Photo: Heart of Texas Barn Finds and Classic's/YouTube
American Motors Corporation (AMC) is mostly known for the AMX and Javelin muscle cars and the Gremlin subcompact, but the company that resulted from the Nash-Hudson merger rolled out quite a few interesting cars over the years. The Rambler is one of them.
A sub-brand comprising various models from 1958 to 1969, Rambler built the American, the country's "first compact car," and the Classic, which eventually gave birth to the Marlin and the Rebel. The Marlin broke cover in 1965 as a halo car, but the American lineup already included a cool two-door hard-top with a "770" badge.
These cars aren't as valuable as the Marlins and they're not insanely rare either, but chances are you won't see a 770 too often. Yet an unrestored example is spending its retirement years in someone's backyard. It's part of a large and impressive collection of AMC cars, mostly Javelins and AMXs, and the owner claims it's an all-original 770 with a numbers-matching 327-cubic-inch (5.4-liter) V8 engine.
This mill turns the 770 into a hard-to-find collectible. Specific production numbers are hard to trace, but some sources claim that only 7,134 cars left AMC's assembly line with a V8. Given that the company also offered a 287-cubic-inch (4.7-liter) V8, production of the 327-equipped 770 could be well below 5,000 units. Not to mention that many of them got lost on the way, mostly abandoned in junkyards.
There's no info as to how many years this Rambler spent in the yard, exposed to the elements, but it must have been more than a decade given that the tires are well sunken into the ground. But the car appears to be in good condition overall. Assuming the frame and the engine are still in good shape, it's a classic that's worth restoring.
About that 327 V8, it was the largest offering in the Rambler Classic in 1965. The optional mill was also the most powerful at 270 horsepower. Below that, AMC offered a 198-horsepower 287 V8 and a 232-cubic-inch (3.8-liter) inline-six in the 770. The cheaper 550 and 660 models came with a 199-cubic-inch (3.3-liter) straight-six.
Introduced in 1961, the Rambler Classic was discontinued in 1966. The midsize was replaced by the AMC Rebel. The 770 shows up at the 12-minute mark in the video below, but you might as well watch the whole thing if you're a fan of AMC muscle cars.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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