AMC Rebel Machine Accessories

On April 14, 1950, American Motors unveiled the Nash Rambler, arguably America's first compact car, at a special press conference. The little tyke then came only as a convertible and listed for $1,808 fully equipped. If there ever was a "cute" car, the Nash Rambler was it. The thing was even the key subject in a hit rock n' roll song of 1958 called "Beep, Beep" by the Playmates. It was about how a little Nash Rambler outran a multi-inch Cadillac in a top-end punch. The little car that could looked like something Porky Pig and Daffy Duck would drive in a Warner Bros. cartoon ... and in that dig are some of the seeds for the company's eventual unraveling. 

Despite all that, AMC got in on the ground floor in the compact class with only European makes being exempt. British Leyland cranked out some stylish roadsters as did the Italians and Germans, and if you were a young person and wanted to look way past cool, you went overseas for your convertible.

Today, we look back on the little Nash and see them as unique, historically and aesthetically. Hell, if they had an automatic transmission, I'd even like to own one. Just enough room for gas and away we go!

A few years later, the little Rambler was eaten by the competition. The Chevrolet Corvette came out in 1953 and the Ford Thunderbird in 1955. They were all super sporty cars, and they just totally outclassed the AMC. Even the Volkswagen "Beetle" of the early 1950s, was cuter to the masses.

And there lies what I think was the chief factor in the demise of the American Motors Company. I don't know enough mechanically to critique engines and transmissions, but I do know that there was no loonier group of designers collected in one spot than the creative minds at AMC.

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