, every time we turned on the heat, we got high😂
Ramblers were about the only cars with manual steering that you could spin the wheel with the palm of your hand. Had three of them years ago. For '69 the American name was dropped altogether - the base model was the AMC Rambler, the dressier one was the Rambler 440, and the hardtop coupe was the Rambler Rogue.
My parents bought a new 69 four-door 440 Rambler American. 199 six, automatic transmission and a radio was the only options. Gold with white top. It was a second car for our family. Full size FORD, Chrysler and Oldsmobile were in the driveway with the Rambler. Good little car.
Thank you for the well done review of this interesting vehicle.
I found your historical commentary on Philly giving me food for thought since my grandparents lived in The 4400 block of Osage Avenue from 1953 until their deaths. Late 1980s and early 2000s respectively. Their only vehicle was crushed by a tree in the late 1950s so they were heavily dependent on the nearby trolley and bus lines to conduct their day-to-day affairs.
Thanks for the lesson as always Mr Rider.
Square headlights really didn’t become common on American cars until the mid-70’s. Pretty much all of them still had round headlights in 1969.
The 1969 Rambler was the least expensive US built car you could buy, yet it had the highest standard horsepower of all US compact cars, the most modern inline six engine in the US car industry, an extremely strong unibody with good rust protection, and more back seat leg room than a 1974 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Unlike the 1968-1972 Nova, the little Rambler actually looks good as a 4-door. What's not to like?
BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! His horn went BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Before he passed, my pop told me about an old song about a Nash Rambler racing a Cadillac. The song is hilarious and in the song, the Rambler kept the pace with the Caddy!
Beep Beep by the Coasters. Funny song
Good morning
Great review of the car and car culture and priorities both then and now. I love it's pragmatism, beauty, and simplicity. (I love the colour and steel wheels)
This is exactly what my grandad told me he loves, bench seat, manual transmission, basic gauges, just a solid, simple, reliable car.
Watching you shift that three on the tree reminded me of Adam Driver doing it in "Ferrari".
We never had a SEGA, but we knew some kids who did.