1960 Rambler Ambassador: Smart-Size Luxury
Small Among Luxury Cars, Ambassador was Comfortable and Attractive
Jul 25, 2009
The 1954 merger of Nash Motors and the Hudson Motor Car Company into American Motors Corporation was kinder than the Nash side to the Hudson side. The two older firms had ranked among the leading Independents and each could boast of its products to the last day, but it was Nash’s identity that survived.
Nash Rambler and Hudson Rambler Become Rambler
Shortly after American Motors began operating, the Hudson line was abandoned and the Nash became the corporate platform on which future Hudsons would be based. Hudson Ramblers were literally re-badged Nash Ramblers while full-size Hudsons were heavily redesigned Nashes and just two Hudson engines remained available through 1956.
After 1957, the Nash and Hudson names themselves were eliminated as American Motors emphasized the Rambler; even Hudson’s model names were gone and so the upscale Nash Ambassador would logically be succeeded by the upscale Rambler Ambassador. Hudson fans undoubtedly were saddened, but using a name launched by Nash in 1927 was at least gave the 1958 Rambler Ambassador a connection with the past.
Building on the 1956 Rambler
The new model’s own history was short, having begun with the 108-inch-wheelbase Nash Rambler of 1954, itself an addition to the 100-inch Rambler that had appeared in 1950. Ramblers had been obvious relatives of the full-size Nashes through 1955, but the smaller cars were dropped and the larger ones completely restyled the following year.
Modern and flashy with slab sides and slight fins, the 1956 Nash Rambler and 1956 Hudson Rambler were available in Deluxe, Super and Custom trim as four-door sedans, four-door hardtops and even pillar-less four-door wagons.
For 1958, new front and rear treatments again gave Ramblers an up-to-date look via quad headlights and fins difficult to miss. The V-8 series introduced in 1957 returned, as did the Rebel, but the latter no longer offered the previous year’s high performance 327-cubic-inch, 255-horsepower engine.
AMC Puts its Best into the 1958 Rambler Ambassador
Since the Ambassador was American Motors’ flagship luxury car, it naturally could not be confused with other Ramblers riding the same basic platform. AMC began by giving it more brightwork than it applied to the lower-level Ramblers, but it then added nine inches to the Ambassador’s wheelbase with all of that length ahead of the windshield.
Like the other Ramblers, a 1958 Ambassador offered options ranging from heavier suspension to air conditioning, but when it came to engines, the Ambassador stood alone. The Rambler Six used a 196-cubic-inch, 127-horsepower overhead-valve six and the Rebel came with a 250-cubic-inch, 215-horsepower V-8, but the Ambassador’s position demanded that it have the largest engine, so it was given a 270-horsepower version of the 327.
With about 14,500 sales, the 1958 Ambassador was not a high-volume product, but it was popular enough to beat the Rebel despite a pricetag that, model for model, was several hundred dollars higher.
Minor Changes Mark 1959 Rambler Ambassador
American Motors needed only to fine-tune the 1959 Ambassador. A new grille arrived and included a small – but very obvious – downward point at the center of a thick bar. Something similar had graced the 1958 Ambassador, but the mesh of the earlier car’s grille was now gone and its, low rectangular parking lights were replaced by circular units mounted below the headlights.
A minor face lift, it effectively freshened the Ambassador for 1959. With the drive train and options carried over from 1958, the model gave AMC almost 24,000 sales for the year, an increase of more than 60 percent from 1958’s figure.
1960 Ambassador Ends First Generation
American Motors recognized early that the tail-fin mania would someday end and turned in that direction with the 1960 Ambassador and other Ramblers that shared its platform. The thin and fairly high fins of 1958 and 1959 with their mid-level taillight pods were trimmed and bent outward as enlarged taillights were mounted below them at the ends of the body.
A new wraparound windshield curving in two directions appeared on the Ambassador, but the car’s front end was less radically new as the grille was given a typical annual revision; the point in its center vanished and the again-rectangular parking lights were now below the bumper. The engine and drive train were unchanged and AMC once more sold almost 24,000 Ambassadors.
It was a good return on a car that had had few major changes in its three years, but a totally new front end would clearly identify the 1961 Ambassador and position it even further from other Ramblers.
 |
