1965 Rambler Classic 770 Convertible: A Fancy, Rare Red Softtop With…A Six?

Photos posted by Hyperpack at the CC Cohort

I truly don’t know how anyone chose what car to buy in 1965, as there were so many attractive options across all price points. As for me, I would have probably ended up with a 1966 model because of my indecision, but someone decided that this Antigua Red Classic 770 Convertible was the right choice for them; however, instead of ordering the sporty 250-horsepower AMC 327, they stuck with the little 232 six.

I have a fairly huge collection of brochures from the 1930s through the 1970s, with (as you might expect from my screen name) a fair chunk of them being from the 1965 model year. One of my favorites is American Motors’s “X-Ray” brochure, which spent a full 48 pages comparing AMC’s products to their Big Three competitors. Of course, AMC products came out on top, but they left out engine options and whole cars for which they had no direct competitor. Hence, there was no mention of the wildly popular Mustang or even some of the hotter Corvairs; also, no engine bigger than Chrysler’s 383 was mentioned in the pages on competitive V8s. No 390s, no 409s, no 389s or 421s, no 394s…you get the point.

This page shows the V8 that the original owner of our featured Classic passed up, but more important is the name of AMC’s Chief Quality Engineer: A.J. Junker. I always love a little irony in fun.

And look what is presented on the page highlighting convertibles—a colorful trio including an Antigua Red Classic. The Satellite, Galaxie, and Impala had to settle for black-and-white photography, and the models sitting in and standing around the competitive cars always looked decidedly unenthusiastic.

Hyperpack was unable to take any engine pictures through the Classic’s closed hood, but Rambler did something few other makes did by advertising their six-cylinder engines with their own badge on the fender. You always knew that a 1965 Ford Galaxie, for example, had nothing bigger than a 289 if it was missing an engine badge on the fender, but you weren’t sure if it was a six or a 289. That was not the case here.

And there may be a good reason for that: pride. AMC’s 232 (available in 145- and 155-horsepower varieties with one- and two-barrel carburetion respectively) was a hot performer for an American inline-six. This road test of a 1965 American showed that it acquitted itself quite well compared to its small V8 contemporaries, and even if the Classic weighed more than the American, it would certainly provide satisfactory performance.

Still, I hope this massive tailpipe is not too loud; I think a six should barely be heard, but I’ve also never been a fan of all bark, no bite in the exhaust realm. But while the six-cylinder engine shouldn’t be anything to scoff at out of hand, something that may put off modern-day Classic buyers is the fact that it still has a torque tube driveline, something even Buick had abandoned about five years earlier. Of course, some will argue that even modern front-engined Corvettes have torque tubes, but they also have independent rear suspension; therefore, the rear suspension doesn’t have to deal with all of its weight as it does on a solid axle car like the Classic.

For being a red convertible, this Classic has few sporting pretensions, including the most bench-like bucket seats you’ll ever see and a column shifter for the “Flash-O-Matic” transmission. It does have air conditioning, which may keep this Classic in the slow lane (even 155 horsepower gross is not a lot by modern standards), but a convertible with air conditioning? In 1965? Yes, and it was a $312.05 option on top of the Classic 770 Convertible’s $2,696 base price.

I don’t think the upholstery pattern is factory original, but it looks great in a combination of red and white. The plethora of car show fliers on the seat and floor reminds me why I keep the windows up on the rare event that I enter one of my fleet in a car show.

Unsurprisingly, “X-Ray” comparisons aside, the Classic didn’t fare too well against its competition from across Lake Michigan; only 4,953 found homes in 1965. That’s not terrible, but Pontiac sold almost 20,000 Tempest/LeMans Convertibles and Buick sold 18,359 Special/Skylark Convertibles. Let’s not even get started with Mustangs.

As always, that is unimportant today, when a 1965 model red convertible anything is one of the greatest-looking cars you’ll see on any given day. Whether the original owner of this one was a “Rambler person” who wanted something a little flashier, or maybe someone who had a good Rambler dealer in their town, or maybe someone who just liked its crisp styling, we’ll probably never know. But you don’t need an X-Ray to know that this would be a heck of a nice car to drive around this summer with the top down and the air conditioning on (especially if the heat index is up in the 100s as it is in Michigan today), and the 232 isn’t a bad choice at all.

Related Reading

Cohort Classic: 1965 Rambler Classic 770 Convertible – The Very Rare And Short-Lived Classic Convertible (by Paul N)

Curbside Classic Classic: 1965 Rambler Classic 770 (by Moparlee)

Vintage Car Life Road Test: 1965 Rambler American 440-H – Hot Six! (by Paul N)

The Fastest Stock Pushrod Inline Sixes Of The ’60s & ’70s – Faster Than Many V8s (by Paul N)