1965 Rambler Classic Cross Country Wagon Is Junkyard Treasure

Murilee Martin

August 13, 2024 at 11:46 AM·4 min read

1965 rambler classic station wagon in colorado wrecking yard — 1965 Rambler Classic Wagon Is Junkyard TreasureMurilee Martin

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When I photographed junkyard Ramblers with a 1963 Rambler promotional film camera last week, one of the main subjects was a 1965 Classic Cross Country wagon in glorious Barcelona Taupe Metallic paint.

Because the film was black-and-white, that car's paint— which we'd call brown today—wasn't identifiable. We'll remedy that right now, with a Rambler station wagon Junkyard Treasure in full modern color.

The Rambler Classic was a midsize car that American Motors sold as competition for Detroit machines such as the Chevrolet Chevelle, Plymouth Belvedere, and Ford Fairlane. It was slightly smaller than those rivals but bigger than the Chevy II, Plymouth Valiant, and Ford Falcon. The Cross Country name was used on Rambler station wagons from the late Nash days through the late 1960s.

This car now resides in a self-service boneyard next door to Denver, Colorado, and it appears to have spent its entire life in this region. Bob Bundy Rambler eventually became Bob Bundy AMC-Jeep-Renault, and I've found those badges on other Colorado junkyard residents.

The paperwork I found in the car was all dated 1975 or earlier, so I think this car got parked at age 10 and never drove again.

The engine is AMC's 287-cubic-inch (4.7-liter) pushrod V8, rated at 198 hp.

The transmission is the base three-on-the-tree column-shift manual, which is ideal for a bench-seat-equipped family wagon.

What's more, this car has the optional overdrive. This would have been a very sensible car for family vacations, with V8 power and the efficiency of an overdrive-equipped manual.

It's a bit banged-up and the interior is roasted from about a half-century of not-so-indoor storage, but there's more patina than rust and the powertrain is sufficiently rare and interesting that I'd have expected this car to be intercepted on its journey to the crusher.

It was sold new just a year after Peak Wagon was reached in the United States, though nobody realized that at the time.

The Sensible Spectaculars!

The Rambler Classic was the American Motors rival to Detroit's midsize cars.

Nash began using the Cross Country name on its wagons in the middle 1950s. When AMC was formed from the merger of Nash and Hudson, the Cross Country name was kept and used through 1968.

The Rambler name started life as a model name under Nash, then became a marque name under AMC, then spent a single year (1969) as a model name again.

This car appears to have been parked in the middle 1970s and never driven again.

In 1965, the Classic came in five trim levels: 220, 330, 550, 660 and 770.

The base engine in the '65 Rambler Classic 550 was a 199-cubic-inch (3.3-liter) straight-six, but this car has the optional 287-cubic-inch (4.7-iiter) V8.

Horsepower for this engine was rated at 198.

The transmission is the base three-speed column-shift manual. That's right, it's a brown (well, Barcelona Taupe Metallic) rear-wheel-drive station wagon with V8 engine and manual transmission!

All Classics for 1965 came with the Weather Eye climate-control system as standard equipment.

The Classic stayed in United States production through 1966, after which it was replaced by the Rebel.

Production of this generation of the Classic sedan and Cross Country continued in Argentina through 1971.

Worth restoring from this condition? Probably not.

Photographed with 1963 Rambler "Going Places Giveaway" 127 film camera, made by the Imperial Camera Corporation in Chicago.