While driving in my Lincoln, what to my surprise! A little Rambler was following me, roughly half my size.
Okay, enough cuteness. I have seen this 1960 Rambler parked in a driveway not far from my place, but today was the first time I saw it on the road. A nice original or older restoration, judging from the slightly worn paint and a bit of wrinkling on the passenger side fender and front door.
Here’s an even better shot. I didn’t see it at any of the cruise-ins this summer, so I am guessing someone just likes to drive it. It’s for sale too, but I couldn’t make out the asking price. Fortunately the next light was red and it went into the left turn lane, allowing a much better shot than the speck in my side view mirror!
They were terminally uncool when new, but these days, I think a Rambler like this would make a very cool hobby car!
[Very slowly]
Beep beep beep beep
His horn went beep beep beep
While riding in my Cadillac
What to my surprise
A little Nash Rambler was following me
About one third my size
The guy musta wanted to pass me up
As he kept on tooting his horn
I’ll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn
Beep beep beep beep
His horn went beep beep beep
[Slowly]
I pushed my foot down to the floor
To give the guy the shake
But the little Nash Rambler stayed right behind
He still had on his brake
He musta thought his car had more guts
As he kept on tooting his horn (beep beep)
I’ll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn
Beep beep beep beep
His horn went beep beep beep
[Normal speed]
My car went into passing gear
And we took off with gust (whoosh)
Soon we were going ninety
Musta left him in the dust
When I peeked in the mirror of my car
I couldn’t believe my eyes
The little Nash Rambler was right behind
You’d think that guy could fly
Beep beep beep beep
His horn went beep beep beep
[Quickly]
Now we were doing a hundred and ten
This certainly was a race
For a Rambler to pass a Caddy
Would be a big disgrace
The guy musta wanted to pass me up
As he kept on tooting his horn (beep beep)
I’ll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn
Beep beep beep beep
His horn went beep beep beep
[Very quickly]
Now we’re going a hundred twenty
As fast as I can go
The Rambler pulled along side of me
As if we were going slow
The fella rolled down his window
And yelled for me to hear
“Hey buddy how do I get this car outa second gear?”
My Dad had this song on an old 8-track called “Goofy Greats”. I loved this song as a kid and it made me figure out what a “Nash Rambler” was, given that I was born in 1977 and Nash was long dead and buried.
Hey! My dad also had the Goofy Greats LP…I always liked Guitarzan and Ahab the Arab…
This was one of the first cars I can remember being able to identify as a toddler – the only car with taillights that looked like my mother’s steam iron.
To my eyes in 2013, the car is an interesting mix of 50s flamboyance and early 60s conservatism. I guess it was quite conservative by 1960 standards. I have to say that I like these as well as any Ramblers of the Romney era.
I see a lot of Hillman Super Minx/Humber Sceptre in those fins and rear window.
Ok I’ll bite, (and probably show my ignorance) what is the screen in the mirror? At first I thought it was the camera taking a picture of it self, but now that I look at it, it must be a rear projection camera and screen. is this a Lincoln option or did you add it? Why not just have a screen to replace the mirror?
That’s not a screen, that’s a stick-on wide-angle spot mirror.
Oh duh! Now I see it. I’m used to them being round. In my defense if you mounted a screen to the back window it would look just like this. Hey maybe that’s an idea, have it set up so you could take screen shots of CC’s as they pass by. I know, there’s no getting around it, I’m stupid.
I put the same ones on all my cars. Having been a trucker, I rely on them instead of turning my head.
Yes, they are on the truck I drive, only they are small round ones, that with my old eyes don’t show much detail and are hard to use. This square one seems to show a much better picture of the road; maybe it doesn’t reduce the image as much as the round ones, I need to up-grade.
My method is to adjust the mirrors farther out (so that the sides of the car are not in your field of view). This covers the blind spot and, when done properly, you get a panoramic view from left outside mirror to inside rear view mirror to right outside mirror. No more blind spots, and no need to rely on a teeny dot in the mirror. This was the aiming that the guys on Car Talk recommended. I tried it and really like it.
I tried that, but I like a really wide field of vision in my rear views. I don’t like not seeing the side of my car/truck, and I like to be able to see across several lanes in the wide-angle. Just got used to that from big trucks, I guess.
It was on the car when I bought it, but I like it and I put one on my old Volvo 940 years ago as well.
Never had a round one, all the ones I had were rectangular.
I do this also, but discovered that many cars’ mirrors will not adjust far enough “out”! Frustrating.
Yeah, I use them too.
Someone broke my mirror a few months back while my car was parked. it was on the floor (the glass part) so i just put it back on and I haven’t had the chance to fix it so I just use the compact mirror (I think that’s what they are called) which was unscathed. I have a round one. I use the rear view to tell how far behind they are.
It’s really handy and makes me question the necessity for blind spot monitors. It’s just one more thing to break during ownership.
I had those little stick on round mirrors on my 75 Toyota Chinook and they were great – until one day in downtown Akron I checked the little circle on the passenger side wanting to move into the curb lane. I was surprised to bump mirrors with another small pickup when I started to move over. That truck just did not show up in my mirror. Why not? The actual little self-adhesive mirror had fallen off and left a perfect circle that I thought was the little round mirror! I never trusted them after that.
“Beep Beep”, The Playmates, 1958, Roulette Records.
My dad was a painting contractor and he used his ’62 Rambler wagon to haul his paints and ladder around. I remember the ladder sticking out of the roll down rear window. Trucks were for farmers.
There’s a guy near where I live (suburban New Orleans) that has a Rambler American of about the same lineage. Compared to it, this one’s ready to cross the podium at Barrett Jackson. My guy’s car looks like he painted it twenty years ago, with house paint, applied with a mop. However, it’s still on the road, and that counts for something.
I always thought it was interesting that Ramblers had 15 inch wheels for a car of its size.
Conservatism in hanging on to the larger wheels to better deal with rough roads?
Look at all the wagons in the mix in that Rambler ad.