George Romney, who took over as head of American Motors upon the death of George Mason in late 1954, faced a difficult challenge. Mason had orchestrated the merger of Nash and the ailing Hudson Motor Car Company that spring, in hopes that together, they would stand a better chance of survival against the onslaught of Ford and Chevrolet. Hudson had been on the verge of collapse before the merger, and Nash's 1954 sales were down an alarming 25% from their none-too-robust 1953 total.

As Mason's executive assistant (and later executive vice president), Romney had been instrumental in the development of both the compact Nash Rambler and the diminutive Anglo-American Nash Metropolitan. Even more than Mason, Romney believed that compact cars were the future, and he looked at the exaggerated girth of bread-and-butter family cars with disdain. Over the next few years, Romney would become a witty but passionate advocate of small cars -- so much so that he was prepared to bet the company on them. In 1957, Romney dropped both the Nash and Hudson marques, consolidating all of AMC's remaining cars under the Rambler name. Not all were compacts -- the Rambler Ambassador sedan was 201 inches (5,096 mm) long -- but even the big cars were stretched versions of the "midsize" Rambler introduced in 1956.

In a different era, this might have been commercial suicide, since the Rambler lineup was noticeably smaller than comparable Chevys or Fords, not substantially cheaper, and possessed of rather eccentric styling. Fortunately for Romney, his decision coincided with the beginning of the Eisenhower recession, and of a buyer backlash against the stylistic excesses of the Big Three. American consumers suddenly evinced an interest in compact economy cars, including imports like the Beetle. In this climate, Rambler's smaller, more economical models struck a responsive chord.

By 1960, AMC had reached fourth place in U.S. auto sales. In 1961, total Rambler sales slipped significantly in the face of new competition in the form of the Ford Falcon, Chevy Corvair, and Valiant, but they were still good enough to claim the #3 slot, beating out Plymouth. Sales for 1962 and 1963 were also strong.


AMC discontinued the short-wheelbase Rambler in the mid-fifties in favor of the somewhat bigger (but still compact) Rambler Classic. The smaller Rambler, now called Rambler American, reappeared in 1958. It rode a 100-inch (2,540-mm) wheelbase, and stretched 178.3 inches (4,529 mm) overall, weighing about 2,600 lb (1,180 kg). With a 196 cu. in. (3.2 L)  flathead six, it had a top speed of about 90 mph (145 kph) and could go from 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) in 16 seconds.

In January 1962, Romney resigned as chairman and CEO of AMC to run for governor of Michigan. In February, the AMC board replaced him (as CEO, but not as chairman) with Roy Abernethy, a former Packard executive who had been AMC's vice president of sales since 1954.

AMC's early success evaporated rapidly as the sixties wore on. The U.S. economy was improving, and with gas cheap and consumer confidence high, the interest in small cars was waning. Furthermore, the market was now saturated with domestic compacts and intermediates like the Ford Fairlane.


The 1961-1963 Rambler American, one of the smallest cars made in America at the time, was a strong seller. This is a top-of-the-line 440 convertible, with bucket seats, center console, and 138-hp (103-kW) six, equipped with the unusual "Twin-Stick" overdrive. Motor Trend tested a car equipped like this one in February 1963. It cost a hefty $3,481.50 (including $131 shipping and the $360 air conditioner), did 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) in 16.3 seconds, and reached an actual top speed of 92 mph (148 kph).

Even more troubling, while AMC's sales remained relatively consistent, its market share was shrinking. Total Rambler sales for 1964 were actually a few thousand units more than 1961, but this time, that total was only good for eighth place. The U.S. market was growing, thanks largely to the Baby Boomers then reaching driving age, but AMC's sales were not. Tellingly, Ford's new Mustang outsold the entire AMC lineup by a significant margin in 1965; by the end of the decade, so did the Volkswagen Beetle.

Roy Abernethy was never as committed to the virtues of compact cars as George Romney, and he felt AMC needed to move back toward the mainstream. Under Abernethy's auspices, the Rambler Classic and Ambassador grew closer to the size of Big Three intermediates and full-size cars, and AMC took its first ill-fated step into the sporty specialty car market with the Rambler Marlin. Abernethy invested nearly $100 million in two new engines, and eventually authorized the Javelin, AMC's answer to the Mustang.

These moves were expensive, and except for the Javelin (which didn't appear until 1968), they had little impact on sales or on dealers, who were beginning to desert the marque in droves. Although the new Ramblers had pleasant styling by new design VP Richard Teague, AMC suffered from anemic marketing, mediocre assembly quality, and an image as a car for retirees. Worse, following a crucial board meeting, George Romney publicly criticized Abernethy's decisions, which he told the press were not what he would have chosen.

By early 1966, AMC was losing money rapidly -- $4.2 million in the first six months of the year alone -- and industry observers wondered if the company would seek an outside buyer. In the face of that financial crisis, investor Robert Evans bought up 220,000 shares of AMC stock, making him chairman of the board. Evans felt that Abernethy's problem was that he hadn't gone far enough -- he pushed for new ways of thinking.

George Romney had been one of the leading advocates of the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) racing ban in 1957, and performance of any kind was generally anathema to AMC's image. (Curiously, the 1957 Rambler Rebel V8 was one of the quickest cars in America that year, although only 1,500 were built.) Roy Abernethy had upheld that policy, which had earned him the derision of some critics. By the spring of 1966, however, Motor Trend reported rumors that AMC was planning to end its moratorium on competition, in hopes of spicing up its image.


The final 1966-69 Rambler Americans were 181 inches (4,597 mm) long on a 106-inch (2,692-mm) wheelbase, making them among the smallest American compacts of this period. The SC/Rambler retained the lesser Ramblers' Hotchkiss drive rear suspension, but added two trailing links near the differential and staggered the rear shocks (one ahead of the axle, the other behind it) to help control axle hop on hard acceleration. (Photo © 2008 Robert Nichols; used by permission)

In January 1967, the AMC board, at the behest of Robert Evans, appointed Roy Chapin, Jr. to replace Abernethy as CEO; Bill Luneburg became president. That spring, Chapin announced that AMC would indeed go racing. To oversee those efforts, Chapin hired a new vice president of engineering and styling, Victor Raviolo. Raviolo had spent 20 years at Ford, where he worked on both the racing Lincolns of the early fifties and later the Lotus Cortina, for Ford's English subsidiary. Raviolo was charged with both overseeing the racing program and developing performance parts for AMC cars, both through the aftermarket and through American's own parts catalog (creating an array of so-called "Group 19" performance parts).

Under Raviolo's leadership, AMC subsequently made a frontal assault on both the drag strips and the race tracks, including pitting the new Javelin against the Camaro and Mustang in the SCCA Trans-Am circuit.



Except for its red-white-and-blue headrests, the interior of the SC/Rambler is a fairly sober affair, little different from other Ramblers. The Hurst shifter and obtrusive steering column tachometer look like afterthoughts, but they were standard equipment, as was the woodgrain steering wheel, borrowed from the AMC Javelin. Although it looks like it has full instrumentation, oil pressure and battery voltage are left to warning lights. (Top photo © 2008 Robert Nichols; used by permission)

All this activity focused on the Javelin and its AMX derivative, which left AMC's smallest car, the Rambler American, lost in the shuffle. The American had been redesigned in 1964, with new styling by Dick Teague, but it remained wholly unremarkable in every other way; even Consumer Reports found its handling poor and its brakes marginal. Car and Driver was sharply critical of every area of the American's performance, although they admitted they liked its styling, and wished AMC could make its performance as good as its looks.

The American did well in its first year, but sales tapered off significantly after that. In 1965, however, it did benefit from the first of American's two new engines. A new overhead-valve six (sometimes called "Torque Command"), it was available in 199 cu. in. (3.2 L) and 232 cu. in. (3.8 L) form, with up to 145 gross horsepower (108 kW). With the latter, the American could go from 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) in a little over 13 seconds, with a top speed of about 100 mph (161 kph), competitive with most of its six-cylinder domestic rivals.

In 1966, the American got a facelift that extended its nose 3.8 inches (97 mm), primarily to make room under the hood. Mid-year, it received AMC's second new engine, a 290 cu. in. (4.7 L) V8, initially offered only in a new hardtop coupe called Rambler Rogue.


AMC's second-generation V8 was a modern but unexceptional engine, with stud-mounted rocker arms and thinwall casting. At 540 lb (245 kg), it was about 85 lb (40 kg) lighter than the engine it replaced, and comparable to a small-block Chevy or Chrysler LA-series V8. In 1971, AMC introduced "tall-deck" versions of this engine, with slightly larger displacement and better breathing. These proved very durable, lasting until 1991. AMC's 1964-vintage six lasted even longer; it was used in some Jeep models through 2006. (Photo © 2008 Robert Nichols; used by permission)

The V8 was AMC's second in-house eight-cylinder engine, replacing an earlier V8 of mid-fifties origins. Lighter and cheaper to build than its predecessor, it was rated at either 200 hp (149 kW) or 225 hp (168 kW). In the compact Rogue, even the 200-hp engine provided brisk acceleration, although its fuel economy was hardly in the Rambler tradition. (In 1967, a handful of Rogues got the bigger 343 cu. in. (5.6 L) version of this engine, with 280 hp (209 kW), although they were very rare.)

The priorities of Rambler buyers were evident in the low sales of the V8, which accounted for less than 5% of Rambler American production. A more effective strategy was de-contenting the base models to reduce their prices, pitting them against the cheaper imports. The stripped Rambler American 220 was not an inspiring vehicle, but for buyers looking for no-nonsense basic transportation, it made sense. It accounted for about half of all Rambler Americans sold for 1968 and 1969.

Even with the cost-cutting plan, Rambler American sales remained disappointing: around 70,000 for 1967, just under 81,000 for 1968. AMC was preparing a replacement, the Hornet (which would in turn spawn the Gremlin), but it wouldn't be ready until 1970. In the meantime, AMC's aging compact was facing the popular new Ford Maverick and increased competition from imports like the Datsun 510. The success of the Javelin and AMX hadn't trickled down to the compact line, so the Rambler American (called simply "Rambler" for 1969) was, in the vernacular of the time, nowhere. To shore up interest until the arrival of the Hornet, AMC needed a gimmick.

AMC turned to Hurst Performance Products. Hurst shift linkages had been a staple of hot rodders and drag racers since the fifties, and George Hurst had a flair for clever promotion. In 1968, he had teamed up with Oldsmobile to produce a hotter version of the Olds 4-4-2, the Hurst/Olds, which had been quite successful. AMC contracted with Hurst to develop a car that would probably have appalled George Romney on general principle: a limited-production, high-performance version of the Rambler.



The resulting car, dubbed the Hurst/AMC SC/Rambler, was a stripped-down street rod in the tradition of the Plymouth Road Runner. It began life as a white Rambler hardtop, fitted with a heavy-duty suspension, faster-ratio manual steering, front disc brakes, limited-slip differential, and a four-speed manual transmission. Its sole engine was AMC's biggest offering, the "AMX 390" (6.4 L) V8.

"Big" is a relative term in this case, for while the 390's displacement was considerable, it was essentially a bored-and-stroked version of the 290 that had been offered on the Rambler since 1966. Unlike the big-block Ford 390 and Chevy 396 engines, which were physically much larger than their small-block counterparts, the AMX 390 had the same external dimensions as its smaller brothers, and was less than 10% heavier. It was rated at 315 gross horsepower (235 kW) and 425 lb-ft (576 N-m) torque, which was less than a GTO or SS396, but the 3,150 lb (1,430 kg) Rambler was a good deal lighter than those rivals.


This car has the slightly less lurid "B" paint scheme, with narrower red stripes (the magazine ad above shows the original "A" scheme). The blue wheels are standard, as are the hood pins. The black line running to the underside of the hood is a vacuum line; the hood scoop has a vacuum-operated valve that opens when the throttle is pressed. (Photo © 2008 Robert Nichols; used by permission)

At Hurst, the innocent-looking Rambler got a set of gaudy red and blue stripes; noisy Thrush glasspack mufflers; a set of blue-painted Magnum 500 wheels; racing mirrors; a Hurst shift linkage; and a massive cold air intake on the hood, helpfully labeled "AIR." As a final touch, an 8,000-rpm Sun tachometer was clamped onto the steering column, in true street rod fashion.

With its loud Captain America paint job, rumbling exhaust, and the mailbox-size scoop on the hood, the SC/Rambler made a definite impression -- rather like having your elderly grandmother come out of the basement in camouflage paint and a Che Guevara beret, toting an AK-47 and clutching knife between her teeth. AMC initially planned to built 500 of them, just enough to homologate the SC/Rambler for NHRA F/Stock drag racing, but this was soon upped to 1,000, and then 1,500.

When the SC/Rambler made its debut at the Chicago auto show in March 1969, the reaction of the press could best be described as incredulous. Car and Driver thought perhaps AMC was funning with them a bit. "Let's be honest, we like examples of Yankee Ingenuity as much as anyone," they said in their May 1969 review. "But when you begin building cars for the Southern California drive-in cultists -- all we can say is that not even Carroll Shelby thought of that." Most observers were somewhat appalled by the color scheme, and Road Test thought the hood scoop looked like the product of some terrible assembly-line accident.

At least the SC/Rambler had the performance to back up its D.A.R.-meeting looks. Car and Driver clocked theirs at 6.3 seconds 0-60 mph (0-97 kph) and did the standing quarter mile (402 meters) in 14.7 seconds at 96.3 (155 kph). Road Test managed the quarter mile in 14.14 seconds at 100.44 mph (162 kph), an impressive feat that placed the SC/Rambler among the first rank of contemporary American Supercars. They recorded a top speed of 109 mph (176 kph), limited mostly by short gearing and the engine's modest redline. The downside of all this ferocious acceleration was fuel economy of about 12 mpg (19.6 L/100 km) on premium fuel, compared to an easy 20 mpg (11.8 L/100 km) on regular for a six-cylinder Rambler 220.

While the SC/Rambler's stopping power was reasonably good, its handling left much to be desired. With stiffer shocks and springs (and a much-needed front anti-roll bar), it was less tipsy than the standard Rambler, but still far from nimble, and its slow steering did not lend itself to precise maneuvers. It did a much better job of controlling the rear axle for dragstrip starts, which was of course its primary purpose.

The icing on this ridiculously colored cake was its price, which was set at a remarkably low $2,998. The only option was an AM radio, for $61.20. (We have heard rumors that a few of these cars were equipped with air conditioning, which is possible, but seems very odd.) At less than $3,000, the SC/Rambler was a better deal than a Road Runner, and several hundred dollars less than a comparably equipped Javelin or AMX. The only way the SC/Rambler could not be considered a screaming bargain was in the area of insurance premiums; its power-to-weight ratio verged into punitive surcharge territory.


As the label implies, the purpose of the hood scoop is to channel cooler outside air into the engine's air cleaner -- cool air is denser, with more oxygen, which increases power. AMC did not specify how much extra power the scoop was worth (which would not be reflected in the temperature-corrected SAE gross ratings, anyway), but depending on conditions, it could be up to 10% or so. (Photo © 2009 blondygirl; used by permission)

American Motors eventually built 1,512 SC/Ramblers, about half of which had a somewhat less outrageous color scheme with narrower red stripes. Many dealers did not find them easy to sell, both because of the paint job and because AMC salesmen did not have a lot of experience promoting and selling performance cars -- one can only imagine the horror with which a typical Rambler buyer would react to finding one of these cars in the dealer showroom. The SC/Rambler did apparently boost sales of lesser Ramblers, which were up nearly 20% for their final year. When they were gone, the Rambler marque died with them. (The nameplate survived in certain export markets for several more years, but it was not used again in America.)

In 1971, AMC and Hurst applied the same treatment to the midsize Rebel to create the Rebel Machine. This had the same 390 engine as the SC/Rambler, now rated at 340 hp (254 kW). Unfortunately, The Machine had a similarly heavy-handed color scheme like the SC/Rambler, and insurance companies found it just as disagreeable. Sources vary on how many were built, but it was less than 2,400.


The AMC (nee Rambler) Rebel was a typical contemporary intermediate, 199 inches (5,055 mm) long on a 114-inch (2,896-mm) wheelbase, weighing about 3,600 lb (1,633 kg). Although AMC claimed 25 more horsepower (19 kW) more for "The Machine" than the previous year's SC/Rambler, torque was nearly identical, and, with about 400 lb (181 kg) more weight to haul, it wasn't quite as quick.

AMC's last stab at the Supercar genre was the 1971 Hornet SC/360, with a new 360 cu. in. (5.9 L) "tall-block" version of the familiar V8. Although American anticipated 10,000 sales, the final tally was only 784, a sign of how much the insurance situation had affected performance-car sales.

AMC's racing program was long on underdog pluck, but short on actual victories. The Javelin made a good showing in Trans-Am in 1968, but came in third, which led Roy Chapin to demand Victor Raviolo's resignation later that year. Even stealing Roger Penske and Mark Donohue away from Chevrolet for the 1970 season only yielded second place. The Javelin finally took the series in 1971 and 72, but by then, it didn't do much for sales.

The publicity of competition provide only a temporary boost to AMC's flagging fortunes. Sales brightened for 1968 and 1969, and then plummeted, to 270,000 in 1970 and about 245,000 for 1971. Efforts to refocus the company on compact cars like the Gremlin and Pacer were only partly successful, and AMC struggled through the seventies before entering an ill-fated alliance with the French automaker Renault. The only real bright spot in AMC's fortunes during this period was the acquisition of Kaiser Jeep in 1970, for the modest sum of $75 million. That purchase was enough to put AMC $58.2 million into the red that year, but it proved to be a wise move. Jeep would ultimately outlive AMC, and will probably be the only survivor of the inevitable demise of Chrysler, which bought AMC in 1987 primarily to acquire the Jeep brand.

SC/Ramblers, Machines, and Hornet SC/360s are now highly collectible, thanks to their performance and rarity. Of the three, we have the greatest fondness for the SC/Rambler, for its sheer audacity. If it were just a tad more sober, it might seem sad and desperate -- a middle-aged man trying too hard to reinvent himself as a Party Dude -- but every time we look at it, we can't help smiling. Most Supercars flirted with self-parody, only occasionally on purpose, but the SC/Rambler is wholehearted Camp. It's hard not to love it for that.

# # #

Our principal sources of information on AMC's mid-sixties woes were Donald MacDonald, "Wither AMC?" and "Red-Blooded American!" Motor Trend, May 1966 (Vol. 18, No. 5), pp. 36-40, 70; the former was the second-hand source of the quote from George Romney (the magazine does not indicate the original source). Also useful were the withering review of the 1964 Rambler American in the April 1964 issue of Car and Driver; Leon Mandel's editorial "Let's hear it for Javelin! Javelin who?" in the September 1968 issue of Car and Driver; Arch Brown, "1968 Javelin: AMC's Ponycar Answer," Special Interest Autos, August 1986; and John A. Conde, "1968 AMX: X meant exciting and exceptional," Special Interest Autos, August 1979, all of which are reprinted in R.M. Clarke, ed., AMX & Javelin Muscle Portfolio 1968-1974 (Cobham, Surrey: Brooklands Books Ltd., 1994).

Information on the SC/Rambler itself came primarily from "AMC-Hurst SC/Rambler: American Motors takes its Clark Kent model into George Hurst's phone booth and walks out with a Super Car" (Car and Driver, May 1969) and "Hurst Shifts Rambler to Speedster" (Road Test, June 1969), both of which are reprinted in R.M. Clarke, ed., AMC Rambler Limited Edition Extra 1956-1969 (Cobham, Surrey: Brooklands Books Ltd., 2004). Additional data on both the Rambler American and the SC/Rambler came from "mhaas" of AMCyclopedia (16 January 2006, AMCyclopedia.org, http://www.amcyclopedia.org/node/3, accessed 4 August 2009).

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