Ah, American Motors cars. So, weird, strange and bizarre. Even the 1968-1970 AMX and 1971-1974 Javelin have enough quirk to make me wonder what the heck they were thinking. Exceptions being the norm, there's something about 1961 Rambler American two-door sedans that, despite still being off the beaten path, I like. The lines and proportions are darn near perfect although I wonder why the rear wheels look like they're too far forward, as if the body doesn't fully fit. Is that a look? On a bright note, the rear canopy highlights a remarkably spacious interior given the size of the car and it's modest, one-hundred-inch-long wheelbase. GM and Ford stubbed their bumpers trying to make an attractive small car back then but at least for one model year, AMC seemed to get it right.
American Motors, or AMC, came about with the 1954 merger of Hudson and Nash-Kelvinator. Apparently, the Nash design ethos won out over the far more conventional Hudson designs. That meant through the early 1960's, AMC's would have an oddly peculiar, not-of-this-world look to them. With Nash designs from 1949-1954, the bathtub, closed fender look was a deliberate attempt to make Nash's distinctive from the fairly similar look-a-like GM and Ford makes and models. Chrysler's too to some extent. And that left-of-center styling remained prevalent at AMC for most if not all of the company's history.
My affection for '61 Rambler American coupes is only for the '61's; the 1958 through 1960 models have too much of that cartoony Nash bathtub in them. Although, giving them credit, they don't have the enclosed fenders like 1949-1954 Nash's had. The 1962 and 1963 American's are too fussy. I prefer the simplicity of these cars. For '64, AMC went mainstream with the American cross pollinating the design DNA of a '62 Chevy II and a '63 Ford Falcon. It worked to some degree, but it was a far less distinctive design than the Rambler American had been.
The oddness, sorry, distinctiveness, carried over inside too. My old man's '61 Rambler Classic had a speed-o-meter just like this. Was this quirky for the sake of being quirky or distinctive if not an intelligent design? Who knows. I don't like having to do math on a constant basis and by 1965, AMC ditched the "single-digit" speedo motif for a more conventional one.
Again, the interior of these cars is remarkably spacious for such a small vehicle. Bonus, seller of this car is throwing in these hysterically off beat cow pattern seat covers. I don't seat covers but I'd keep these on for a while.
Nice big trunk too. You need anything bigger you might want to think twice about how far you're going or for how long.
From the looks of it, our plucky subject here has already had a heart transplant sometime over the last sixty-one years. That appears to be an overhead-valve inline six and not the L-head or "flathead" six these were saddled with. The engine dated back to 1941.
Fun fact, AMC's 1965 Rambler American was the last domestic automobile to be offered with a flat head engine. I'd toss that OHV six this has for a small-block Chevy and make this a grocery getter that could scare my great grandmother.
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