1958 Rambler American - The Rambler-iest Rambler?

Mirror, mirror on the garage wall, which American Motors' car was the Rambler-iest Rambler of them all? Good question. "Rambler-iest Rambler" meant to denote the most unsophisticated, uncool, unhip, dorkiest, dweebiest, booger eating car AMC affixed "Rambler" to between 1955 and 1969. To me it's a toss-up between 1958 to 1960 and 1961 to 1963 "Rambler Americans". Push comes to shove; my money's on the '58-'60's. This well restored blue bomber is a 1958. 

"Rambler" was the primary brand of the American Motors Corporation, or "AMC", which was what the company was named after the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motors in 1954. Apparently, the new company determined there was sufficient brand equity and cache in "Rambler" since Nash had relative success with their compact, luxurious, fairly expensive and distinctively styled "Nash Rambler" (above) going back to 1950. 

Despite Nash's success with the compact Rambler, the new American Motors discontinued its production after 1955 and moved all production to a longer wheelbase car they branded as "Rambler". With it's "what-the-hell-is-that" styling, sales of these cars were roughly half of what they were projected to be. These 1956 and 1957 Rambler's ran a close third to the Rambler Americans for Ramblier-est Rambler. 

AMC updated styling on the "big" Ramblers for 1958 making them more somewhat more conventional looking. With the country headed for a recession, they also saw an opportunity in the low-priced, compact car space and repurposed Nash's old Rambler as the "American". 

With its lightweight, aerodynamic, unibody construction and feature rich interior, the 1950 Nash Rambler was considered quite advanced when new and still held its own in 1958 as a "Rambler American". Although, American Motors decided against the upscale interior detailing that made the Nash Rambler stand out from other small cars. They did, however, kibosh the controversial rear fender skirts; the fronts, which gave the Nash Rambler its unique inverted bathtub aesthetic, had been removed in 1955.

Not a fan of the fender skirted Nash Rambler were you? Careful what you wish for. That the rear axle doesn't align with the tear-drop fender opening doesn't do the toy-car like proportions of these cars any favors. 1958 to 1960 Rambler Americans were available only as two-door sedans. 

From this rear-three-quarter view, it doesn't look as proportionally out of balance as it does from other angles. The fishbowl effect of the lens on what I assume is an iPhone camera adds a robustness that these cars don't actually have too; iPhone's typically make things look better than they actually are. They can't do anything to make this car appear less like a design out of the 1940's rather than the '50's, though. Having the domestic compact car lane all to themselves, these sold fairly well. 

The stubby little American did relatively well, though. Attribute that to the growing popularity of small, imported cars in this country and a cheap car sold in a down economy.  

Once the Big Three came out with their compact cars in 1960, AMC's small car goose was cooked. AMC updated the American for 1961 changing little more than wrapper on the 1950 vintage Nash Rambler chassis. American did eventually come with a clean-sheet "American" in 1964. The four-door versions, new-for-'61, were built on a 108-inch-long wheelbase. 

There you have it, friend-oh, my pick for the Rambler-est Rambler of them all with '56 and '57's a close second.  Honorable mention to my old man's 1961 Rambler "Classic".