MTFCA Forum

I saw a 1958 Rambler sedan on the road today. Red and black, fancy trim level, looked like a totally stock original with slightly oxidized paint.

Those were quite the sports car. Italian made Ramblene.

Being red & black, I suspect it had the big V8. It could be as late as a 1960 model. A few of those cars could out-run most high school hot rods coming and going.

In the day, the Rambler was perceived as the most uncool car on the road.

True enough, Rambers & Nashes... but they built some "sleepers", and I don't just mean those full reclining seats ... Who needed a Motel 6 when you could get a rolling bedroom that you could take to the drive-in?

Part of our Auto Mechanics class in the '60s was to work a few weeks at a dealer. I got the booby prize of the Rambler shop. It was interesting and I got in on all kinds of repairs. The final blow was when my folks bought a new Rambler a few months later. Mom thought it was wonderful compared to the '57 Ford it replaced. The automatic transmission beat the guesswork of a manual shift which she had never mastered. I did find the reclining seats nice though.

I'd have stuck with the Ford. A friend's dad had a '57 Fairlane 500 fordor... with a 312 T Bird engine and automatic. I had a '57 Fairlane 500 phaeton that I dragged out of a junkyard. It had about 5/8 of a 312 in it.

Hudson, Nash, and AMC mastered the styling niche of ungainly
and dumpy by the time of the merger. Their only real competition
was Studebaker and imports. Ford was pretty good at making dumpy
cars in this period too, but somehow managed to sell lots of them.
When the aesthetic was low, and looking like a dart sailing across the
landscape, even when standing still, the above names made tall and
stubby cars, maybe tacked on some ill-fitting fin era gee-gaw, and
focused sales on "practical" buyers. Those more inclined towards
fuel economy than zoom and style.

From a distant seat, 60 years on, those toady cars of the 50's have
a charm all their own, and contemporary jokes about them are becoming
harder to understand as time goes by. My DeSoto represents the more
slippery styling of the period, but I hunted 30 years to find my monotone
Buzzard Puke Green stripper Plymouth sedan to have a toad in my stable.
They showcase the fanciest and cheapest vehicles a person might find at
their friendly DeSoto-Plymouth dealer in 1958.

I'd like to have a 1956 Chevrolet 210 2 door with a 235/overdrive, push button radio, fresh air heater, and no AC/PS/PB.

A 1953 Ford Mainline business coupe with a V-8, overdrive, pushbutton radio, and Magic Aire heater would also be nice.

Some cars are appealing in base trim, and some just aren't. The '53 Plymouth four door stripper in Buzzard Puke Green wasn't much on looks, but they were good cars.

My father bought a brand new 1958 Rambler cross country station wagon. Two tone blue with the tail fins! 6 cylinder with a Borg Warner overdrive. I was 7 years old. I remember riding home with him in the new car. He had those clear plastic seat covers installed at the dealer. The car did not have air conditioning. I remember how miserable and HOT those seat covers were. If you wore shorts, your sweaty legs would stick to them! He traded in a Henry J, when it bought it. My old man gave it to me in 1970. I had the car until the late '70's. I drove that car, many many miles before I foolishly sold it. Sadly it was involved in a wreck and totaled... The idiot I sold it to, totaled it..

Those knobby clear seat sovers were horrible in hot weather. They soon yellowed if exposed to much sun and looked nasty, too. The woven plaid nylon insert covers with the bright red, green, blue or yellow diamond pattern upper sections were a little better, but they'd give you a powerful electric shock when you touched the door handle in cool, dry weather.

Mr. Burger,

I love those big Mopars! I especially like that plain-Jane Plymouth. I've been drawn to the "poverty line" cars since I got my first ride, this stripped down '58 Edsel. It took lots of abuse from me, got stuck in the mud once but has never broke down. It's still a good cruiser and has far better visibility and a better ride than any new car.

Great Grandpa had a rambler when my Father was young, traded in a red Edsel for it. He hated the Edsel because it was so big. I'm sure the red and black Rambler was much sportier looking than his brown one!

Thanks. Years ago I was big in to 58-59-60 Buicks. Ray's Auto Wrecking
had a 60 invicta with a flawless turquiose interior in it. The car sat under
4 other cars, and getting that interior out of the car was a serious challenge.
Next to it sat a near identical stripper 58 Plymouth to the one I own today.
As I made trip after trip in and out to remove that Buick interior, that Plymouth
caught my fancy. It was so "Grandma Pittipoo" cute, in its Buzzard Puke monotone
paint and total lack of options. It took me 30 years to find an example like it !
Like that one under the stack of cars at Ray's, mine is also Buzzard Puke Green,
with no accent color, has body color wheels (not seen in the photo), dog dish
wheelcovers, and blackwall tires. Also not present are exterior mirrors and
radio/antenna. So, externally, the cars are nearly identical. But the buyer
my car, while going lean on looks-related options, spent large in driver comfort
add-ons, ticking boxes for the 318 4bbl V-8, Torqueflite automatic, power steering
and brakes, and air conditioning ! Oh yeah, and the deluxe fabric interior ....
Abandoned behind a furniture store in Parker, Arizona in 1963. It has only 13K
miles on the clock, but required replacement of everything soft, as the sun had
baked the poor car to death.

I had a $25.00 1959 Buick 2 door hardtop. It had an Earl Schieb faded blue paint over red and white two tone. It ran great, and its dramatic styling and lavish chrome made up for the sad looking paint job.

It had a scratched and cracked windshield. Somehow, I manged to acquire a better windshield and install it in the car singlehanded.

59 Buicks were quite "dramatic".