1960s Rambler Cars Photographed with a 1960s Rambler Camera

I've been documenting discarded vehicles with old film cameras for many years, and I especially enjoy matching the cameras to the cars. For example, we've seen junked Italian cars shot with a 1951 Italian camera, junked British cars shot with a 1922 British camera, and junked German cars shot with a 1938 German camera.

Even more fun is shooting cars with cameras sharing some closer ancestral connection with those cars. How about a Raymond Loewy-designed 1954 camera photographing a Raymond Loewy-designed 1955 Studebaker? A 1960s film camera bearing the name of two Chrysler Corporation products shooting junkyard Chryslers? And then there's the "Picture Yourself in a Vega" camera, given to Chevrolet Vega test-drivers as a reward to get them into the showroom.

Today, we'll admire some Rambler vehicles that I photographed with a camera given away by Rambler dealers as part of the "$2,000,000 Going Places Giveaway" promotion meant to move the new 1963 Ramblers off the lot.

The vehicles include a 1965 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country, a 1965 Rambler Ambassador 990 convertible, a 1969 AMC Rambler 440 sedan, and a 1984 Jeep Cherokee Chief, all built in Kenosha by the American Motors Corporation and currently located in car graveyards in Englewood and Aurora, Colorado.

This cheap Rambler Flash camera was made about 75 miles south of Kenosha, by Chicago's Imperial Camera Corporation; it's made of Bakelite and shoots 127 roll film. In this case, I'm using hand-rolled bulk 46mm Ilford HP5+ black-and-white film.

The Rambler Flash camera was made by Chicago's Imperial Camera Corporation and given away as a prize for those who test-drove the 1963 Rambler cars.

This is a once-luxurious 1965 Rambler Ambassador 990 convertible, found in a car graveyard near Denver, Colorado.

The Rambler Flash is very similar to the Imperial Satellite camera.

Image quality isn't great, thanks to the low-bidder plastic lens, but Imperial made cheap snapshots available to the masses with their Bakelite cameras of the 1950s and 1960s.

In the same yard as the Ambassador convertible, one of the very last cars to bear the Rambler name: a 1969 AMC Rambler 440 sedan.

That's a three-on-the-three manual transmission.

The interior of this car wasn't in terrible shape, but few want to rescue low-end American sedans of this era.

The '69 Rambler's engine is an AMC straight-six.

1969 AMC Rambler 440 sedan in Colorado junkyard.

Next up is a 1965 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country station wagon, found at a junkyard near Denver International Airport.

This Rambler also has a three-on-the-tree manual.

However, the engine is a 287-cubic-inch V8. That's right, someone threw away a 1965 wagon with a V8/manual powertrain!

This car could tell some road trip stories. Perhaps those trips were photographed with Imperial cameras.

1965 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country in Colorado wrecking yard.

1965 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country in Colorado wrecking yard.

1965 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country in Colorado wrecking yard.

1965 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country in Colorado wrecking yard.

1965 Rambler Classic 550 Cross Country in Colorado wrecking yard.

This first-year XJ Cherokee isn't a Rambler, but it was made by American Motors just the same.

This engine looks a lot like the straight-six in the 1969 AMC Rambler sedan, but it's that engine's 2.5-liter four-cylinder sibling.

1984 Jeep Cherokee in Colorado wrecking yard.