1965 AMC Rambler American 330 from North America - Comments

Points

Brakes

Gas tank

Transmission

Burned more oil than gas

Radiator was shot

Coil

Pros:

Easy to work on

Simple design

Mechanical parts easy to find

Awesome to sleep in

Decent on fuel (When it has third gear)

Cons:

Some parts are very expensive

Body parts are hard to find

Poor vacuum wipers

40s era front end technology, ie: trunnions.

I had gotten the car from a guy that wanted to restore it, but had lost the keys for it. Told me it hadn't run in 2 years. I figured for 300 bucks it was worth a shot.

Took out the ignition, went into a locksmith and had a new key made. Got it started and found out the engine was quite the bug fogger.

I drove it down the road and found that the transmission was trashed, no 3rd gear. I tinkered with the brakes and found out somewhere along the way, the rear end was replaced with an ancient 40's era rear end with a hillbilly custom drive shaft.

The wheel cylinder leaked on the passenger side in the back, but since it was a mystery rear end there was no way of getting parts. So I took the line and pounded it shut, and presto three-wheeled brakes.

I went and replaced the radiator with one I had laying around, and put a boat gas tank in the back and called it good enough. I drove it for a while, with no third gear, and burning a quart of oil every 50 miles. To be fair, the car was ancient and had close to 200,000 miles. I was surprised that I didn't get any comments on it. In fact most people just ignored it. I guess it looked too generic.

Once the coil went out, and an older man stopped, looked at me and the car, and said, "Whattaya got there, a piece of crap."

After a while the points went bad and I decided to replace them, which I did, but by then the trans was just about shot; it would hardly go into gear. So I decided to replace the whole works with a newer engine and trans. My friend was parting out his old car and I grabbed the 258 six, got an auto trans out of a Concord and put the whole works in. It was quite the job and if I were do it over again I think I would have put in a four cylinder. That 258 barely fits.

I also replaced the rear end with a AMC Eagle rear end. Got the car to run, but it doesn't run real well. I think the plugs are fouled. Now that it is cold and snowy it'll have to wait until Spring. I got a freebie car, hoping it'll last until I can get fix that car. Otherwise it'll be back to the ole bike.

After all this, I think I should have kept my old car, a '53 Plymouth. That one ran good and drove nice, but it had mystery electronics. I guess that is one good thing about the Rambler; the electrical system is good. All in all, it might be okay if I can get it fixed.

Great review. Good to read an honest review of an older car for a change, as opposed to all these other ones that go on and on about strangers offering to buy the car from them every time they go anywhere in it, no matter how awful it is.

"whattya got there, a piece of crap" lol!

This is the dude with the 65 Rambler. Well I got the car going. Still has a few bugs to work out but at least it is on the road. It is much nicer to finally be able to drive it down the road without shoving oil in it all the time. All in all I hope for many more years of use out of this car.