In addition to Rambulances, AMC also sold taxis, although they were not called Ramblicabs. Seems like Ramblers would have made good taxis: they were relatively roomy yet compact, fairly economical, and durable enough. But I can’t ever remember seeing one, at least that I can remember.
Did you?
Let’s check them out through the years, starting with this 1958. Taxis only deserve single headlights.
1959.
1960.
1961. The ’62 is at the top of the post.
Skipping ahead to 1969. Seems perfect for taxi use.
Never mind; I would have waited for the next one to come along.
I remember seeing an episode of The Incredible Hulk where David Banner gets a job at a Taxi company and he drives around in a 74 Matador for the episode. Saw a salmon pink Matador taxi in a few episodes of the Rockford Files too, come to think of it. But that’s all TV world, so who knows?
Yeah and in one scene, the Matador got substitued for a 1965 Dodge Coronet in one scene when we check some screenshots.
https://theatlip.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/david-banner-of-incredible-hulk-behind-the-wheel/
I don’t think I would have bothered changing the cab back into a Matador…
I know this theme is recurring in my sparse comments. Here in Uruguay, American cars were so thin in the ground, and so much appreciated for power and room, that a 74 Matador Sedan could be an aspirational car. Around 1980 or 81 the American Embassy held a tender here in Montevideo for both a Matador sedan and a Plymouth station wagon, a mid size, I don’t remember the model. My brother, then 26 and a CPA, was shopping for his FIRST car and submitted offers for both cars. None was enough, so a little later he got a brand new Ford Corcel with a 5 year loan (the loan would outlast the newness of the car, of course). Fit and finish were great for the times, the car was comfortable, the engine was weak and the gearbox, weaker. But he kept it for 11 years and 180.000 km, though if he had had the money he should have traded it in at 5 years old. I learnt to drive in that car.
I guess it makes sense, but that airport photo includes the new terminal at DTW, not far down the road from AMC.
One thing I don’t like about the Matador is the grill can block view of turn signals depending on the perspective of the viewer – such as in the brochure photo. Not a good design for that aspect, given the location of the turn signals. A flush or even curved grill would allow better visibility of the right turn signal.
BTW, it appears that the end of days is coming for the old AMC building on Plymouth Road. It’s too bad but what possible use could be made for the building so neglected for many years? Better to move on with redevelopment.
I used to visit “JTE” when I was a supplier engineer. I remember 2 things: Park in the fenced lot, not on the street and remember the column number of the person you needed to see. Behind the admin building was a see of columns and cubicle walls – easy to get lost!
Never saw one IRL. About a year ago CC had a picture of Chicago traffic around 1960, which included one Rambler cab.
Our small Wisconsin town had a single taxi. It was a 1957 Rambler 6 with overdrive. My dad could walk to work or we dropped him a the train station if he needed to travel. This gave my mom normal use of our Rambler American.
On certain occasions my dad did need the car though. When he had the car, my mom would sometimes use the taxi. I recall many rides in that old Rambler. The owner lived about 4 houses down the block from us.
Mom would send me down there to request the taxi when we needed it. This was easier than calling due to sharing a party line (remember those) with the taxi owner. Our party line seemed busier than average. Mom blamed one neighbor in particular for the line being tied up so much. She never complained though because she enjoyed listening.
If the taxi was available, he’d come right over. If he was out, his wife would take a message and give us a call to schedule our ride once her husband called in. You don’t think about this much today, but the taxi service could have the operator break in on calls to inform someone when the taxi would arrive. The service was considered important enough that everyone with a party line just accepted this as normal.
The taxi had no radio, meter or roof sign. It did have some sort of magnetic sign on the side doors. The owner also used the taxi as his family car and took the signs off when he was using it that way. It seemed pricing was somewhat subjective. I can recall mom negotiating price before each ride.
Sadly, I can find no pictures of the taxi. I believe that ’57 was replaced by a Rambler Rebel in the late 60s. By then I was in high school and never rode in that taxi.
Party lines are not obsolete, but nowadays they’re called Facebook.
No, have not seen one in 1:1 scale. But yes, in 1:25 scale.
Promotional models were an interest for many years – but not Rambler ones. However I do remember Rambler cabs models, both in sedan and wagon form, from the maker Jo-Han. That company produced promos for AMC and re-issue models were later sold under the “X-EL” brand. There was a ’62 (in yellow) – as illustrated above.
My first thought as well. Jo-Han sold their 1962 Rambler Taxi as a snap-together model too.
https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/1/9/0/1155190-26866-13-pristine.jpg
The phrase “Rambler taxi” is barely found in the 1950s-60s newspapers, I see. Here’s one in the Long Island paper, April 1957:
The Matadors were pretty sturdy and made dandy police cars .
When I lived in Guatemala in ’75/’76 my brother in law had a four door Matador stripper, i6 and three on the tree .
Sturdy and well built it had no rattles / squeaks in spite of the terrible roads .
-Nate
Sweden, of all places (1964):
I’ve never seen one of these although I can’t see why a Rambler wouldn’t do well in taxi service. I’m surprised that none of these ads plugs their All Weather Eye air conditioning, AMC had the lowest cost unit on the market IIRC and that might give one cab a competitive advantage over others without AC.
Not used as cabs here that I know of but Ramblers were the last brand of NZ assembled American cars and were looked at as upmarket they werent cheap to buy compared to a Valiant Holden or Falcon Vauxhall Cresta Ford Zephyr which did see a lot of taxi service and almost as roomy.
The only one I remember seeing was a vintage overhead shot of NYC (?) traffic where among the many taxis were both a 1956-57 Rambler and a 58 Stude Econ-O-Miler. I think it might have been one of Poindexter’s photos, but I am not sure.
Rambler’s problem in the taxi market may have been AMC’s choice to put all of the room in the long wheelbase version ahead of the cowl, with no extra passenger room. The Studebaker Econ-O-Miler did the opposite, giving extra back seat room in taxi configurations. Even after the switch to the Lark, I think the long wb taxi model was on a 113 inch platform instead of the normal 108 (which I recall the Rambler being, also).
That picture of the 62 reminded me of something I forgot – that the Rambler kept using the “clapper” windshield wipers until the 1963 redesign.
Recall few Rambler cabs in NYC during the late 50’s and early 60’s. Seems that Rambler did not have the dealer presence that other makes had in NY. More likely, they were driven by owner operators. DeSoto, once very popular, seemed to be replaced by Plymouth by then also. One large fleet in particular used Studebaker until nearly the end. Unlike cabs used by owner operators, the fleet cabs were used 24/7 and may be more visible partly due to this. Was just a kid then. My father would often take me with him on his frequent trips to midtown and Flushing.
I guess I’ve finally grown up into a sensible adult since I think the ’61/’62s are attractively sensible cars.
Numb and slow steering, torque tube drive that made for extra work in servicing and the popularity of mid-size Mopar Police vehicles later on – which gave shops access to HD parts from wrecks helped put Rambler at a disadvantage.
Never seen an AMC/Rambler taxicab, though did see a few police cars.
I knew the iconography in the second pic looked familar:
Likewise, the artwork you posted looked familiar to me too – it was from an album cover from 1946, only in different colors. Old album artwork excites me as much as old automotive artwork does.
Is it weird that the first thing I noticed was the 707 in the lead in pic?
I guess Ramblers were never really on my radar, although I’ve always liked the looks of the 1963 American. 😀