Tom’s 1960 Rambler American two-door wagon

11-10-2025 – edited by Frank Swygert

Tom’s daily driver (2025), a comfortable and slow little station wagon. It currently has a 1965 model 195.6 OHV. You will see it in the 195.6 Engine section in several areas, especially the Cooling and Lubrication areas. It has an aluminum radiator, 14″ Flex-A-Lite plastic (nylon) fan, and a bypass hose from the bottom of the thermostat pod to a heater hose to improve circulation. There is a full flow filter modification — a modified 65 oil pump with hoses to a remote mount filter base.  You can’t just swap the oil pumps! The 65 pump itself needs modification work, it’s not just the filter location.

This car was bought new in Santa Barbara CA and spent it’s entire life there until Tom bought it in 2021. It was delivered in July 1960 with the venerable workhorse flathead engine, which was replaced in 1989 with a 1962 OHV and M35 transmission, and whoever did that did very good work. They found and installed a now-very-rare one year only 1960 OHV heater box (made of fiberglass, hand-made). It was well cared for it’s entire life, but accumulated wear eventually caught up with it, and it was parked and well-stored by the previous owner, who knowingly maintained it superbly up to that point.

Much more info on and photos of this car can be found on Tom’s site: https://www.ramblerlore.com/AMC/1960-Rambler-American-wagon/index.html

 

 

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