1965 Rambler American |
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Wikipedia: Rambler American
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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Rambler American page on 5 January 2016, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Third generation
For its third generation, the American emerged with what would be its only completely new design. The entire line was treated to neat and trim lines with pleasing simplicity (compared to the more boxy predecessors) with characteristic tunneled headlights with a simple horizontal grille between them. The Rambler American's wheelbase grew by six-inches or 152 mm (to 106 in or 2692 mm) and the interiors were made more spacious.The station wagons in the restyled 1964 series came with four doors and gained 17% more cargo space compared to the previous design. They all featured a new roll-down disappearing rear window for the bottom-hinged tailgate. Full coil front springs along with soft rear leaf units, gave the new American an unusually smooth ride, better than many larger domestic cars. The new models also incorporated various parts and components (such as doors) that were interchangeable with AMC's larger cars. In essence, the new body was a shorter, narrower version of the previous years new Rambler Classic.
The new styling was the work of designer Richard A. Teague, who would go on to design the 1968 Javelin and AMX. Many viewed the newly designed station wagon as the best looking of any American wagon, with its new, trim lines and ample passenger and cargo room. Led by the top-line 440-series convertible, they were arguably the 1964's most attractive Detroit compacts. Car Life magazine titled its road test of the 1964 Rambler American: "The Original Plain Jane Compact Car Just Got Back From the Beauty Parlor".
1965
The 1965 Americans were little changed, but were advertised as "The Sensible Spectaculars". This was part of Roy Abernethy's strategy for AMC to shed its "economy car" reputation and take on the domestic Big Three automakers in new market segments. There were few changes to AMC's smallest models, as Abernethy pinned his hopes for recovery not so much on the low-priced Rambler American as on the medium and higher-priced Classic and Ambassador lines.
The year also saw the introduction of an entirely new 232 cu in (3.8 L) overhead valve straight-6 engine that AMC would use through 1979, with a smaller 199 cu in (3.3 L) version being used only during 1966-1970. The same engine was later available in a larger 258 cu in (4.2 L) version (used from 1971–89) and the fuel injected 242 cu in (4.0 L) versions that debuted in 1987, known as the Jeep 4.0, which Chrysler would continue their production after its purchase of AMC in 1987, all the way through 2006.
The 1965 models was the last year for the venerable flathead six. It was the last flathead engine to be used in a domestic U.S. car.
