With all-new exterior sheet metal, the 1965 Rambler Ambassador set forth to do battle in the fierce market for full-sized cars in the USA.
When George Romney departed from American Motors in 1962 to become governor of Michigan and sales VP Roy Abernethy took the helm, it marked a major change in direction for Detroit’s fourth-largest automaker. Never a small-car man, Abernethy saw that the company’s exclusive niche in the compact market had been lost to the Big Three. In order to thrive, AMC would have to be a full-line carmaker, he determined, and that included a serious entry in the full-size segment with its enormous sales volume. So a bigger, more stylish Rambler Ambassador was developed for 1965 as part of a three-car lineup that AMC called the “sensible spectaculars.”
To compete head-on with the Chevrolet Impala and Ford Galaxie, AMC head of design Richard A. Teague stretched the wheelbase to 116 inches and developed a new body shell with square, crisp lines, and set them off with vertical headlamps to distinguish the Ambassador from the mid-sized Rambler Classic, which shared the same platform. This new Ambassador was a “strikingly handsome automobile,” the editors of Motor Trend magazine declared, and decades later Teague recalled, “It really is a handsome car, I think.”
Interior appointments were first rate in either trim level, 880 or 990, while buyers could choose AMC’s 232 CID six or from a pair of V8s offering 287 or 327 cubic inches and up to 270 hp. While the Ambassador’s sales volume never came close to threatening the massively popular Impala and Galaxie, the new car was a hit by AMC standards. Sales more than tripled from 18,000 in ’64 to 64,000 in ’65, and the new design was continued for ’66 with only minor changes. Check out the sales pitch below and decide if you can see yourself in a sensible, spectacular ’65 Ambassador.
Oh, this hits a chord. I grew up in Milwaukee, and my grandfather drove nothing but Ramblers. He was very proud of the fact they were made in our hometown. He had a ’59 Classic, then a ’61 Classic, and his last car was a ’65 Ambassador, all 4 doors. He didn’t drive much, and the Ambassador was the nicest car he ever had, even though, it was mostly relegated to the backyard listening to the then Milwaukee Braves smoking a cigarette, after he couldn’t drive anymore. Ramblers, like Studebakers, our arch nemesis, were generally regional makes. Plentiful in the Midwest, but not too popular otherwise. The Ambassador was never really made to compete with full size cars like Ford or Chevy, like Studebaker, we never made a full size car, something that some say was a mistake. Ambassadors were more like Fairlanes, or Chevelles, but never a Galaxie. We were still riding high on the ’63 COTY award, and Milwaukee was a great place to live and work and AMC was part of it.
Bravo, sir. That’s downright beautiful – like a love letter ‘cept not too gooey.
And Studebaker as Rambler’s “arch nemesis” is a keeper 😉
It was a mistake for AMC to leave its niche. The Ambassador would be seen as a “big Rambler.” The small car identity would still blur its new image, cheapening it as a status symbol. But it was a nice car.
Abernethy is often criticized but he had few options.