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Early Xmas for my wife: '57 Rambler

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by UnsettledParadox, Dec 22, 2007.

  1. UnsettledParadox
    Joined: Apr 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    UnsettledParadox
    Member

    i bought thsi rambler for $600 as an early xmas present for my wife. thing runs strong and goes through 2 gears but the clutch is bad. also needs coils all the way around and a floorpan.

    today i got out and took some pics all around it. keep in mind the floors are getting replaced and its getting at least put into primer here soon. flat white with a flat pink top and matching flat pink wheels with the stock hubcaps and some wide whitewalls. sounds good to me!

    while i was poking around i found out that its the original trans and that the lingage has just been changed to a floor shifter. im not too worried about parts cause there is a cl***ic car/hot rod parts house in town and the dude is an AMC nut. he drag races a gremlin for christ sakes!!

    anyways its got coil overs in the front and coils in the rear with a 4 link. the coils in the front have sagged all the way down and the rears are half way there. so we gotta replace coils springs/shocks/struts, replace the floor pan and do a clutch. no biggie, eh?

    anyways, here you go!!

    about 10 mins after we bought it
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    pics from today

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    trunk space
    [​IMG]

    this is the corner of the trunk, otherwise solid
    [​IMG]

    gas cap
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    now, the floors!!

    p***enger front
    [​IMG]

    p***enger rear
    [​IMG]

    drivers side front
    [​IMG]

    drivers rear
    [​IMG]




    well, we got our work cut out for us!! what do you guys think?
     
  2. Chris
    Joined: Jan 5, 2005
    Posts: 14,500

    Chris
    Member

  3. Toast
    Joined: Jan 6, 2007
    Posts: 3,885

    Toast
    Member
    from Jenks, OK

    Like the stance, unless it has no suspension travel, I would leave that the way it is. Cool car. My wife hates old cars! If I gave her something like that she'd hand me my walkin papers! Yours is a keeper if she likes stuff like that. Be thankful!
     
  4. UnsettledParadox
    Joined: Apr 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    UnsettledParadox
    Member

    yeah man shes totally into old cars. this is her second cl***ic. the first is her '65 lesabre. shes a keeper alright!
     
  5. UnsettledParadox
    Joined: Apr 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    UnsettledParadox
    Member

    YES! she fell in love with ramblers when she was a little girl cause of that song. then she played it for me the other night and i died laughing!! i wish this one had the rebel 327 with 255hp! oh well, inline 6 is good too lol

    i forgot to add that the stance is dead ***y but it has absolutely no travel up front and about half the travel in the rear. so springs all the way around are on order!
     
  6. 55 dude
    Joined: Jun 19, 2006
    Posts: 9,357

    55 dude
    Member

    changing the clutch will be fun, if i'm not mistaken those were torque -tube setups and the rearends had to be dropped out similar to chevy/gmc trucks before 1954.
     
  7. UnsettledParadox
    Joined: Apr 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    UnsettledParadox
    Member

    55 dude im pretty sure you're right. but at least then its easier to change the rear springs?! im trying to find the silver lining lol
     
  8. 16grem72
    Joined: Feb 20, 2007
    Posts: 63

    16grem72
    Member

    my 62 and 63 rambler both have the torque-tubes. fun stuff to work with. if your looking for anything amc i have quite a few connections. also nice junk yard in Burlington Iowa that has a bunch of AMC's. Lee Putnam owns the place cant recall the name though. I have the number somewhere around... looks like a beauty though.
     
  9. HOTRODSURFER
    Joined: Sep 11, 2006
    Posts: 5,875

    HOTRODSURFER
    Member
    from HATBORO,PA

    nice present,i like stance the beat spings gives it
     
  10. jakespeed63
    Joined: May 1, 2005
    Posts: 2,867

    jakespeed63
    Member

    This car has loads of style, great find! Those boys up in Kenosha, really paid allot of attention to cetain details. Look at the hinge mechanism in the trunk. Required way more engineering than a simple torque rod. The "R" on the gascap is way cool. Despite the rusy floors, whats your opinion of the build quality? As far as the driveline, a few of my freinds have early Ramblers and have made claims of these "running forever" with proper care and maintenance. One was just swapped for a '57 Ford Ranchwagon, Judith needed more room for the kids and stuff. :p
    J.T.
     
  11. nice score man lots of potencial..
     
  12. guiseart
    Joined: Apr 7, 2005
    Posts: 3,862

    guiseart
    Member

    a running $600 car is my kinda car... nice.
     
  13. arkiehotrods
    Joined: Mar 9, 2006
    Posts: 6,802

    arkiehotrods
    Member

    I never realized those would only do 12 mph top speed! Learn something new every day! I wonder if the V-8 Rebel was any faster.
     
  14. LOST ANGEL
    Joined: Jan 2, 2003
    Posts: 5,402

    LOST ANGEL
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    SWEET! Don't know why, but I love those old Ramblers.-MIKE:cool:
     
  15. garvinzoom
    Joined: Sep 21, 2007
    Posts: 1,169

    garvinzoom
    Member

    That is cool. Some very different looking items like that speedo. Fix, drive, enjoy!! Merry Christmas.
     
  16. flatford39
    Joined: Dec 3, 2006
    Posts: 2,799

    flatford39
    Member

    As this was a uni body car make sure you inspect those spring towers closely. They were prone to rust out here in the midwest but possibly yours survived out in Ca.

    Car brings back some fond memories.
     
  17. UnsettledParadox
    Joined: Apr 25, 2007
    Posts: 1,107

    UnsettledParadox
    Member

    ive been all through the car inside and out. under and over and the only rot is the floors. EVERYTHING else looks sound! i dunno how it managed to happen other then severe interior leaks but it was raining days ago and was dry as a bone inside!

    basically my wife loves ramblers and she saw this one on craigslist a couple months ago and wanted it but we have 5 projects already! so i watched it drop all the way to $600 and couldnt p*** it up.

    so we showed up and looked at the car and once i saw the floors i was worried about the rest of it. you know how some people will talk a car up and its a total lemon when you show up. anyways he pumped it twice and it kicked right over, ran smooth with no smoke or odd smell.

    it used to be 3 on the tree but was converted to floor shift. i think the linkage is just out of whack and needs adjusting but i know it needs a clutch so when its all out my buddies gonna have a look at the gears and make sure its all ok.

    i LOVE the stance and wish it could stay that way. thing is you cant turn the tires more then 1/4 turn before they mash the fenders and it has no spring travel lol.

    from what i saw laying on the ground the tower supports looked sound but i wont know till it gets torn into. the R gas cap really made me go :eek:. the speedo is awesome, it cant get any better then 1,2,3 haha. all in all this car is one hell of a gem and really kinda ahead of its time in certain respects. it should be a real crowd pleaser at the local cruise in
     
  18. EmilyBelle
    Joined: Dec 9, 2005
    Posts: 111

    EmilyBelle
    Member

    Oh Rad! God knows I have a soft spot for Ramblers.
     
  19. repoguy
    Joined: Jul 27, 2002
    Posts: 2,085

    repoguy
    Member

    Cool car man.

    I've always liked those little ramblers.
     

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