Often over looked is the first year AMC products. AMC invested approximately 300 million dollars in advanced engine designs, bodies and plant facilities as it prepared for the move from Nash Rambler hold over to AMC proper.
Of course the company was formed from Nash Rambler (AMC Rambler) in 1958 and eventually just American Motors Corp. So 1966 found a fair amount of “redesign” going on. The available models for that year were:
Rambler American Rouge Series 01 (4dr w/V8)
Rambler Classic 770 Series 10 (2dr conv w/V8) (4dr station wagon w/6cyl)
Rambler Rebel Series (2dr w/V8)
Marlin Series 50 (2dr w/6 or V8) (My favorite besides the Javelin)
I love these cars. The two-tone paint is great. I love the yellow and black, blue and black and the silver and black combo.
Ambassador 990 Series 80 (4dr w/V8)
Rambler Ambassador 990 Series 80 (2d conv w/V8)
1966 Rambler Ambassador 990 Convertible
Rambler Ambassador DPL Series 80 (2dr w/V8)
Gone from the engine line up is the 196.5 6 cylinder overhead valve engine. It was replaced with the 198.8 In Line Six. It was a cast iron block with overhead valves and a bore and stroke of 3.57 x 4.00 inches. It displaced 198.8 cubic inches with a compression ratio of 85:1 and mustered up 128 hp. It was topped with a 1bbl Holley carb. This was the base engine and all of the models could have been optioned with it. But that wasn’t the only 6 banger the American 232 cid with produced 155 hp which sported a 2bbl Holley carb.
On the V8 side of things there was the 287 cid. It was a cast iron block with overhead valves with a bore and stroke of 3.75 x 3.25 which produced a compression ratio of 8.7:1. Topped with a 2bbl Holley (model 2209-2699) it made 198 hp. The other option was the 327 cid that put out 270 hp and carried a 4bbl Holley on top.
New for that year was the 290 V8 (4.8L) it had a bore and stroke of 3.75 x 3.28 and with an iron block and overhead valves which produced 200 hp with a 2bbl plopped on top for 225 with a 4bbl carb. Snap up the car with an original 290, only 623 of these engine were place in the 1966 models (all may the “American” models vs the “Classic” (those should have 287 instead).
The 290 used sparingly in the 1966 models.
The 327 was available in 1966. It was 5.4 liters with cast iron block. The bore was increased over the 287 (they were similar set up) and it had hydraulic lifters.
The AMC 327 was similar to the 287, but displaced 327 cu in (5.4 L) due to the bore increase to 4.0 inches (102 mm). Unlike the 250, the 327 was available with hydraulic valve lifters. The bore and stroke was 4.0 x 3.25 and topped with 2bbl carb it produced 250 hp. Put the 4bbl option and you push it up to 270 hp.
Tucked away in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago is the quaint town of Barrington and every summer Thursday night, the classic cars come rolling in for the village’s weekly cruise. With its tranquil, tree-lined setting, easily accessible boutique shops and casual dining, this event is one draws automotive enthusiasts from all over.
Anne Garrett
Anne Garrett serves as the Manager for Special Events and Marketing for the Village of Barrington and described to us how the cruise came to be.
“This year is our 9th year for the cruise, which got started in 2003. At the time, the village had been looking for ways to draw traffic and attention to the downtown area and knew a classic car cruise would be just perfect. Other neighboring suburbs had something similar so we did some research and determined we had what it would take to run a successful event. We settled on the South Cook street area and in all the years its been running, haven’t changed a thing.”
Anne informed us two village staff members and several members of the public works, as well as local law enforcement, are required to run the event.
“The Barrington Police will attend but it’s more of a public safety presence and a chance to interact with the local community.”
In addition, they also typically bring out vehicles from their fleet and allow spectators to get up close and personal with their high-tech cruisers. Volunteers from the Barrington Lions Club also help with the event.
“Four years ago we were approached by the group who offered their assistance. Every year since we’ve had 4 or 5 faithful volunteers help man the barricades and allow the cars to come in and out.”
Judging by the jammed lots, full of classic and custom cars, and the multitudes of owners and spectators milling about, it’s safe to assume the cruise has been a huge hit with the community.
“So far, the response has been tremendous. It seems every week people genuinely look forward to the event. They’re able to come early and go to the Farmer’s Market and then wander around the lots, checking out the cool classic cars. We rotate the onsite food venders and always have different entertainment so no two weeks are exactly the same.”
Expect the lot to be filled during the warm, cruising months.
The local businesses have taken notice of the increased foot traffic.
“We’re having more and more of our downtown merchants stay open late, which gives spectators many options for additional shopping and dining activities when they’re done seeing the cars. It really adds to the overall community feeling of the event and makes it a wonderful place to spend the evening.”
If you plan on attending the Barrington cruise and want to bring a four-wheeled relic, you’d better get there early.
“Our official start time is 6:30pm but the car owners will arrive and start cuing up around 4:30pm. Many of them want to make sure they get their ‘special spot’. Generally our end time is right at dusk, as the car owners don’t like driving home in the dark with their headlights on. We’ve been told they don’t like to run the risk of attracting bugs and having to put in the extra time cleaning them off.”
Each night throughout the summer has a theme, highlighting a certain brand, style or type of classic machine. While all are welcome, the themed vehicles are given special attention. Here is the schedule for the rest of the season:
July 19: 70’s Night July 26: “Orphan” Cars August 2: Mopar August 9: Convertible August 16: Sports & British Cars August 23: Corvette August 30: Trucks/ 4×4
** Want to know what events are taking place near you? Check out our Cruise Calender**
(Editor’s note: Shortly after this article was written and printed in Auto Enthusiast (July issue), John Guarnieri was killed in a traffic accident en route to a show with his Dodge in tow. Our sympathies are extended to the friends and family in the loss and it was our privilege to share John’s car and passion with our readers).
Financial bailouts of automobile companies have been in the news but shoring up the auto industry is not something limited to recent times.
This beautiful 1955 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer is proof that sometimes the infusion of extra cash can produce striking results. Almost driven to bankruptcy because of poor sales in 1953 and 1954, Chrysler was saved from collapse by a $250 million loan from Prudential and the talents of automotive designer Virgil Exner. In 1955, a beautiful collection of cars across the board became the result that put Chrysler solidly back into the Big Three.
The redesigned 1955 Dodge emerged from the makeover as a truly representative car of the ’50s. Positioned between Plymouth andDe Soto in the Chrysler lineup, the Dodge sported a six-volt electrical system, kingpin/leaf spring suspension, and 15-inch wheels. Six adults could ride in comfort and the trunk could hold their luggage.
Over-engineered with 20-quart cooling systems and six-quart oil capacities (sixes as well as V-8s) the engines ran on low octane gas and were trouble free. They were good looking cars then and still are today.
Enter John Guarnieri, a retired police officer and lifelong Mopar enthusiast living in St. Augustine, Florida. John is an active member of the Ancient City Auto Club and has owned 64 vehicles over the years. His involvement with this beautiful example began moments before it was headed to the crusher!
In February 2004, he and a friend were on a parts run when they drove past a junkyard in Lake City, South Carolina, surprised to see a distinctive tri-colored Dodge being pushed inside the fence. Except for rusted floorboards from a failed heater core, the car was complete and the body was pristine. A six-volt battery and a gallon of fresh gas brought the 270 Hemi V-8 to life, convincing John that the car had potential.
He learned that the car had been carefully stored for more than 25 years by the grandfather and his son, but the grandson got involved with drugs and never paid the storage fees. Knowing that the Custom Royal Lancer was the flagship car of the Dodge line, John stepped up like Prudential a half century before, intent on saving the car. He wrote a check for the storage fee, paid for a South Carolina title, and took the car home. As an unexpected bonus, the dealer threw in a second ’55 Dodge as a parts car. In all, John acquired five parts cars during the almost four year restoration.
After trailering the car back to St. Augustine, John’s first step was to get the brakes working properly and exercising the engine. Several trips up and down the highway and two oil changes later, the engine stopped spewing black smoke, a sign that it was time for the full restoration to begin.
Recalling the process with a smile, John says, “It only took two days to tear the car apart and 3½ years to put it back together!” The five parts cars and new old stock items located on eBay gave John everything he needed to complete the project. He accomplished much of the work himself, overhauling the engine on his own and rebuilding the transmission with help from Danny Novello at American Transmission in St. Augustine.
John also redid the brake system, refurbished the gas tank, added a new YnZ wiring harness, and located five Goodyear 7.10 x 15 tires with 2¾ inch whitewalls. The correct combination of Jacquard fabric and Cordagrain vinyl was sourced in Canada and installed by Old City Upholstery in St. Augustine. Several other local experts added their talents, like Tony Puleo at A&R Auto Electrics, along with staff members Jimmy and Charlie, who handled the rebuild of the car’s electrical components.
Boyd’s Glass located and installed new tinted glass and Rick’s Mufflers fabricated the new exhaust system. Tony Castellano polished the stainless steel and Space Coast Plating of Melbourne, Florida, did the chrome. John’s good friend, Hamlet Smith from Palm Coast, Florida, helped in reassembling the car and John’s wife Lynda hand-painted the hubcap spinners, gauges and related pieces.
The refurbished 270 Super Red Ram V-8 came equipped with Hemi heads and a two-barrel carb, producing 183hp. A rare Power Pack option was available from the factory that added a four-barrel Carter carb and dual exhausts, good for an additional 10hp. John’s car is equipped with a two-speed PowerFlite transmission, complete with a unique dash-mounted shift lever. (Those famous Chrysler pushbuttons appeared the following year.) Chrome trim separated the colors on the door panels. Gauges span the width of the dash and on John’s car. The eight-tube pushbutton radio has an optional rear speaker.
Unique colors were part of the mid-’50s experience and Dodge certainly brightened the landscape, taking 13 basic colors and expanding the choices with 16 two-tone combinations. Newly introduced in 1955 were 16 more three-tone combinations. If 45 choices still weren’t enough for you, upper colors, insert colors, and lower colors could be switched, providing a staggering 76-choice color palette. John’s colors of Regal Burgundy Metallic, white, and black were colors that often appeared in Dodge brochures, making them a sought after combination. Handling the spray gun, Billy Walters from Jacksonville, Florida, shot the chassis and accomplished the unique tri-color paint job.
Saved from bankruptcy by Prudential and the crusher by Guarnieri, the Dodge justified their faith beginning in December 2008 when the car was presented to the judges. The hard work and long hours were rewarded with a Junior Award at AACA’s ’08 Winter Meet in Lakeland, Florida. The Senior Award followed at the 2009 AACA Spring Meet in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The following year, John trailered the car to New Bern, North Carolina where it won again, taking home an AACA Grand National Award. John hopes the car will obtain its Senior Grand National Award at the 2012 Grand National Meet in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
When that happens, it will be a genuinely happy ending for an almost bankrupt car once headed to the crusher.
1976 I was a senior in high school, that was the year I had my first tasting of racing – not legal. My ’66 Impala against a Mustang ( a 1973 Mach I) and I got dusted, well almost, the knuckle head (he was a friend) stopped for a red light, I didn’t. My little 283, 2bbl engine (about 195 hp) was hauling about the same curb weight as the Mach I with its 351 CJ engine (about 266 hp) the outcome was certain. But traffic lights are the great equalizer!!!
But would it have had a different outcome if I was racing the new’s Mustang offering for 1976? Let’s see.
If looks were matched with speed, the 1976 Mustang would open of a can of whoop a$$ on my plain jane Impala. With the look of the Stallion Trim or the Cobra II you’d think they were carrying a no less than a V6 and hopefully a V8.
Cobra II
A spin on the original Hurtz rental Mustang.
Cobra II in Blue
Stallion Trim Package for 1976 (I’ve seen this paint job on a couple of Pintos too.)
But underneath the Shelby type exterior or the Hurtz type color palate the cool exterior lay a 4 cylinder engine, nothing special. But with Carrol Shelby’s endorsements and Farrah Fawcett driving one on TV the Cobra II (which was intended to be limited to only 5,000 units) sold over 25k units.
But with the best engine you could shove under the hood, my 283 would’ve made pretty easy work of the 1976 Mustang.
Remember a few post ago that covered MOPAR’s in Sweden? (Short Link: http://wp.me/pKHNM-174) I wrote how interesting it was to see US sheet metal in other countries.
Well check out this car show in Rothrist, Switzerland. This is from Andres Palomares who lives in Bern, Switzerland. There are some great examples of US car history in this show.
Switzerland is beautiful and visited Interlaken several times while living in Europe.
Continuing with this series we’ll look at what Pontiac offered up in 1948 as a woody.
In a previous blog entry (Project Pontiac 1949 Silver Streak Delivery Van http://wp.me/pKHNM-Bx) I gave you a look at a Silver Streak owned by a co-worker.
1949 Silver Streak
Well one year earlier Pontiac offered the Silver Streak as a woody.
Side view...love the big fenders.
That is a lot of wood on that woody.
These were low production cars with most being build on the 6 cylinder chassis.
1948 Pontiac 6 cylinder power plant
These were the most commonly used power plants mated with an Automatic Hydra-Matic transmission. It spec’d out as follows:
Cubic Inch Horse power 1bbl carb
239.2
93 (68.45) @ 3400
Carter WA-1 (1)
A very limited were built with 8 cylinders engines. Interesting enough these 8 cylinders were called “Silver Steak”. It boosted the specs:
Cubic Inch Horse power 2 bbl carb
248.9 cu in (4,079 cc)
108.00 (79.5) @ 3700
Carter WCD 630 (2)
Total Pontiac production for that year was only 333,957 cars.
The question of whether to restore a historic vehicle or leave it alone can spark a thought-proving debate. Here, two long time veterans and experts offer some of their insights.
The decisions surrounding restoring a vehicle or keeping it just as your grandfather left it in the barn are as personal as they are complex. This is a question and discussion that seems to be coming up more often these days.
Blame it on the economy or simply a new appreciation for vehicles preserved in a “roughly original” state. Either way, says Scott George, President and curator of The Collier Collection in Naples, Florida, determining whether a vehicle should be fully restored or basically left alone has classic car lovers asking new questions about how restoration work (or the lack thereof) might impact the value and enjoyment of their favorite vehicle.
No Going Back
“You should really think hard about any restoration work before you just go in and do it,” says George, “because once you restore you can never go back.”
George has seen the trend for “originality” grow in the last decade, a movement he traces to Europe where car enthusiasts have always believed that a car’s condition helps tell its story.
“In America, we are just catching up to this notion that cars can be beautiful without being perfectly clean,” he says. “There are even some cars in the Collier collection that we now regret restoring.”
George points out that it is unlikely that an un-restored car will ever win best of show at a major American car show. But to most classic vehicle owners, winning an award at a major show doesn’t factor into their decision making. However, if you would one day decide to have your car judged, most major shows now have a “preservation class.” George believes it is a great step in the right direction, not to mention the fact that it opens the door to many car enthusiasts who would otherwise never think to give car show competition a try.
Finding the Right Balance
George is one in the growing crowd of “original or survivor” proponents. But his new guiding philosophy is balanced with the reality that a car is not like other collectible items such as coins, furniture or fine art.
“Cars are mechanical,” he says. “Unless you just have a car to sit and look at, there comes a point where originality needs to be overridden in the interest of preserving the vehicle.”
On the subject of whether to restore or preserve, it’s not a “one-way-or-the-other” mentality. This change in attitude means that a historic vehicle owner can now enjoy the best of both worlds. George says the best way to do that is by carefully balancing a vehicle’s functionality and design features with a watchful eye for preserving original authenticity.
Giving a Car a Second Life
In the last decade, Jim Stranberg, owner of High Mountain Classics in Berthoud, Colorado, has also watched as a new trend toward “preservation and originality” emerged. But that doesn’t mean he likes it.
“A lot of people now seem to think that if you have a valuable car that looks like you just pulled it out of a barn that this is really the way to go,” he says. “I don’t generally agree with that.”
Stranberg says every car has “a half-life”. When a vehicle reaches a point of becoming worn out, that’s when it’s time to consider an inside and out restoration job that brings the car back to life.
But first, according to Stranberg, a person should ask themselves a few important questions:
What do you plan on doing with the car?
Stranberg and his partner Victor Holtorf are restorers who generally believe in doing everything necessary to make a car look new again. High Mountain Classics restoration jobs typically require at least 5,000 shop hours—a major commitment of time, resources, and money. It’s the sort of work demanded by people with an eye for car show competition. But even if a customer isn’t interested in having a car judged, to Stranberg’s way of thinking there’s always some degree of restoration work that needs to be done.
“When it comes to old cars, nothing is truly original,” he says. Strictly speaking, anything done to a vehicle inside and out over the course of its life—from changing an engine’s spark plugs to replacing a front fender—takes away from the originality of the car. Do you want the car to be able to compete in the show realm, or simply have a vehicle that presents and runs reliably at rallies and cruise-ins? Stranberg believes people must ask themselves how far are they willing to go—and for what purpose—in an effort to give the vehicle a second life.
How valuable is the car?
High Mountain Classics has never had a customer spend more on a restoration job than their vehicle was worth. But, admittedly, Stranberg and partner Holtorf work on coveted and exceedingly rare types of historic cars that only increase in book value when treated to topnotch restoration work.
A vehicle’s value, however, can’t always be measured in dollars and cents.
Take the hypothetical example of a dearly departed relative’s 1950 Ford F-100 half ton found under a tarp in the garage. Maybe it was used in a family business: a once reliable working truck that now sports a few dings, a crumpled fender, and an engine that spits and sputters but still runs. Such a truck would not pull much at an auction, but it may have deep sentimental value.
“If a person only wanted to occasionally drive the vehicle at a rally or a cruise-in—and the body, upholstery, and engine were in good shape—then, yes, I probably would not advise restoring it, except mechanically,” Stranberg says.
The Historic Vehicle Association would like to know what you think. Take the example above: That old 1950 Ford F-100 half ton truck that’s been in the family for years and earned its keep through hard work before it was put away to languish under cover in the garage. It’s battered and bruised, but still runs and has a lot of important memories attached to it. Would you restore it or leave it alone? Head on over to the HVA’s Facebook page or comment below to tell us what you think and to see what other members are saying.
