Here’s a sweet Classic coupe (update: it’s a relatively rare Typhoon), and in a fetching two-tone paint job. There was an identical one (in different colors) that was remarkably a daily driver for many years, always parked during the day next to a small stock broker’s office. I shot it a decade ago, and its CC is here, although there’s some historical inaccuracy regarding the IKA Torino.
In that Classic I regurgitated the old story that the Torino used the Classic’s body shell, but in reality it was the American’s. That’s all in my Torino CC.
Meanwhile, we can just savor this Curbside Classic.
Beautiful. Peak AMC. I think that’s a special edition called a Typhoon, meant to showcase a new inline-six engine.
That’s correct. This is a rare car.
Actually Mike is Actually Right. The Typhoon was 1964-only, on the Rambler Classic 770 2-door hardtop, only with the online six and only in this color. The photo is barely sharp enough so you can, with a little imagination, make out the Typhoon badge on the quarter panel.
Aha! I missed that. I’ve never seen a Typhoon before. Well, maybe I did as a kid, but I didn’t exactly pay much attention to Ramblers at the time.
Very rare Rambler in excellent condition.
From the American Motors Family Album: “To introduce its all new 232-cubic-inch “Torque Command” six-cylinder engine in the spring of 1964, American Motors offered the new engine in a limited number of Rambler Typhoon two-door hardtops. All 2,520 built were finished in Solar Yellow with a black roof and black side spear and grille accents.”
When you drive a ride like this, you are the star – not the car. Your car isn’t flaunting what it can do, where it can go, or how much it cost. Instead, the car is a handsome tool that took you to your destiny. You arrived, not your car.
Marketers are always telling us what a car says about us. Those people are liars.
We need more cars like these.
Beautiful. I like the 1964 grille better than the 63.
Pretty much guaranteed nobody will know what it is when you drive around.
I like the 1963 grille – it’s quite unique. But there was no hardtop coupe available for 1963. The only two-door in the “senior” series for 1963 was a sedan with a Thunderbird-style roofline. It’s a handsome car. Too bad AMC didn’t turn it into a hardtop.
For 1965, AMC completely restyled the lower body of the Classic and Ambassador, but kept this roofline for the hardtop coupes.
Put me down as a fan of the concave ‘63 grill as well. The ‘63 Rambler was a stunning restyle, Motor Trend’s COTY and set a sales record of 484,000, a figure not equaled before or since. ‘63 was perhaps the pinnacle of the brand, and for one brief, shining moment was a serious contender to shed its scrappy, independent status and join the big three on equal terms.
Also a fan of the 63 grille. The 64 is nice but the Chrome wrapping around to match the reused 63 concave fenders gives it a bit of a 50s jukebox vibe. The hardtop is the real selling point this year.
It wouldn’t be correct, but the ’63 grille on a ’64 hardtop would look great.
I nipped up to Scotland to photograph mine:
Bernard – what is that model? I’ve never seen one. I am guessing Minic in 87 scale but I don’t know. Nice piece; I would like one.
It’s a Tri-ang MINIX 1:76 scale, no.17 in the series, unfortunately one of the rarer models otherwise I might have done it up. I acquired this from a collector about 20 years ago in exchange deal. They were also sold in bubble packs in the US, distributed by F.J. Strauss. Good luck with your hunt; I have occasionally seen them on ebay but can’t afford another.
http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/minixT.htm
Bernard – thank you. The wheels looked familiar so I have seen Minix cars before.
I collect/buy Wiking 1:87 cars from the ’70s and earlier so I must have seen Minix toys at a model railroad show I attend every year.
The other similar model cars with metal wheels were made by Lego, around the same time. There’s a listing of these here:
http://www.87thscale.info/lego.htm
Lovely car in a great paint combination, not what I expect to see when I hear “Rambler”.
The first-gen Camry Liftback in the back of the picture is also quite rare these days as well, if perhaps not quite the same caliber.
In 1966 I was working for a company that supplied a field car for my use. I inherited a 1964 Ford Falcon that had been driven for two years by a 300-pound man of 5′ 10″ in height. The seat was concave and uncomfortable. Periodically, the Falcon would fail mechanically and I would be given a 1964 Rambler 330 to use. What a nice car! Good visibility, comfortable ride, decent handling. I still recall the vehicle with pleasure.
I always hear about how Ramblers were considered nerdy cars in their day, and I can’t connect that thought with the car I see here. It looks stunningly clean, as good a styling job as the Big 3 Detroiters were doing at this time. This was the best looking, and probably most competitive, car AMC would produce.
The ’64 Typhoon hardtop was the exception to the rule, 98% of Ramblers one encountered back then were nerdy cars. Their best selling models that same year were the Classic Six 550-660-770 series, mostly seen with dog-dish hubcaps, blackwall tires and no showy trim in some bland color. This car is a Classic 770 Typhoon hardtop, one of 8,996 of the 146,813 within the Classic Sixes. Were it an Ambassador 990-H hardtop, it would be one of only 1,464, but those were V-8’s.
The ’63-’64 Classic-Ambassadors were some of their best ’60’s cars as far as compact packaging which bore more development But Abernethy had other ideas which took them into a direction which lead to near bankruptcy.
In retrospect, I’m not sure that Abernethy had any other choice. The Big Three were encroaching on AMC’s turf.
The post-1962 Plymouth Valiants and Dodge Darts, with their “de-Exnered” styling and improved build quality, were stealing sales from the Rambler American.
The first Ford Mustang was relatively small, inexpensive, economical (if equipped with the six) and didn’t look like something your maiden great aunt would drive.
GM’s 1964 A-bodies were simply too much competition for the Classic and Ambassador.
Quite true, after the Big Three noticed AMC had tapped a segment they’d largely overlooked or dismissed as too small, they co-opted it with their lines to get a piece of the pie…left AMC with the crumbs.
I owned an Ambi 990H for awhile, with the desperately-named “Twin Stick” 3-speed + non-working OD. Getting that ancient Nash 327 (no, Gomer, NOT a Chevy engine OK? Sheesh) rebuilt exhausted most of my resto funds and I ended up letting it go to a friend who passed it along to someone with the funds to finish the job. I don’t miss having the shift linkage lock up on me and having to dive under the car to kick it back into place…
The ’64 hardtop body cars were gorgeous aside from the poverty-spec tail lights, probably the best-looking cars to ever come out of Kenosha.
This (all original?) Ambassador 990 was being used as a daily driver when I took the pictures back in 2016. Since then the shopping center where it was parked daily has been torn down and I don’t see it anymore. Loaded car with buckets/console, A/C, and, IIRC, power windows. I loved these cars back in the day but prefer the 63 grille.
Interior:
Love the speedometer calibrated in 1/10 figures… I recall one of the first cars I frequently rode in had a speedometer like that and for a good year or so didn’t realize the speed we were going was 60 and not 6.
AMC continuing a Nash tradition – our 1952 Statesman had the same style speedo:
I drove a 1964 classic two door post several years ago. Had the 194 (?) straight six and automatic. No power options. Super cute and fun to drive car. Very easy to work on. My biggest complaint was the gearing. At anything over 55mph and the little engine was screaming. I considered changing the rear end but it had that idiotic torque tube drive, which makes a usually simple rear end swap a nightmare. It burned a qt every hundred miles so I sold it before the engine totally gave up.
Yeah, the 196 did fine in the American, but were a little underpowered in the Classic. And it was an old design, long stroke engine, better for low speeds than high speeds. They would complain at higher rpms. The 232, a brand new 7 main bearing engine, was a great addition. That basic engine served AMC and Jeep/Chrysler until 2006, and near the end of it’s run was rated as the most reliable US built motor.
Being a glutton for punishment, I also owned a 1961 Classic “Deluxe” which was I think the base model. It had absolutely no options aside from a heater. It had the 4-bearing 196 engine, 3-speed, and was so underpowered that I never got it going much over 55mph to notice the engine noise above all the other noises, and it ran on maybe four out of the six cylinders and left a cloud of smoke behind it. Still, it ran, and I sold it for a nice profit.
Hey at least it didn’t have the aluminum version of that engine.
1961 was the last year for the stamped-steel two-piece upper and lower control arms that would fail pretty spectacularly, usually while parked, so your stupid Rambler was ass-up with one front wheel folded up into the fender. They went to single-piece control arms in 1962, presto, no more Ramblers stuck in gas stations with a folded wheel.
The 232 and later 258/4.0 engines were orders of magnitude better than the old 196. Those, the Ford 300, and the Toyota 20R/22R will survive the heat death of the universe.
That is a terrific looking car, with a bit of Mercedes about the roof and glasshouse
Agree with many others – this is an exceptionally clean design. Genuinely attractive. I also like the concave ’63 grille, but I don’t hate the ’64 look, either.
I had a 64 1/2 Typhoon for years. Great little car. A lot of zip in the 232 cu in 6 cylinders. I drove it all over the country and never had a problem with it. It finally just rusted away, after 40 years.