Red Torino shot by Perry Curtis in Buenos Aires, Argentina
(first posted 1/9/2016) South America, especially Brazil and Argentina, is famous for its many local adaptions and permutations of US cars. We’ve covered a number of them here, and there’s links to some of them at the end of this article. But the most compelling one for me is the IKA (Industrias Kaiser Argentina) Torino. It first appeared in 1966, with a body mostly donated by a 1964-vintage Rambler American with a little help from Pininfarina, some unique modifications to strengthen it, and a new rear suspension. And under its hood is Kaiser Jeep aluminum-head SOHC hemi six that has roots going back to the 1930s. The Argentinians turned the modest little Rambler American into a world-class GT that even competed successfully in European races. But most of all, it became a legend in its home country.
Here’s the Torino starting point: the new 1964 Rambler American. And a good starting point it was, inasmuch as it was Dick Teague’s first car he was fully responsible for, although he undoubtedly was already involved with the 1963 Classic and Ambassador, which share much of the American’s design and even body parts.
Every account I can find on the Torino states that it used the main middle body section from the 1964 Classic, with some American body part on the front and rear. But I’m going to challenge that, as it’s quite clear that the Torino used the American body (top), from front to back. And the width of both the American and Torino are both listed as 70.8″.
Now things get a bit interesting, as the standard assumption has always been that the 1964 American used a narrower body than the Classic (bottom), and that they shared only some body panels like the doors. But clearly the roof line on these Classic and American hardtops are identical; and the main difference is that the Classic has a longer wheelbase (112″ vs. 106″). And the wheels cut-outs are quite different. But is the Classic really wider? Well, the stats that I can find say it was 71.3″ wide, but that’s a mere 0.5″ wider than the American. Are they really different bodies, except for the length? It’s time to settle this issue.
The Torino sedan (top) also clearly shares the same roof and whole body structure as the American (middle) and not the Classic (bottom). And the Torino’s wheelbase of 107.2″ inches is just an inch longer than the American’s, which can be explained by the fact that it had a different suspension, as well as changes to its undersides. That included a four-link coil spring rear suspension, and not with the Rambler’s torque tube. And the Torino’s unibody ‘frame rails” at the front are longer and stronger, borrowed from the Classic convertible. Whether the front suspension is the same as the Rambler’s in detail or not is a good question.
Pininfarina was hired to restyle the Torino’s front and rear ends, and to clean up its looks overall by de-chroming its sides. The front end is rather similar to the Peugeot 404 Coupe/cabriolet as well as other PF cars of the time, even though the fenders and front headlights are pure Rambler American. The resulting changes are quite successful; a Rambler European.
The changes to the rear end were a bit less success, as the rambler American sheet metal didn’t allow much scope. The rear end received a number of variations over the year.
The Torino was also modified by local “tuners”, including this rather wild fastback by Lutteral.
The interior was also re-styled by Pininfarina, with a very European-style dash with full and legible instrumentation. Perry’s shot doesn’t quite do the interior justice, so we’ll dig one up from the web.
Here we go; now that doesn’t look the slightest like a Rambler American interior. This could be out of any number of Italian cars of the time. The stubby shifter operates a ZF transmission.
Under the hood, any resemblance to the Rambler is also gone, except for it being an in-line six. The Tornado six was developed by Kaiser Chief Engineer A.C. “Sammy” Sampietro, who had worked in Europe and was familiar with the benefits of a well-breathing hemi-head design as well as aluminum as the material for them. Since Kaiser Jeep could hardly afford a new block, the old 226 CID flathead six as used in Kaiser-Frazer cars and Jeep trucks and wagons was used. This was of course the Continental 226, which goes back well into the pre-war era, and was a small bore, long stroke design with four main bearings.
Sampietro increased the bore slightly, to yield 230 cubic inches, and crowned the venerable block with his alloy hemi-head SOHC cylinder head, driven by a chain in the front. Somewhat oddly, the same camshaft lobes activated both the intakes and exhausts. The Tornado was used in the US starting in 1962, in the Jeep Station wagon and pickup, and then in the all-new 1963 Jeep Wagoneer (and Gladiator trucks). As used in the Jeeps, it was rated at 140 hp @4000 rpm.
In Argentina, the Tornado was built in two sizes: the 230 inch (3.77 L) original version and a de-stroked 3.0 L (183 CID) version, which was the standard engine in the sedan and coupe. But the bigger Tornado was massaged to yield more power, with the 380W version featuring triple dual-choke Weber side drafts carburetors, which along with other changes yielded 218 PS (about 300 gross hp/220 net hp), or more than twice what it made in the Jeeps.
Now the transformation was complete, and the Torino was now a world-class GT coupe; at least in its builder’s eyes as well as its owners. Note the dual shock tower braces, part of the modifications to stiffen the Torino’s structure for better handling.
In 1969 three Torinos were sent to the 84 hour endurance race at Nurburgring. Amazingly, they won their class, and were a threat to the overall winner. Not bad, for an engine running a huge 4.38″ stroke in its antediluvian cylinder block.
The Torino earned quite a rep from its racing successes and developed a cult following. Among devoted Torino buyers were such global luminaries as Fidel Castro, Leonid Brezhnev and Muammar Gaddafi and racing legend Juan Manuel Fangio. Quite the fan club.
As can be seen by the Torino that Perry shot, which he says is a 1971, the front end styling evolved and was changed a few times in the Torino’s long life.
The rear end had several refreshes too. This is the final one, from 1978 – 1981.
After Renault bought out IKA in 1970, production continued until 1982. It was a bit odd to think of Renault building a RWD car that was a mash-up of AMC and Kaiser components. But in South America, stranger things have happened.
The Torino became the most beloved car of Argentina, and developed a very strong cult following, which has not diminished to this day. It was modified for all sorts of local racing venues, like this one sporting a complete new aerodynamic fiberglass front end.
As is usually the case with me, I rather prefer the early original version, with the vintage Pininfarina grille. And having been deeply imprinted with Porsche 356 wheels as a kid, these very similar ones make the transformation from Rambler American to Rambler South American complete.
The Torino is exactly what a certain segment of the American motoring press and enthusiast buyers had been pushing the domestics to build; an reasonably-sized sporty and handsome American car with powerful OHC six, good handling, and a handsome continental interior. Pontiac flirted the closest with that, with its OHC Sprint LeMans and Firebird. I can’t help but wonder how AMC might have made out with a domestic Torino. Never mind…I already know the answer.
In the late sixties, this was the domestic’s idea of a sporty compact car. Amusing, in its own way, but strictly a flash in the pan, unlike the Torino, which was made for almost 20 years. And by the eighties, the domestics were falling over themselves to slap “Euro” and “Eurosport” badges on their cars. What the domestics failed to see is that it took the real thing, not just the badge and a noisier exhaust.
The Torino was the real deal; a right-sized handsome package blessed with continuous improvement and refinement. Even the old Continental pre-war engine block was updated with seven main bearings, and the head was completely revised. its enthusiastic followers would have kept buying them for another ten years, but Renault needed to build more modern econoboxes on the lines. What a timeless combination: Dick Teague, Pininfarina, a big and lusty OHC six, ZF gearbox, and a capable chassis. A recipe for timeless success.
Related:
The Near Immortal Ford Falcons Of Argentina
The Wild Cars And Planes From Peronist Argentina
Ford Argentina Fairlane With 292 V8
Paul, another great Curbside Classic on a favorite subject of mine, the IKA Torino. In the last couple of weeks I have posted many Torino items on my Facebook page, some of the same photos that you have used here.
Here’s a link to my Facebook feed.
http://on.fb.me/1Rsc4XQ
As you can see, I have many Torino enthusiasts, many of them in Argentina, contributing.
Two things I have stated in the past you agree with. First, the car is all 1964-65 Rambler American, the 1963-64 Rambler Classic A- to C-pillar section, as your photos show, was not used. What was used was the chassis reinforcement found on the 1965-66 Rambler Classic convertibles to better adapt the Torino to rough Argentine roads.
Second, I think the early 1967-69 cars, with the more pure Pininfarina grille are the best styled (see attached photo).
I have many photos of both Rambler Americans, Rogues and SC/Ramblers that I would have been happy to provide you. And as I am talking with Facebook friends in Argentina about importing a Torino to the US (there are as many as dozen in the US that I know of, the blue one pictured above was for sale many years ago on eBay and I wasn’t in a position to bid on it at the time) I can keep you posted on how my efforts move forward.
The car was covered in a great story in Classic and Sports Car in the UK. I have a PDF available but for copyright reasons I hesitate to post the link here. Feel free to email me and I will send it to you.
Here is a link to photos I took of a later IKA Torino, about a decade ago, taken right after that year’s SEMA Show closed, on the parking deck behind the New York New York hotel.
http://bit.ly/IKATorinoPix
Thanks, they are great looking cars
Speaking of strange things south of the border, this blog…
http://antigosverdeamarelo.blogspot.com/search/label/Tucker%20Torpedo%20%231035
is sort of a Brazilian CC. The link is to a story about the only Tucker that became a regular daily driver. It was originally sold by Tucker’s Sao Paulo office, and acquired a ’47 Caddy dashboard and steering wheel at some point. Still down there in Brazil, now in a museum.
Great post. It is too bad AMC didn’t go that route. The fastback pictured looks similar to a Tarpon as proposed by Dick Teague. It was based on the American, but the brass wanted a bigger car based on the Classic body. A so was born the Marlin.
I wonder what they gained by changing the rear suspension? The American never had torque tube drive, they had an open driveline with leaf springs. If the front suspension has trunnion’s instead of upper ball joints, then it was not modified.
The garage owner who issues the warrants of fitness on my cars has two V8 manual Marlins one on the road one not so much due to rust unusual styling and proportions for sure.
I love reading about these parallel universe cars, more please. It’s a Rambler Jim but not as we know it
You’re right, definitely the American shell front to back when you compare.
When I was in Chubut province Argentina these were quite common, some of them had the spare tire strapped to the trunk lid. This being pre-internet days I was blown away, had no idea these existed.
At work this Friday I saw a box going out destined for our Argentine client, I was temped to write “Por favor, ponga Torino en el cuadro y la de regreso” on the box.
I find the wheels more like the Auto Union 1000 or some late 50’s DKWs rather than Porsche, which btw I like very much too, especially 1st generation 911/12. We in Brazil were quite envious of our neighbour’s world class Torino, since there was nothing so classy being built on this side of the border.
That included a four-link coil spring rear suspension, and not with the Rambler’s torque tube.
The senior Ramblers, Classic and Ambassador, used coils and torque tube through MY66, while the American used Hotchkiss drive with leaf springs.
The senior AMCs switched to a 4 link trailing arm suspension in model year 67, meaning fall 66. The Torino came out in 66. With all the cross-pollination going on between AMC and IKA, could IKA have been using the 67 senior platform suspension, with the track narrowed so the wheels would fit in the American body?
I can’t help but wonder how AMC might have made out with a domestic Torino. Never mind…I already know the answer.
The S/C Rambler was built for a specific clientele. I would be thinking of the Torino’s better suspension, interior and front end on the Rogue that came out in 67 to celebrate AMC’s new, relatively light weight 290 V8.
Tom McCahill loved the Rogue as it was, but that was a time when the mantra in the US was “there is no substitute for cubic inches”, so you either showed up with 6-7 litres, or went home.
Unfortunately, the Torino never could have found a home in North America. South Americans were destined to discover the wonders under the skin of this far-ahead-of-its-time Latinized Rambler. In the USA, the Rambler American was destined to live with its robust 199/232/258 I-6s with maybe 130HP…leave it up to the world of IKA and Juan Manuel Fangio to replace the robust but pedestrian AMC inline sixes with antedeluvian Continental oversquare sixes…just tweaked, twirked and otherwise stretched to their limits to produce insane amounts of torque and (in some cases) more than 300HP out of that basic F-head – or was it an L-head? – Connie 226 cu.in. block from the 1930s. That, in and of itself, was an engineering marvel. Seeing that photo of a BMW-style I-6 with three Weber side-draft deuces, tuned exhaust ports and more made my heart go pitty-pat. (Could this have been the last gasp from the Hudson Racing Team, assimilated into AMC in 1954?) Torino afficionados go on and on and on about the 380W, but there was a version of the Torino with that engine (TX, I think it was) which produced even more horsepower and torque which was never allowed on European tracks by the sanctioned racing authorities. It scared the bejeezus out of them. (Unofficial dyno results claimed that drivetrain produced somewhere around 375-385HP and torque capable of pulling a loaded 18-wheeler to highway speeds in one OMG hurry.)
I’d love to get my hands on either the hardtop coupe or the 4DR sedan…preferably, one of each. I understand exporting either version out of Argentina is next to impossible, and quite expensive. Oh, well…maybe next month, when I hit the Powerball lottery!
Terrific looking (and sounding) car. It also appears to have adopted AMC’s infamous flapper door handles somewhere during its run.
I would have been proud to drive a 64 American it was such a pretty little thing. I would’ve
only drove the previous model with a bag over my head!
A friend of mine in high school(65-69) had a ’59 American, the one that looked like a mini “Bathtub Nash”. Whenever we were riding in it and we saw someone we knew, we would slink down and hide ourselves, the driver was in plain sight though. I too liked the ’64 American but at the same time I liked my ’63 Classic with a V8 that I owned at the time better. My daughter went to the same high school 36 years later and all the cars that driven by students were 20 to 30 years old. When I went there it was rare to see a car more than 10 years old driven by a student and the school population was over 3,600 students vs 1,100 when she went there.
The performance upgrades do sound attractive to me, and that fastback looks great. But I have to say the European style bumpers, grill, and VW-ish wheels are not attractive to me at all. I would give the American the ribbon for looks. Even the plain dogdish hubcaps on a plain Rambler American look better than VW-like wheels.
Fascinating and it clears up a mystery about a car I had described to me many years ago by a young guy who was hotrodding what was likely one of these he had a Rambler American from South America with a blownup OHC 6 in it and was in the process of fitting a Chevy V8, he was also converting it to RHD to comply with the Victorias road rules, it sounded like quite a mission and I couldnt picture the car but now I can, so somewhere in Melbourne one of these lurks or did 20 years ago it might have been scrapped but the young guy was really keen on getting on the road.
I was interested until you mentioned putting in a Chevy engine. Shame on him. With all the wonderful AMC V8s and even Ford V8s which were virtual bolt-ins, polluting a Rambler with a GM engine is a crime worthy of gibbeting.
I love cars like this, the Continental six and the Rambler body being combined to make a performance car is the very embodiment of two wrongs making a right. I never knew about these at all, I wish I had, the American Americans of this generation couldn’t appeal less to me, even the styling I found frumpy(of which I know Dick Teague fans may disagree, just IMO) the Pininfarina rework really helped, and I actually find both ends an improvement, including rear, even if less dramatic, the wraparound bumper is a nice change and removes that frugal cheap(albiet fairly clever) AMC trait of sharing front/rear bumpers, giving the whole car a more finished appearance.
I’m not sure which I prefer stylistically though, I’m inclined to agree with you that the original Pinin look needed no messing with but there’s something I find very attractive about that red 71, the full width grill has a sort of period Lancia vibe to it. I definitely like the later center stack style dash better.
I’m seeing the later Lancia Fulvia coupe too.
Not sure this appeals to me too much. The Italian details as you say turn it from a Rambler American into a Rambler European but some of these details looked a little tacked on when done on an American scale. I wonder what Dick Teague thought of what was going on stylisticly in Argentina.
The engine with it’s 3 carbs and tuning doubling the power sounds like it might be too much for actual use as a daily driver. It sounds like it may have been more of a track special.
Wonder how the later AMC 6 with a simpler OHC conversion and a 4 barrel dual exhaust would have worked. We see how good the later Cherokee 4.0 got, still with durable pushrods. Dare I say also that the four cylinder version from the eighties might have also found a good home in this Rambler, as it was definitely needed in the Gremlin and the Hornet.
Argentina had a great economic run 100 years ago when they were first able to export their exceptional beef onto the world market. Since that boom ended, they have made some unique choices to maintain a champagne lifestyle on a now beer budget. Keeping out of date, but charming and elegant older model cars for long production runs is one of the best examples of that. Thanks for this interesting writeup.
The three-carb 3.8 was just the top engine option; kind of like a GTO with the SD 428. Most Torinos had the 3.0 or a 3.8 with a single carb.
“The engine with it’s 3 carbs and tuning doubling the power sounds like it might be too much for actual use as a daily driver. It sounds like it may have been more of a track special.”
Actually you could buy from factory a race special in 1966, the Torino 380 W TC. This model had a overbored engine to 241cuin (4 liters), high compression (10.5:1), and a sportier cam. Resulting in 250hp.
They were also lightweight, with FRP hoods, no bumpers, no interior lining, no seats, no side windows.
This cars were meant to be used as race cars, but where street legal (when completed with the missing parts). This cars where the basis for the cars used in 1969 on Nurburgring 84hrs.
Quite a few of those cars are still around.
Since the AMC management must have been aware of these cars at the time and how successful they were, one wonders why they didn’t at least try a version here in the late 1960’s. It would have had the 232/258 and four speed stick, light restyle in line with the IKA Torino. Suppose it looked like too small a market to bother with in the short term. Long term, AMC might well have developed a sustaining customer base if they had, not stumbled on issues such as quality, styling, price and features with subsequent models.
Great article – I love these.
If marketed correctly, these I’d argue could have had something of an impact and competed as a lower cost option to some of the larger European cars like the Bavaria and 504.
With the domestic powerplant, I’d bet these would have earned a reputation for reliability by Euro-car standards in America in the 60s/70s, and could have been repaired by a few more domestic mechanics with a bit less grumbling.
Saying this, the record of domestics marketing European cars is abysmal, so doubt this would have been any different. All dreams though…
Wonderful post with great comparisons!
There is also a great article about the IKA Torino and other AMC based cars sold in South America in the June 2005 issue of Collectible Automobile; just ran across it in my magazine files a few days ago.
Great story. I read an article on IKA several years ago and it mentioned the Torino. The Pininfarina design tweaks combined with the Tornado engine transformed a vanilla car into a totally different beast. I think I can sum up the Torino by simply saying “now THAT’S more like it!”
I know quite a bit about cars, but the reason that I keep on reading the articles on CC is because there’s some cars that are out there that I have no idea existed……like this one! It’s amazing what a front and rear end re-style will do for a car, because while I’ve neither loved nor hated the Rambler, when I saw this Torino here, I thought it was a sexy car. And I never would have said that about the Rambler.
The reason why the Rambler probably didn’t really ever have a proper performance car (aside from the red white and blue one), is because of how firmly entrenched that the Rambler name was in basic transportation for the majority of auto buyers. Had AMC done some sort of SS treatment of their own style (like a Nova SS), they could have really transformed the Rambler into somewhat of a pony car……something that maybe didn’t have major big block power, but had respectable performance along with four seats and a smaller, lightweight car.
Ryan, that would have been the 57 Rebel with AMC’s new 327 V8.
Very interesting article, it makes an interesting comparison to the parent company changing to the Hornet which they effectively ran for 18 or so years if you include the Eagle.
Here is an article from the U.K.,containing a detailed description of the cars construction and history.
http://motor-car.co.uk/oz/1155-1960s/14095-ika-renault-torino
A selling point of the new for 63 Classic and Ambassador was it’s “Uni-side” construction which eliminated many pieces for for solid and accurate door fit and construction. One of the reasons for it being Motor Trend’s Car Of The Year.
The same Uni-sides were used on the 64 American, so the same pieces could provide three different products using the same door frames and sills.
See CC 1963 Rambler Cross Country.
My dad had a 64 American wagon, and I wonder if that was produced in Argentina. I like the upgraded larger tail lights on the blue 78. Reminds me of how Volvo kept the same body style for many years, but with some front and rear end styling changes .
Paul, you nailed it on the similarities to an Italian interior. Gauges (and to a degree the dash) look very much like those in my Fiat Spider. Make sense since pininfarina was involved with both. Here is a jpeg I picked up off the web to show gauges on the Fiat for comparison.
Wow. Audi, meet Rambler!
The Pininfarina styling changes, though only front and rear, do wonders for the look of the car. The Rambler certainly isn’t a bad design, but the revisions really make it sing. LIke so many other things, shame we couldn’t get it here.
They are a few here, I have 3 of them….
tengo la suerte de tener una coupe TS 1973 con 3 weber.
weber 45/45 DCOE
If that OHC engine had come along earlier, it could have gone into Kaisers and Frazers!
If anyone will like to see one of this cars up close send me a email… I have 3 of them in Phoenix Arizona
Could a 4-cylinder version of the Jeep Tornado 6-cylinder have been developed to replace the 4-cylinder Willys-Hurricane engine?
If so would a development of the Jeep Tornado 4-cylinder have acquitted itself well in powering post-1970s AMC compact and subcompact models along with the Jeep Tornado 6-cylinder?
Lotus Rebel.. i have seen some 4 cyl Tornados en South America, they where use in Jeeps
So far have only been able to find out Sampietro developed a 153 cubic inch 4-cylinder version of the Tornado 4-cylinder for overseas markets, though little else in terms of specifications.
The Argentinian company developed a four cylinder derivative of the 226 Continental for use in Jeeps, station wagons and pickup trucks. Produced from 1956 until 1978, it was just a 151 c.i. L-head, not OHC. They never used the Go-Devil versions, either L or F-head. Not sure whether Sampietro had anything to do with that contraption. By the way, the four banger was applied also to their sort-lived IKA Bergantin (1960-62), an Alfa Romeo 1900 body with local mechanics.
What year did the IKA Torino officially become the Renault Torino? What was the first year the Renault badges appeared on the Torino? The Renault Torino had a different grille than the IKA version.
From 1975 to 1979 the Torino was sold as the IKA-Renault Torino, as well as the rest of the cars produced by the factory, Since 1980 to the end of it’s production, y was sold and badged as a Renault, dropping the “IKA” name altogether.
The publicity piece in Spanish (“Por qué 3 carburadores en el Torino 380W”) states that the engine has no intake manifold, each carburetor barrel being attached directly to one cylinder opening. A rather unusual arrangement for a street driven car. Someone might recall another example of that setup.
Watching a movie on Netflix called “Fever Dreams”. I saw a car shown within the movie that I swore was a Rambler American – had to do a search, came across this article, mystery solved!
Have always been an AMC fan, my first car was a ’63 Rambler Classic 4 door sedan, grandad had a red ’56 Rambler ‘bathtub’ Nash station wagon; he also bought my grandma a ’65 Rambler Ambassador 2 door hardtop; my brother had a ’64 Rambler Classic 4 door sedan.
As an Argentinian i can said that the Torino was the best car ever made in this country.
It was a very expensive car at the moment, the top speed was more than 200 km/h or 125 mph. IKA industry (Industrias Kaiser Argentina) made the Torino until mid 70’s then was made by Renault until 1982 (the last year of production).
This looks (and likely drives) so much better than the Rambler American it was based on. If I’d never seen a ’60s Rambler, I’d never suspect the Torino was based on an American car (especially an AMC). But yeah, Detroit (and Kenosha) of that era couldn’t see small cars as anything other than can’t-afford-anything-better cheap wheels.
Personally I don’t care for the front or rear styling changes, but the interior and SOHC 6……….OH YES!!!
Those changes would have made for a very desirable car had they been in the AMC American!! My wallet would have been opened! 🙂 DFO
Another fantastic article Paul! I’m sure AMC was aware of these in Argentina, why didn’t they try and sell these in the U.S? Especially the fastback version of the Torino. This appears to be another missed opportunity by AMC management.