> EYE CANDY: 1960 RAMBLER SIX
> A COMPACT THAT CHALLENGED THE GIANTS
The car: 1960 Rambler Six The owners: Bill Dykstra and family, Aurora The story: In 2003 we were visiting the Spring Barrie Automotive Flea Market at Burl’s Creek, one of the larger flea markets in this area, and there we acquired a flyer with vendors’ names and the services they provided. One of these vendors was Jim Rae, who was wellknown for his expertise regarding American Motors cars and products from the early 1950s up. 1988 was the final year of AMC before the company was sold to Chrysler, who basically only wanted the Jeep franchise, as well as AMC’s leading-edge four-wheeldrive platform. At that time, Jim had a 1960 Rambler Classic Custom. We liked that car, and after negotiating with him for a long time, reached an agreement to purchase it.
Back in the day it was purchased by the original owner from J.R. Racine Motors in Quebec. The Rambler had changed hands several times before we bought it from Jim; we proceeded to do transmission work and replaced some engine seals, shock breakers, and coil springs. We had the mirrors, “bumperettes,” grill and other miscellaneous parts re-chromed. The interior was redone. The car was repainted.
The colour looks stock but is actually a Ford shade, later-era but close to the original bronzy-pink tone that AMC used in 1960. The car has a 196-cubic-inch OHV six-cylinder engine with original Packard ignition wires, and is nicely detailed under the hood. There is a Borg-Warner automatic transmission with push-button gear selection and a push-button start.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, those were all common features. Today they are a novelty, since “everything old is new again” for some. The family really enjoys driving our Ramblers, but our daughters especially like driving the pink 1960 at shows and in parades.
It seems that everybody we meet knew somebody or had a family member who owned a Rambler. It was the family car of the mid-20th century. Ours comes out of storage as soon as the roads are salt-free, and stays on the road until after Thanksgiving.
Anyone interested in seeing American Motors cars can come to the annual show at Haugen’s Restaurant in Manchester, Ont., at Hwys. 12 and 7A. It is held the last Saturday each June, and organized by the Northern Ramblers Car Club; northernramblerscarclub.com.
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