Ramble on?

Sarah and I went down by Rochester today to look at a ’59 Rambler American. I’ve been wanting a project car for quite sometime. An old car that I can get passionate about restoring and customizing. Tops on my list is still a Dodge A100 pickup, but those seem to only be available as piles of rust, or full restored gems. So… I’ve started to widen my search for a project car. Which led me to this Rambler.

I’ve always liked that old song about the “little Nash Rambler,” so I was easily drawn in to check out this car. It’s from the era after Nash… when the American Motor Company was making them. The body has a style that I can definately get behind, and I’m pretty sure Sarah wouldn’t mind sitting in one if it was all nice and clean. She’s already said the car is “cute.”

Well, it all comes down to how much work I want to put into a car. This one has need for a lot of body work. Thankfully, nothing huge… just lots of little stuff. Or so it seems at this point. The seller also has extra doors, engine hood and a trunk lid. It’s got a heater but no radio. In fact, I didn’t even see a place for the radio to be… so I don’t know if they ever came with radios. It’s a 3-on-the-tree manual which shifts with the greatest ease I have ever experienced in a manual transmission. The engine purrs and looks like it’s never leaked oil. Ever. It’s a flathead 6… which sort of makes it a rarity… which sort of concerns me with finding parts to repair anything that may go wrong.

*sigh*

We’ll have to see, I guess. I’d like to go back down and look at it with a mechanically inclined friend and maybe take it on the local highways to see how it handles at 65mph.