Projects I bought a nice 62 Rambler I need your advice and opinions

I wanted to start my own post and before I get yelled at I do know how the search feature works. I however want to start my own info post and use it to show my work and progress on this new project. So thanks in advance for your opinions and advice.

Here is the deal. I am so busy with my business and trying to sell my house I have no time to finish any of my projects (53 Hudson, Bobber Bike, 63 Elgin Boat, 67 Rambler Rebel all of which need a lot of work and do not run) I have really been going through withdrawals and a buddy of mine found this great car for a good price. It is an all original 62 2 door Rambler Classic with an inline six with a 3 speed on the column. With only 80 thousand original miles the car has no rust and was painted once. Its bone stock. I haven't seen the car in person yet but it is coming from a very reputable dealer that buys and trades high end cars with my friend. He says the car is good enough to drive from its home in Maryland to South Carolina with no problems. (I am having it transported)

I need to do this on a budget and my plan is somewhat simple. I have never started with such a nice car and hope to keep things somewhat simple so I can start to enjoy the car until I can get back on my Hot Rods. I want to slam this car on the ground. I am going to remount the bolt on spindles to lower the front but I don't know what I am going to run into with trying to lower the rear. I think it is a torque tube rear and have never dealt with them. Any help or advise would be great

I am going to run a set of chrome reverse steel wheels with wide whites. I know the car is close to being out of the acceptable time frame for this combo but when I photo chop it this the way I like the combo most most of all. What is your opinion on this? Every other wheel seems to Hot Rod. I don't want to turn this into another project so I don't want to try to turn this into a custom that would look best with supremes. I plan on painting the roof white but only white no flake or panel airbrushing. The car is too stock for it to look right to me.

Repair and repaint the stock steering wheel and add a hidden stereo. Exhaust looks a little old so it will be redone. Again repaint the top white. add subtle pin-striping in gray and white and drive the wheels off of it.

I am at home and will post pictures when I get to work in the morning.

 

You did ask !
If you don't have anytime. And have to do this on a Budjet .Maybe you have to many projects! If the Rambler is the Nicest car you have unload some other stuff spend some $ on the Rambler and enjoy it !

"He who dies with the most toys leaves his family the Biggest Mess "

 

Thanks I understand where your coming from. I am trying to sell the bike. I am selling the Rotax racing Kart I traded work for I just didnt mention it. The hudson was my great grandmothers car and is what I really wish I was driving but it is too far from being done and I wont rush through it just to have something to drive. My plan is to have fun with the Rambler and when we get in our new house get back on the hudson. When it gets closer to completion I will sell the rambler to finish the hudson.

 

Old Ramblers are cool little cars,,just drive it and enjoy it as is and come time to sell you won't have a ton of money tied up in a car that will have more appeal with an original look.

Bolt a nice set of wheels on the od gal and make a daily driver. HRP

 

Yes I agree with HRP, If you put too much personallity itno the Rambler than it may be harder to sell when the time comes to fund the Hudson. Wheels and tire will make a big difference along with a tune up and system check.

What ever you end up doing keep it hidden or make easily undoable, that way the new owner doesn't have to deal with your style.

Jeff

 

I know your trying to lead me in the right direction but I am not completely new to the car scene. I have been putting hot rods and race cars together since I was 16. I understand what you are saying but I am not a stock kind of guy. I bought this car to do a few mild changes and have fun. I am fairly good with my fab skills and can do this without hurting this car. Here is what I am thinking about doing.

 

Looks cool to me!!

 

If I am not mistaken the torque tube rear uses coil springs and a panhard bar to locate it. To lower it without messing up the ride I'd think you'd need to find some shorter coils with a similar or perhaps slightly stiffer spring rate (from what I have no idea), shorter shocks (again, I have no idea what OEM application would have the right length for this) and you might need to tweak the panhard bar mount slightly to keep the geometry sound for the lowered stance.

Or perhaps a switch from coil springs to air bags might be the easy way to go. Just a thought.

You might also be able to fab up some new mounts on the frame and on the axle to use a set of adjustable coilover shocks in place of the stock springs and shocks. (You might need to add a crossmember to provide a proper place for the upper coilover shock mounts, but that shouldn't be too much of a challenge assuming there is enough room under there for that.) That might actually simplify the process of getting the ride height and spring rate correct because you can swap springs to get the spring rate correct, raise and lower the ride height slightly with the built-in adjusters, and even tweak the shock settings to dial in the ride.

Done properly the changes should be reversible, which I would regard as a good idea.

Just a few stray thoughts ...

 

Man its like Brootals car but a different shape, Ramblers what is it!!!!!!

 

OK you stated you don't have time to build so you bought a runner.
Just throw the chromies on it and drive it.
Then you'll have a driver and more projects than you know what to do with.

 

I would leave it alone and drive it as is. I don't like the ww/chromies look on this car. It reminds me of years gone by, when a kid would try to make grandmas car cool. I like Ramblers myself, but if you don't want another project or another "money pit"; enjoy it as a daily. Good luck whatever you decide to do with it. Pretty cool.

 

Sounds like ya got some skills.....a quick lowering and a set of wheels ain't gonna set ya back any real time.......so just do it!!!!!! Looks pretty bitchin' to me!!!

 

Thanks for the comments guys. I really do appreciate anyone that takes the time to reply to my post. I hear what your saying but the real simple answer is it will be lowered if it wont hurt the rear torque tube suspension. I can do all the changes in a weekend or two and I can do it all myself. If money and time wasn't a factor this thing would get airbags, a built to the gills 292 with a old Norwood hi-rise and a 4 speed but I plan on having this as my daily and I know I need to keep it simple. Everything I have driven in the past has been slammed. I like this car. I am not trying to make it something it isn't. Being an AMC Hudson Nash Rambler fan I love it.

It looks like I may not have too much trouble with the rear. I like the coil over idea. I think I have a set off an old drag car in my dads shop.

If anyone has any other wheel suggestion please trow them out.

 

Well I personally like Chromies. And just to be contrary I dig the devil out of the, "I screwed with my Mom's Car," look.

With all the other options out there I think that painted steelies and Dawg Dish hubcaps is your next best bet. But for me it always comes down to what is available without breaking the bank.

 

Yeah as stated... just don't sink too much money into it. You'll never get it back. No matter how cool Ramblers just don't sell for a whole lot of money. If you do trick it out and put $$$ into it you're doing it for yourself. I've seen really nice Ramblers listed for what some might consider rather lofty for a Rambler and they never sell. Great cars, just keep in mind this is a project that you are doing just for the pleasure of doing it... not for any kind of investment or return.

 

Always do it for the fun of it. I have never bought or built a car with "what will it be worth" in my head. I should have it in a few days and I will post pictures.

 

Rock Hill? Well, that's about two hours away, but I'd like to plan a trip up there one weekend if you're game. There is a Carolina AMC club (www.carolinaamc.com) too, most members are in the Charllote area, but we are sprinkled all over SC/NC. Will have an all AMC show near Greenville October 9, and sponsor an all makes show in Greenville the 28th -- I'll be there and a few other Carolina AMC guys. I print a little AMC magazine and cover all AMC, but my personal specialty is the older cars -- roughly 58-66 (and the older Nash Rambler).

You can make lowering plates for the front, and get a Scarebird (www.scarebird.com) front disc brake kit. For about $400 you have front disc brakes using easy to find parts. The kit is around $200 and is just caliper brackets and some spacers along with a parts list for the rest. Another $200 or so gets everything else brand new. You can use 79-83 Concord/Spirit brakes but they are hard to find and parts will dry up in a few years -- starting to now. Older disc setups work just as well, but rotors are hard to find (but out there) and accordingly cost more -- $100 or so for one.

 

farna, there's been quite a few on da'bay lately (now that i have a set) but it'll be a wash as far as rebuilding the old vs just buying new....
hell, why not just build the lowering plates and run the drums?
just don't drive like an asshole (like me) and you'll be fine (that means no drafting)

 

first off neat old car, but there is a reason that rambler went out business is they made a terrible car. my parents bought one of those brand new after 70-80 thousand miles it was toast. the floor boards were rusted out, the motor was shot, and ramblers of that vintage were prone to having front wheels falling off with the front suspension still attached. granted in iowa the salt we use it way hard on cars, but watch these things. they also had the tranny rebuilt to. dont want to sound harsh but be careful with that car it could be a major money pit. but almost all old cars are. does it have the type writer tranny shifter on the left dash they were prone to sticking inside the bezel. as a 10year old i fixed this issue on a regular time frame for my mother

 

drive, enjoy, repeat!!!

 

garcoal, sounds like you had ONE bad Rambler experience so they're all bad? Please! I could say the same about the POS 70s Chevy I had, and the POS late 60s Ford. Or a buddy's POS 70s Chrysler. Most people just don't know much about the cars or the history.

AMC/Rambler made as good or better a car as anyone else of the same time period. Most 70s US cars aren't much to brag about, with a few exceptions. That's when the Japanese got the upper hand, and the US auto industry has lost the general population's confidence ever since. Having the government bail out 2/3 of it wasn't much of a boost, even though they pretty much caught up with the Japanese by at least the late 80s. No confidence, fewer buyers. AMC had that problem a bit earlier, but I can tell you the quality of the cars wasn't the problem at AMC. The problems started around 65 when the president of the time wanted to move the cars more upscale into crowded Buick/Olds/Mercury/Plymouth territory where there was more profit and out of the lower priced Ford/Chevy/Dodge group. Traditional Rambler buyers were looking for good dependable value cars. They didn't mind paying a little more than similar Fords/Chevys/Dodges as they typically got a little more car for the money -- a few things standard that were optional on the other similar marketed cars, slightly lower power but longer lasting engines, etc. All but abandoning your biggest loyal customer base (they did leave the smallish American in the low price category) isn't a good idea! It took 2-3 years to notice the big loss, and it took 5-6 years to gain SOME confidence back, all the time between losing a good chunk of money. Then the gas crisis of the 70s hit right after they'd invested tons of money in the Pacer (laughed at now, but sold like hot cakes for two years, as many as they could push through the factory -- then the gas crunch hit hard and sales toppled), and they needed new product but just didn't have the cash to do it. About the same time as the Pacer they spent a lot of cash tooling for the Matador Coupe, which shared little more than the drivetrain and front suspension with other AMC cars. The fewer parts you make the more profit -- Chrysler came back using the 58-64 AMC formula (best AMC years as far as production is 58-64) -- one major body and parts for several different models (everything K-car based for many years). Of course AMC threw in the come-back king -- the 58-63 American was almost identical to the 50-55 Nash Rambler. They literally dusted off hte old dies and started making the 55 Nash Rambler (with a few mods) again in 58, the only time this has been successfully done. The 61-63 American LOOKS different, but the main unit body without the outer skin is THE SAME as the 58-60 except for the firewall. Best restyling ever -- cars look totally different!

I don't know if Toyota is suffering from the same over extending GM did in the 70s or just screwing up lately -- I think the later. The Japanese DO NOT like admitting major screw-ups, in case no one noticed. I think they over-engineered/thought the software -- the car's trying to second-guess the driver. Something similar happened in the aircraft industry with fly-by-wire -- tried to make it safer by not letting the pilot do some things under certain conditions (like pull back the throttles when in take-off mode after the throttles have been opened up) that led to some major accidents due to unusual conditions. For instance, a pilot was crossing a runway and had everything set for take off on a parallel runway, had to gun it to get out of the way of another plane, and software said "you're taking off, can't slow back down or you'll crash", and didn't let him decel, so he shot across the runway and into an open field where the big jet plowed the landing gear into the ground before they could get the engines shut down. Trash one multi-million dollar bird! I think the Toyotas are doing something similar with the throttle and brakes.

 

"Ramblers of that vintage were prone to having front wheels falling off with the front suspension still attached."

I've had that happen on one that I bought and didn't inspect the lower trunnion (takes place of a ball joint, and came out BEFORE ball joints) good before driving. What happens is the car was grossly neglected for YEARS or THOUSANDS of mile. The lower trunnion is nothing but a threaded "hole" that the king pin (steering knuckle) screws into -- it has a threaded stud on the lower end. The threads are 5/8" standard coarse. Sounds odd, but there is no weight on the lower trunnion -- all it does is keep the steering knuckle straight up and down. The weight of the car is on the upper trunnion, which rarely gives a problem because the spring is directly in-line with the steering knuckle -- very little side pressure on it either.

Go get a 5/8" bolt and twist is about 1/3 turn back and forth. The trunnion joint is slightly softer metal than the steering knuckle, so use a grade 8 bolt and a standard hardware store nongraded nut. Keep turning it until you wear the threads enough that the nut will pull off the bolt. THAT'S what causes the steering knuckle to eventually pull out when you hit a bump and the wheel goes up but pulls out of the trunnion, leaving the lower arms and trunnion in the down position. The wheel will fold back under the fender when weight comes back down as there's now nothing to keep it in place. If the thing had been GREASED on occasion it would NEVER come off! Well, maybe in a half-million miles or so, but practically never.

It really ticks me off when someone gets a Rambler that's been used hard by 3-4 owners because it was a cheap used car and poorly maintained -- if at all. If something's worn out or breaks, it's a POS, and Ramblers never were any good -- all because most people remember the one they got that had been hard used/abused as the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th owner.

Now you have somewhat of a point when talking about one bought new. At least you did mention that it was driven in salt. No one else built cars that would last more than 10 years without rusting out in the 60s and up through the mid 70s either. Many Rambler owners cheaped out and wouldn't pay the extra $20 or so for undercoating (at least in the 60s would have been that price) either. Is that the maker's fault? For most cars of the time undercoating was optional. Some dealers did put it on anyway in salt areas and charged for it, some didn't -- Rambler/AMC and all the others alike. Lots of "frugal" customers omitted it, penny wise-dollar foolish if they kept the car a long time.

Chrysler and Edsel had push-button shifters too. Like most things they do eventually wear, but they weren't especially problematic. 10+ years and 100K+ miles later they might be though.

Oh yeah, the 62 Classic won't have this problem. 62 was the first year AMC replaced the lower trunnion with a standard ball joint, "big" cars only. Americans used the lower trunnion until 64. Ball joints can break and cause the exact same problem, and I've seen a lot more broken lower ball joints than Rambler trunnions! Yes, there are more ball joint cars out there, but why does this "almost myth" perpetuate with the Rambler?

 

1962 2dr Classic Ramblers ar very hard to come by. Great looking car. I wish I had one to match my '62 Classic S.W.

 

yeah, no kidding.
i'm still waiting for the guy that owns the one i found to shoot me a price....

 

I liked the look with the chrome wheels so much that I had to save the picture. I had a 60 Rambler wagon and just cut a coil in front and put painted steelies with dogdish caps on it and drove it everyday for two years, wish I still had it. Keep it simple and drive the wheels off it. Cool car.

 

by no means did i say not to buy the car and enjoy, just to be careful. now i am very flattered that you guys pulled out the big guns to dispute me, hello sir. i still have a 66 tbird and a older jag. i am familiar with some of the weak spots of some of our older rides. we should spread the joy but still warn some of the newbies they arent playing with new and usually dependable and safe techolgy. my second question what does toyota have to do with a 1962 rambler. ive had both, trust me the toyotas a much better vehicle, but so would the rambler be if they had survived the years. survival of the fittest all that kind of stuff

 

Yeah, it's "survival of the fittest" to a degree. But quality of the cars had noting to do with AMC surviving, it was financial fitness. What hurt them and the other small companies that survived WWII was the big price wars of the 50s between the big three. The smaller companies couldn't tolerate real low profits or losses for long as they didn't have the volume to make up for it that the others did. AMC was building over 100,000 cars and was the biggest of the independents, but that was spread over three different models and 4-5 different body styles, whereas the big three were making close to 100,000 four door sedans in one model in at least one or two cases (the most popular model). Drove everyone else out of business.

 

Man my post blew up! Thanks Farna. I was hoping you would jump in as I see you post a good bit on all post AMC. One quick thing. I didn't buy a rambler to settle. I love Hudson Nash Rambler and AMC. My first hot rod was my high school 68 Javelin that I built a bad ass 401 for. I later built the car into a tube chassis race car but sadly sold it to get my business off the ground before I could complete it. (I did become a traitor and had a 434 small block with a glide in it when I got rid of it) I have a 67 rambler rebel and a 53 Hudson Jet. I like these cars.
Normally I start hacking but this isn't one of those projects. I am looking at the plates for the front but it looks like the tire will get into the lower spring perch. I don't want to change the brakes. The car stops on a dime and doesn't pull under hard breaking. I was looking at adapting a coil over for the front and I am sure someone has done this in the past. They make something similar for early mustangs. Any Ideas? I also have to rebuild the mechanical throttle linkage as it is shot.
I have the car at the house now and the Body is super. Interior needs work but the hard part has been done. Someone recut the seat mounts for more leg room and reupolstered the seats. All the coil springs seem shot and the car has no rust. I will need to redo the throttle linkage

 

Dress it up as the 1962 Mobil Economy Run Champion. That will get them talking.

or, Racing Stripes!!!

Nice solid looking car, and I like your ideas.

 

Cool Classic! I like the idea of a lowering job, but the chromies and wide whites look a bit washed out to me. I'd like to see black steelies with spider caps and wide whites on there, myself.

-Dave