DRIVING GEORGE ROMNEY'S 1964 RAMBLER CLASSIC 550 TWO-DOOR SEDAN
The year 1954 was a tough one for the independent automobile manufacturers in America.
After years of success in the seller's market immediately following World War II, where they beat the Big Three to the marketplace with their all-new postwar models, the tide had turned to a buyer's market.
By 1952, Hudson, Nash, Packard, and Studebaker got caught in the crossfire as Chevrolet and Ford battled for sales supremacy. Studebaker and Packard merged, as did the storied nameplates of Hudson and Nash, forging American Motors Corporation, also known as AMC.
The charismatic leader of AMC was George Mason, who not only shepherded the merger of Hudson and Nash, which he headed previously, but also wanted to see a merger among all four companies to better compete with the Big Three.
Combined, Hudson, Nash, Packard, and Studebaker would be at least as large in terms of sales volume as Chrysler, which was struggling trying to compete against the GM-Ford juggernaut.
At Mason's side was his top lieutenant, George Romney, who was the chief spokesperson for the American Automobile Manufacturers Association during World War II. He joined Nash-Kelvinator in 1948 after turning down a position with Packard.
Just after the Nash-Hudson merger, Mason passed away and Romney was thrust into the role as AMC's chief executive. More than anything, Romney was a visionary, and upon ascending to AMC's top post, he recognized the company's deteriorating financial situation.
In an immediate effort to slash costs, compact Hudson Jet and the full-sized senior Hudson-based cars would be discontinued at the end of the 1954 model year, with Hudson dealers getting re-badged and restyled versions of the Nash sedans along with Hudson's own version of the compact Rambler.
Romney believed that its small cars would be AMC's salvation. From 1955 to 1957 the company continued to sell face-lifted versions of the senior Hudson and Nash models.
But with sales declining, and AMC unable to finance a complete overhaul, development funds were directed to the compact Rambler models. In 1954, just before the Hudson-Nash merger, Nash introduced a four-door version of its original two-door Rambler.
The main difference beyond the two extra doors was that the four-door model was built off of a 108-inch wheelbase, while the two-door models were based on the 100-inch wheelbase. The 108-inch wheelbase was the foundation for the success that would follow.
For 1956, the Hudson and Nash Rambler models were completely restyled. Gone were all the two-door models. (They returned in 1958). In their place was a complete line of models based on the 108-inch wheelbase — sedans, station wagons, and hardtops.
(As a point of reference, the full-size Chevy Bel Air rode on a wheelbase of 115 inches and was 195.6 inches overall, while the Ford Crown Victoria's wheelbase was 115.5 inches and the car was 198.5 inches overall.) The Rambler was just 191.1 inches long, with virtually the same interior volume as its Chevy and Ford competitors.
Sales for the redesigned 1956 models came in at a healthy 79,166 units. While trending in the right direction, this was not enough to make up for the downturn in the senior Hudson and Nash models.
AMC had a pivotal year in 1957. While the sales of the full-size models continued their downward trend, Rambler sales were on the rise, coming in at 91,469 units.
Two 1957 models were standouts: a handsome, pillar-less four-door station wagon and the limited-production Rebel four-door hardtop, of which 1500 were produced.
It is considered by many to be the industry's first musclecar by virtue of its intermediate-size chassis combined with AMC's big, powerful, 327-cubic-inch V-8.
(It has nothing in common with Chevy's 327 small-block.) Originally it was to be equipped with an optional Bendix Electrojector fuel-injection system, but all Rebels with that system had it replaced with a four-barrel carburetor because the system was unreliable when hot.
The Rebel pre-dated the Pontiac GTO by six years, and in 1957 the only U.S.-built car that was faster was Chevrolet's Corvette.
That year Romney made a fateful decision. Another completely redesigned Rambler model was planned for 1958, and very late in 1957 the Hudson and Nash marques were discontinued. AMC would sink or swim on the strength of the compact Rambler.
The 1958 product program was to have had an extended wheelbase version of the all-new Rambler to be sold as a full-size Hudson and Nash.
Photographs exist of both prototypes, but with the discontinuation of both marques, the car, built on the 117-inch chassis, was introduced as the Rambler Ambassador.
What makes the Ambassador so important is that it was an extension of Romney's philosophy of building the widest array of models with as few unique stampings as possible, reducing cost and increasing production efficiency.
Think of it as the precursor of today's platform-sharing. The concept was refined with the introduction of the next generation of Ramblers debuting for the 1963 model year.
The introduction of the 1958 models couldn't have come at a more fortuitous time for AMC as the U.S. economy slipped into the Eisenhower Recession.
While sales at the Big Three slipped, AMC sales skyrocketed to 186,373, including the two-seat Metropolitan compact imported from the U.K. Romney's gamble on the compact Rambler was about to pay huge dividends.
And well before Lee Iacocca made it fashionable, Romney was AMC's public face and pitchman as he railed against what he called "gas-guzzling dinosaurs" in AMC's print advertising.
Things only got better for 1959 as the country pulled itself out of recession, and AMC sales doubled to 363,372 units. In 1960 the upward trend continued as sales rose to 422,273.
In 1961 AMC became the third-best-selling nameplate in the U.S., supplanting Pontiac, with sales reduced to 370,685.
In 1960, with sales and especially profits rising, Romney embarked on AMC's most ambitious product plan to date. It was a two-pronged program that would consolidate all North American production on a single platform with two different wheelbases.
For 1963 the Classic and Ambassador models would ride on a 112-inch wheelbase, while an all-new American would debut in 1964 on a 106-inch version.
Starting in 1964 all three lines would include stylish two-door semi-fastback hardtop rooflines, and the American would get a sporty convertible that year.
At the same time the revolutionary 1963 and 1964 models were prepared for production, Romney decided to throw his hat into the political ring, running for governor of Michigan, and was handily elected.
When he started campaigning he resigned as AMC's chief executive, replaced by AMC's gregarious sales chief, Ray Abernathy, who promptly discarded Romney's carefully conceived product plan. Abernathy made the near-fatal mistake of trying to compete model-for-model with the Big Three.
AMC's heavily revised 1965 Classic and Ambassador models, which were based on the well-regarded 1963-1964 platform, again were produced on two different wheelbases — 112 inches for the Classic/Rebel models, 116 inches for the upmarket Ambassadors (116 inches was intermediate by the standards of the Big Three).
Within two years, AMC was in dire financial straights once again.
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