American Motors did well pitching Ramblers as smart, economical transportation during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the Rambler Six station wagons were common sights on American highways. Most of these cars were gone before the dawn of the 1970s, but I still spot the occasional Rambler during my junkyard travels. Here's a basket-case '60 Super Cross Country in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service yard.

Supposedly, the base engine in the Murilee Martin

The build tag says this car is a Six Super wagon (code 6018-1), which was supposed to have had the Nash overhead-valve 196-cubic-inch six as the base engine. This car has the flathead version of the same engine, rated at 90 horsepower instead of the OHV's 127. The cheaper Rambler American came with the flathead, so perhaps this Six Super got a junkyard engine swap after throwing a rod in 1967. Also possible is that AMC built some of these cars with flatheads from the factory.

This is how California cars get rusty. Murilee Martin

This was a San Francisco car for at least part of its life, and we can assume that it sat immobile somewhere close enough to the Pacific Ocean to get salt spray mixed into the near-daily morning fog and long rainy winters. The top-down rust rendered this car not worth restoring decades ago, but it still has some good pieces for the fortunate Rambler-seeking junkyard shopper.

Duck and cover! This car has the nuclear-attack CONELRAD stations marked on its radio. Murilee Martin

All radios sold in the United States from 1953 through 1963 had to have the CONELRAD nuclear-alert stations marked, and this Rambler's radio is no exception.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io