Rambler American: Ultimate Racer?

[Brootal]

One of my favorites about an unexpected SCCA result, was Jim Jeffords in 1967, in a Rambler American, 2nd place in the National Sports Car Championship, behind Corvette.

I just noticed you said he was in an AMERICAN!!!

Got any pics of this car? Would love to see one set up for SCCA!

[Route 66 Rambler]

One picture I know of is showing the car broadside view, involved in a hard left in black and white, about two inches shy of a full drift.  Dark paint or gold paint with white lettering. It looks a lot like Randall American's drag car.  That picture is in one of the usual AMC coffee table books, like Larry Mitchell's AMC Muscle Cars, or something by Patrick Foster.  I think Jeffords' car was a post, not a hardtop.  The American was also legal for a lot of other SCCA classes, and some independent teams were running them there, as well as Chevy II-style Novas and the 64-up Falcons also.  Sometimes at multi-class meets, these compact sedans were outrunning the Trans Am ponycars...  Usually a local guy with a lot of open track time could really make for a hard day's work for the pros.
mike

[Route 66 Rambler]

You know, that's not all for the American.  in '69, you've got the SC/Rambler winning Baja in four wheel drive, with a wheel missing, and three places in the top ten.  You've got Jeffords.  You've got Randall American and Motor Trend's Rogue Runner.  SC/Ramblers were terrorizing polite society at the strip AND on the street.

My dad told me that for a couple of years, no one would pull up next to ANY Rambler American at a stoplight, guys would always just idle up slowly behind it, basically intimidated into not drag racing little old ladies all over America.  There was another Rambler American drag car of the time called Ramblin' Red.  There's a guy, I believe from New Zealand, that currently runs an American and has been for years, in international rally events.  In Finland, the Rambler American is the National Champion drag car in its class.
You can probably add a hundred other cars.

The Rambler American is probably the ultimate car design of all time.
mike

[IowaEagle]

The Rambler American is probably the ultimate car design of all time.
mike

I agree!

[RacerRon]

I have race results for an American that raced at Mid-Ohio june 11, 1967 driven by Jim Brown. Does any one know any thing about that car??

Ron King
www.americanmotorsracing.com

[Brootal]

I had read about that car as well, but all I could find were results on the web. Anyone got any pics of the car racing?

[Route 66 Rambler]

Here is a GoogleBooks preview of the "AMC Muscle Cars" book mentioned above.  So far I haven't seen the photo I was talking about in this book, but it does mention a few things about Jeffords, John Martin's Rambler American, which also did well in '67 in the SCCA, and some of the ways they launched the TransAM program.

http://books.google.com/books?id=JHVaQFDrx_MC&pg=PT13&lpg=PT13&dq=Jim+Jeffords+SCCA+American+Rambler&source=web&ots=d-3g1cuiTz&sig=MpEyLrM1Br0yGnOr9tYKPGWm52c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1


This is an article in Hemmings Muscle Machines, no picture, but another mention of Martin's '67 American, third in A/Sedan for '67.

http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2006/09/01/hmn_feature3.html

[Route 66 Rambler]

And the Rambler American just keeps piling on...
Just posted this one in The AMC Racing Heritage

http://www.forum.route66rambler.com/index.php/topic,1258.msg5000.html#msg5000

[Route 66 Rambler]

From a forum at JalopyJournal.com:
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Bev Smith's Rambler from West Palm Beach, FL in the pits and doesn't it look hot out there ... and in the background an altered wheelbase '65 Dodge. The name on the Dodge is Tuff -something, I don't know, wasn't there to take the picture and my pal who did doesn't recall. Anyone know anything about these cars?

Joel

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=247089&page=8