Rambler

US, 1900 – 1903

(1) Rockaway Bicycle Works, Rockaway, N.J.

(2) Rockaway Automobile Co, Rockaway, N.J.

The Rambler car company made a light two-seater runabout powered by a water-cooled single-cylinder engine. Final drive was by single chain. The price of the Rambler car was $650.

US, 1902 – 1913; 1950 – 1970

(1) Thos. B. Jeffery Co, Kenosha, Wic., 1902 – 1913

(2) Nash Motor Co, Kenosha, Wisc., 1950 – 1954

(3) American Motors Corporation, Kenosha, Wisc., 1950 – 1970

Despite the interval of 37 years, these two Rambler car makes are directly connected. The original Rambler car derived its name from the bicycles built by Gormully and Jeffery, who had a branch factory in Coventry in the 1890s. In 1902 form this Rambler car was a light runabout in the American idiom with a single horizontal cylinder, chain drive, cycle-type wire wheels and tiller steering, this Rambler car was selling for $750. In the first season 1.500 Rambler cars were sold, a figure which places the makers in the same category as Oldsmobile, among the world’s first mass producers.

By 1905 the Rambler car had grown into a sizable twin-cylinder machine with front bonnet, and with the introduction of a 4-cylinder Rambler car in 1907 the Rambler car make had moved up into the semi-luxury class; another parallel with Oldsmobile, but one which had less unfortunate financial consequences, for Rambler sold over 3.000 Rambler cars in 1911 and 4.435 in 1913, the last year of production of Rambler cars. The bigger of two fours offered in 1912 had a 7-litre engine with separate cylinders. 1914 Rambler cars went under the name of Jeffery. Advanced features of these late Ramblers were sidelamps faired into the scuttle, and detachable wooden wheels.

Nash Motors, successors to the Jeffery company, revived the name in 1950 for the first of the modern generation of American ‘compacts’. This Rambler car was a 2.8-litre sv six with a wheelbase of 8ft 4in and an overall length of under 15ft, priced at $1.800. It featured unitary construction of chassis and body, and the Rambler car weighed only 2.576lb at a time when a regular Chevrolet sedan turned the scales at around 3.600lb. Nash sales went up by 50.000 as a result of the Rambler car, which was offered as a Nash until 1957, acquiring styling by Pininfarina in 1952, the option of an automatic gearbox in 1953, and an alternative V8 engine in 1957. Some Rambler cars were also sold under the Hudson after the merger which brought American Motors into being in 1954.

From 1958 on, all A.M.C. cars were known as Rambler cars, the former full-sized Nashes continuing as Rambler’s Ambassador model. The Rambler car was the first of the contemporary compacts, and set a fashion imitated later by the Big Three. In the recession year, 1958, George Romney’s criticisms of large Rambler cars were widely quoted. In 1958 the low-priced American model reverted to the 8ft 4in wheelbase, and 1961 saw the introduction on Rambler cars of a die-cast aluminium ohv push-rod six which eventually supplanted the old sv unit. The last vestiges of the 1949 Nash Airflyte styling vanished in 1963, and disc brakes were offered as an option in 1965, in which year a sporting fastback coupé, the Rambler Marlin, was introduced. 1967 Rambler cars were made on three wheelbase lengths – 8ft 10in, 9ft 4in, and 9ft 8in – and with a choice of ohv 3.8-litre 6-cylinder or 4.8- and 5.6-litre V8 engines. From 1968 the name Rambler cars became less prominent in the range, new models such as the Javelin being known under their own names. For the 1970 season the name Rambler was dropped altogether in the USA and Canada, although the Hornet was sold as a Rambler car in export markets. For the 1971 season the name Rambler was no longer used at all.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Plymouth

US, 1928 to date

Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Mich.

The 4-cylinder 21hp Plymouth car appeared in 1928 at a list price of $725 for a sedan. This Plymouth car replaced the earlier 4-cylinder Chryslers and represented a serious challenge for Ford and Chevrolet in their lowest price class. The Plymouth car had side valves, internal-expanding hydraulic brakes and ribbon-type radiator and gave the Plymouth car a close resemblance to the 1928 Chryslers and De Sotos, and Plymouth cars sold over 100.000 in its first year, even improving its sales position in the bleak economic climate of 1932. Plymouth cars adhered to four cylinders until 1933, when the Plymouth PD-series 6-cylinder was listed at less than $600. 1934 de luxe models of Plymouth cars had independent front suspension, but this was dropped after a year and did not reappear for some time on Plymouth cars. The standard engine in the later 1930 Plymouth cars had a capacity of 3.3-litres, rather smaller than that used in comparable Chevrolets and Fords: a small-bore 2.8-litre version Plymouth car was made for export up to 1939, but the name Plymouth was not usually found on Plymouth cars sold in England, which were nominally Chrysler Kew and Wimbledon sixes. After World War 2 evolution followed that of other Chrysler Corporation cars closely, the old-fashioned styling losing the Plymouth car division its long-held third place in American sales to Buick. Further, Plymouth cars retained the L-head six as its staple power unit right up to 1955, when Flight Sweep versions were introduced with over-square ohv V8 engines on accepted American lines in a variety of powers from 157 to 177bhp. The capacity of these Plymouth cars had 4.3-litres, while the six, now of 3.8-litres, remained available. These 1955 Plymouth cars were lower and longer than their predecessors and could be obtained with synchromesh, overdrive or automatic gearboxes.

The Plymouth Fury models of the ensuing decade represented a breakaway from the traditional Plymouth stolid family car, while the Plymouth Car Division was also responsible for Chrysler’s contribution to the compacts, the Plymouth Valiant launched for 1960. This Plymouth car had rather more European styling than its competitors, with a dummy spare-wheel moulding on the tail; interesting items of specification were the unitary construction of the Plymouth car, alternator ignition, and inclined in-line 2.8-litre ohv 6-cylinder engine. The influence of the Plymouth GT car on America resulted in the Plymouth Barracuda of 1965, a fastback coupé using the Valiant’s 8ft 10in wheelbase and a 4½-litre V8 power unit. Plymouth cars, like Ford and Chevrolet, was aiming at comprehensive coverage of the low and medium price market in 1966, with the compact Plymouth Valiant, the sports-compact Plymouth Barracuda, the medium-sized Plymouth Belvedere, the full-size Plymouth Fury, and the luxurious ‘VIP’ 4-door hardtop Plymouth car, offered only with a 5.2-litre V8 engine and selling for $2.930. An increasing emphasis on sporting Plymouth cars was detectable by 1968, when in addition to the established Barracuda there were two other sports coupés Plymouth car, the Plymouth GTX and the Plymouth Road Runner. All three Plymouth cars were available with 4-speed manual gearboxes and the 6.981cc 425bhp hemi-head V8 also used by Dodge. In 1970, when Valiant prices started at a low $2.172, there was also a Valiant sports coupé, the Plymouth Duster.

In 1971 Plymouth car company added a sub-compact to their Plymouth car range when they offered the 1½-litre Hillman Avenger as the Plymouth Cricket. The 1972 range of Plymouth cars embraced the Valiant on a 9ft wheelbase, the Barracudas and Satellites, and the full-size Furys with V8 engines and automatic transmission as standard. Engines in the Plymouth cars ranged from the Valiant’s 3.2-litre and 3.7-litre sixes up to the largest Chrysler unit, a V8 of 7.210cc. Electronic ignition was offered on the costliest Barracuda model. Casualties of new Federal regulations were the hemi-head engine and convertibles, and the same range Plymouth cars with minor improvements, among them manually-operated sun roofs, was offerd in 1973.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com