1960 Rambler Resurrection
Jason brough us this all-original Rambler which has been in his family for many years, as his wife's daily driver. As is the case many times, life got in the way an the car sat, stopped running, and started taking on rust and other uninvited guests. After narrowly avoiding selling the car, they decided to keep it in the family and find someone to get her going. Fortunately, we got the little flat 6 up and running, overhauled the braking system, refurbisehd the fuel tank and fuel system, and she drives beautifully down the road. The goal was to get her roadworthy again so that Jason's daughters could start to drive her.
Now that she drives, we are charged with the task of rust repair and keeping the elements at bay. The roof was the worst part, as seen above around the drip rails. The goal was to repair the roof as best and economically as possible, while preserving the intact headliner and original pink paint.
Some cancer cut, few panels welded in
Fuel tank getting hot tanked and epoxy coated.
New fuel pump, rebuilt carb, reconned cooling system.
Bryan working away on more rust.
Overall, this is a great little car, with a silky-smooth original flathead straight 6. Parts availability is a bit problematic, and will dicated which final directions we go with the rust repair, as window seals are not readily available.
Update June 19, 2015
We finished the roof, and finally sourced the windown and glass seals which allowed us to pull the glass with confidence and get the top resprayed.
It isn't concours level, but it gets the job done and keeps moisture at bay. A few compromises had to be made with certain patchwork and paint lines, as to not blow out the thin sheet metal & drip rails, or damage the original pink paint. Some arm twisting had to be done with our painter to make it work within budget, but it came out pretty nice.
Next step is installing the glass, resealing the doors and windowns.
Now with the roof repaired and painted, we convinced the owners to leave the original paint alone, and have it buffed out. There was plenty of paint thickness left to restore it to 90% of perfect. The few "character lines" remaining are befitting for this great little runner.
For now, she is ready to go back home. Parts are still a bear to track down, and we are still waiting on the door fuzzies to finish off resealing the glass. For now, the doors, trunk, engine compartment and front/rear glass all have new seals, and we should have the rest of the parts in and installed before summer is over.
