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HomeRambler

Rambler

1953 Studebaker Commander 2-door coupe
History

Should Nash have combined with Studebaker rather than Hudson in 1954?

August 19, 2024 Steve 11

Curbside Classic commentator Steve (2018) has argued that Nash-Kelvinator should have combined with Studebaker rather than Hudson for an interesting set of reasons. He effectively follows the advice of Aaron Severson (2024), who recently suggested that […]

Data Dive

Compact cars became the neglected stepchildren of U.S. automakers

June 26, 2024 Steve 19

(EXPANDED FROM 6/17/2022) Compact cars represented a dramatic change for U.S. automakers when they were introduced in the early-1960s. After spending the previous decade making its “standard-sized” cars bigger, glitzier and more powerful, Detroit responded […]

1948 Hudson rear
History

1948 Hudson ‘step-down’ was a brilliant car with tragic flaws

June 17, 2024 Steve 26

(EXPANDED FROM 2/10/2022) In the early post-war period Hudson came the closest to being an American Mercedes-Benz. The new-for-1948 “step-downs” had engineering advances that most other automakers would not pick up on for years. So […]

1953 Hudson hood emblem
History

Would Hudson have been Packard’s best merger partner?

May 15, 2024 Steve 15

(EXPANDED FROM 10/13/2021) A decade ago Curbside Classic commentator Steve (2014) offered one of the more thoughtful merger scenarios for Packard: He concluded that Hudson would have been the best choice. I think that Steve’s […]

1967 Rambler Rebel SST 2-door hardtop white
Letters to the Editor

Reader offers alternative take on the redesigned 1967 Rambler Rebel

March 19, 2024 Steve 6

MC stopped by to respond to our story, “Collectible Automobile’s 1967 Rambler Rebel SST feature is pretty but vapid.” A few points on this article and comments. First, about the platform of the 1967 Rambler […]

1970 AMC Hornet
Links

Car Life called the redesigned 1970 AMC Hornet stylish but not fun to drive

November 7, 2023 Steve 13

Car Life magazine argued that the 1970 AMC Hornet met two out of three of the automaker’s stated goals for the car. Engineering Editor David Bean wrote that American Motors thought that the compact and […]

1967 Rambler Rebel SST 2-door hardtop white
Media Analysis

Collectible Automobile’s 1967 Rambler Rebel SST feature is pretty but vapid

September 23, 2023 Steve 2

The December 2023 issue of Collectible Automobile has a photo feature of a 1967 Rambler Rebel SST hardtop. As usual, the images are first rate and the accompanying text give a nuts-and-bolts overview of the […]

1958 Ford Skyliner rear quarter
Auto Paedia

Bigger, glitzier, more powerful: The auto industry’s holy trinity

September 13, 2023 Steve 8

(EXPANDED FROM 11/1/2019) The dominant tendency of the U.S. auto industry has been to make its vehicles bigger, glitzier and more powerful. In recent decades both domestic and foreign automakers have embraced this practice. Indeed, […]

1960 Jeep FC-150 front quarter
Media Analysis

Is Patrick Foster right that AMC’s biggest mistake was not buying Jeep earlier?

August 11, 2023 Steve 8

A recent Hemmings column by Patrick Foster (2023) argues that American Motors’ biggest mistake was not buying Willys Motors — the maker of Jeep sport-utility vehicles — way back in the early-60s. Indeed, he went […]

Budd XR-400
Fake Design

The XR-400 wouldn’t have ‘saved’ AMC but it pointed in a useful direction

July 7, 2023 Steve 6

(EXPANDED FROM 7/7/2021) A few years ago Stéphane Dumas quite rightly noted that another alternative to the 1964 Rambler Tarpon concept car was the XR-400. This was a 2+2 convertible proposed to American Motors in […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 3 4 5 … 7 »
  • 1950 Nash Rambler hood ornament
    Speedreaders.info is a rare source of book reviews, but quality varies
    June 3, 2026 0
  • 1958 Lincoln
    1958-60 Lincoln: Failing to beat GM at its own game
    June 2, 2026 12
  • 1957 Nash Ambassador
    Three videos: The death of car culture, rich people’s cars and the 1957 Nash
    May 29, 2026 6
  • 1963 Mercury Marauder
    1963 Mercury Marauder: Ford tries to do a premium-priced car on the cheap
    May 27, 2026 11
  • Did 1964 Ramblers share more parts between size classes than competitors?
    May 26, 2026 1
  • 1976 Tatra T-613
    Tatra was yet another automaker that deemphasized aerodynamics by 1970s
    May 22, 2026 12
  • Patrick Foster shows how International Harvester failed to adapt
    May 13, 2026 5
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 141
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