Just 998 Miles! 1968 AMC Rambler American 440 Wagon
Grab your thesaurus to describe this pristine time machine. This Rambler Wagon has been detailed and looks nicer than it did when it was new in the dealer’s showroom. It is said to have rambled less than 100 miles in the last 50 years and is completely original down to the tires. The second owner was the gardener for the original owner who purchased it in 2003. He’s no doubt glad he didn’t use it for his landscaping business because it’s only accumulated a few hundred miles since he purchased it. What many of you will also find amazing, or perhaps amusing, is that the dealer, Cruisin’ Classics of Columbus, Ohio, thinks it’s worth $29,000! They have listed it on eBay in hopes there is someone out there who thinks so and is also willing and able to pay that much money for it.
The upholstery looks like a cheap redo but that’s how cheap little cars of the time really looked. The individually adjustable split bench seats were great for riding with short drivers.
The detailing crew has been under here as well. It never looked this nice when this AMC wagon was new.
The engine bay looks like something out of a sales brochure. There’s no AC or power anything but the buyer isn’t going to drive this much anyway.
It might not be the kind of vehicle that gets you drooling but it is an amazing looking barn find. It’s also a look back in time at the kinds of cars many Americans were buying from American Motors, Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler. Little wagons like these were popular, yet economical family haulers. As with all low mile cars, you wouldn’t want to drive this much and I don’t expect anyone to suggest installing an LS engine. It would certainly get your attention at a car show or museum, wouldn’t it? The question is, as always, why do people buy cars and never drive them. The Rambler wasn’t the kind of car you would have felt was worth preserving from new, it was basic transportation.
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Comments
From the way the ad is written…I wonder if the intent is advertising services by the seller and less on selling an auto
What an amazing car!
They must of seen this write up, because they knocked the price way down to a fire sale price of $26,995.00….I think this beauty may be worth 20K to the right person…and it is an amazing car…
It’s going to take a special owner, but if that’s what you want- imagine the cost of taking a typical $4000 wagon and getting it to this condition. And it still wouldn’t be original.
Beutiful wagon. I would leave it exactly the way it is. Trailer it to concourse shows. The price would be reasonable under $20k
Why trailer it? It’s a CAR. Drive, use, wear out, restore, repeat!
Exactly. I would have to drive and enjoy this. Protect it the best you can.
I agree with you Dave. It’s only original once! I find it amazing how many people just don’t understand original and low mileage but in this case there are no miles or any sign of wear on this car. She is a true survivor which is in pristine condition and should be kept this way. Besides the little milage that will be put on in driving it short distances just to keep everything moving this would be worth buying and showing at AMC events. I think $19000.00 would be a fair and honest price. But that’s just my opinion.
That’s just it…it should be driven, but given a few years or even months of running to shows or just around town everything that is newborn on this car will be worn and then it’s just another Rambler station wagon. Don’t get me wrong…I love it. But wear items, especially the tires and pedals, will look like dust if this car was used for its intended purpose. Then you’ll be $20k poorer in the process.
Amazing! A car that’s been used so little though is going to need a lot of work on the brake hydraulics and fuel system if it has not already been done, not to mention engine and trans seals. Then there are rubber parts like suspension bushings. Of course if intent on driving this, 50-year-old tires are not a good idea either!
Price is high, probably insanely high for a Rambler, but this is the closest thing to a time machine you’re ever likely to see.
Here’s how I see this – let’s say you have 25k and buy a new Brand X wagon, drive it off the lot now you have a 20k car. In five years likely worth 10k-ish, and so in, that’s with some basic (read dealership) oil changes and 30/60/90k’s. In 10 or so years it’ll be 2-5k.
Spend 25k on this and you can put a few thousand miles on it, never see yourself at a stop light, cars and coffee or car show, and with some care still easily have a 20k car (or more?) in five years. 10 years probably same. No it won’t be your daily most likely, nor would you keep it outside, but get a hooptie to do that, it’ll get thrashed anyhow. This car isn’t for everyone but for the right person it’s just math and economics, at least in my humble car junkie gear-head brain.
One sweet Rambler wagon!!!! AND, check out the vehicles surrounding it in the huge Man Cave. Floors are immaculate.
Why would such a car have such low miles? Perhaps it was part of a fleet of cars and of all them, the Rambler was like the lowest choice. Or it could have been the family patriarch’s last car purchase and it just never got used. I know how that feels. Whatever the reason it is a neat car but certainly not worth 29000 even with only 998 miles.
It’s a good thing the original owner never got paroled to keep the miles off the wagon.
One only wishes the proir heist could of been enough for a 63 Corvette split window in lieu of last years model shown 👀😎
It should be buried inside a time
capsule for sure in Columbus!
Well, there’s certainly no arguing on this one. This,,,is what a 50 year old car with low mileage looks like. I made a promise I wouldn’t comment on prices anymore. I guess I just did anyway. Whatever the story, a fantastic find.
This may be the first BF feature I’ve ever seen where someone didn’t claim that the odometer has been around.
Looks like the odom has been turned back. I can tell because there’s a piece of dust missing on the steering column which is s good sign the whole dash has been apart. Plus the odom numbers don’t line up perfectly vertically centered which shows it’s been messed with because normally these old analog odometers are perfectly calibrated and precise such that everything always lines up perfectly. And lastly, everything I’ve written here is a complete load of bull because I like to make fun of those people who always write stuff about how they can tell an odometer isn’t showing the correct original miles as if they have some secret skills the rest of us can’t phathom.
But yes some of us DO have secret skills the rest of you can’t fathom – just ask my girlfriend!
Funniest comment of the week. A lot of BS is thrown out in these listings but on the flipside not every commenter is an expert.
You obviously never owned an older vehicle. The odometers from all manufacturers back in the day were far from precision instruments, there was slop between the gears and the discs that had the numbers painted on them. That resulted in the numbers not ligning up perfectly most of the time from when vehicles were new to the end of their lifespan.
Banal!
I had the same car with a 290 V8 , 4 speed on the floor and positraction from the factory . I sold it to a girl who drove it to the west coast back in 1979 . It was a fast and fun car !
I like the dealer license plates. Dick Clifton Motor Land was the Rambler dealer in the 1960s, maybe earlier. Their jingle went…
Dick Clifton motor land
Columbus’ dealing-est dealer
He hates to say no, we must confess
So instead of no he says yes yes yes!!
One could, um, find the speedometer drive mysteriously disconnected when one wanted to take it for a little drive…
Oops, dId I say that with my outside voice?
That’s funny I was thinking that very same idea.😎
I would grab it if I hit the Powerball… And I would drive it daily.
Awesome looking car! It has even less miles on the clock than my 2015 Dart Limited when I bought it.
When young it was said: “A Rambler is an old mans car”; Well this now old man would realy like to afford that Rambler.
The best grocery hauler I’ve seen in along time! Once a week,
(on a day of good weather) ,the Mrs., the pooch, and I, the driver
set out to acquire the best groceries from several locations.
Then, park it back in the heated garage until next week.
I love it and if I could afford it , I would buy it !
Jeez, I feel stupid…. I thought it had a 440 in it and I thought, wow, what a sleeper.
Looks like the EXACT same car I saw a short time ago, listed somewhere, for a good bit less, and thought at that time it was a bit pricey.
being a owner of a 67 american 2 door you gotta beleive i like it id hit the road and sleep in the back use the car you only live oncehad to wally world or disneyland road trip get some of those old bumper stickers for it
Just bought a 1966 American 220 One Owner with 80K miles to pull our vintage tiny camper with.