In the summer of '93, before my junior year of college, I came accross this little baby in The Old Northside of Indianapolis.

It was for sale for $1,000, and I was broke as usual. I talked the guy down to $500 and she was mine. My friends promptly named her Beaula. She was a '64 Rambler Classic 660 Cross Country and I loved that car. She got me through college, to Los Angeles and lasted for several years with very little upkeep. I even used her as a frequent pick up truck for the furniture business I owned in west LA. Sadly, she died a quite death one day in Beverly Hills and I (dumbly) chose to donate her to charity instead of fixing her up and keeping her.

A few years later, when I lived in San Diego, I came across a '64 Classic 770 2dr Hartop that I bought for $1,000. This one was in great shape for the age and almost no rust since it was originally from New Mexico.

I only drove it for a few months before a death in the family caused a move back to Indy, so I sold it to a sister-in-law with great intentions but little spare cash. The hardtop sat in her driveway for five years. In '06 my brother and I drove to LA with a car carrier and brought it home. My current husband named him Burt. (my first name is Ernest - he thought it was funny to have Burt and Ernie though I don't use my first name!)

I had the best of intentions to do a full restoration. Life got in the way and I was very ill for some time, forcing Burt to sit lonely in the garage for nearly a year.

Finally, I came across this pic on an obscure Cars For Sale website...

The car was in OH, less than a two hour drive away. After looking at the add periodically for a couple of months, I finally decided to go see the car even though I was convinced I would hate the '65. They are a cosmetic redesign of the '63-'64 model. Took someone with me just IN CASE I decided I liked it. Man, I loved this car once I saw it and drove it. What a find!

My husband, none to thrilled that I now had two Ramblers in our garage (luckily, it's a three car!), decided one had to go!

So in the spirit of marital harmony, I put Burt back together, cleaned him up and sold him on eBay

I got about 2k as I recall. Not bad, but sad to see him go.

As an aside, this is what the guy I sold him to did.

Glad to see Burt get a new lease on life!

MY RAMBLER!!

Marge, as dubbed by the hubby, is a 1965 American Motors Rambler Classic 770 Cross Country wagon. She has a 232 inline 6cyl with a 3spd Borg Warner automatic transmission. Original body paint is Barcelona Taupe and wheels are painted Corral Cordovan. This car is almost completely original and absolutely beautiful! She has a working AM/FM radio (working AM when I bought it and the '65 AM/FM was an ebay find and xmas gift from the husband!), clock, courtesy lights, TILT steering, PS, PB, power liftgate window..

There is a remote drivers rear view mirror, day/night rear view, crack free padded dash, Rambler accessory under dash tissue dispenser (ebay find - re chromed face and body painted to match interior), original rubber floor mats, stainless window vent shades, completely original engine compartment with electric wipers and vinyl washer fluid bag. I can't say enough about this car. I've done very little to it since I bought it.

One of the first things I did was repair and redo the liftgage window back to it's original power option. At some point, someone had given up on it and turned it into a manual crank. Had a few parts manufactured, bought a new motor, swore A LOT and now it's power again! I've repainted the inside of the tailgate to match the interior (they were originally done to match the body) and the steering wheel along with some interior trim. I've rechromed a couple of small parts. The starter has been replaced and I had the radiator repaired. I've replaced some seals to stop some leaks (valve cover, transmission pan, rear differential.) That's about it.. it's largely original and very cool.. on to PICs! I hope you enjoy this page!

Here are some good detail pics. I had her up on Ebay for a week, but no one met the reserve. Which was a good thing as I don't really want to sell her, but I was hoping to raise come cash for a seperate auto project. Guess I'll have to raise the cash elsehwere and build another garage bay!

...and I finally decided to go with Historic plates which turned out great as they are almost an exact match to Marge in color!

Collectible Automobile magazine
A few months back, I received an email from someone at Collectible Automobile magazine stating they were doing an article on the 65-66 Classics and they'd like to include pictures of my car. They sent out a great photographer and used a total of 5 of his shots in their June 2008 issue. Here is a view of the cover and the page where most of the pictures of Marge appear.

She won an award at a show in Dayton, OH on September 27, 2008.  Good going, Marge!