Today is the 4th of July, the American celebration of defiantly cutting the umbilical cord from Britain. Here at the ClassicCars.com Journal, we are Americans and, for Independence Day, we aim to show you the most American of classic cars – from an Independent, no less: the Rambler American. But this isn’t just any American – it’s a 1969 Hurst SC/Rambler.
Nineteen sixty-nine was the final year for both the American and the Rambler name, as the AMC Hornet was waiting in the wings as the American’s replacement. None of that was important to Hurst Performance’s idea to cram a 390 V8 under the hood of the Rambler Rogue two-door hardtop. Bold graphics (some of it taken from a rejected Hurst/Olds proposal) pointed air to a functional hood scoop that sat above the static boundary of air for a proper ramming effect. Hood pins were a touch that was starting to appear on factory cars. The 315-horse engine was hooked to a Borg-Warner close-ratio four-speed backed by 3.54 gears with Twin-Grip.
Other features included a handling package, heavy-duty cooling, 20:1 manual steering, sports steering wheel, dual exhaust system with Thrush mufflers, Sun tach mounted on the steering column, charcoal vinyl split bench seat with recline feature, rear/white/blue headrests, and more. The only option was an AM radio.
All this was wrapped in one of the most boisterous paint schemes to cruise Woodward: white body with red slathered on the sides and a blue overhead stripe with matching Magnum 500 wheels. That’s actually called the A-scheme as there was a more subdued B-scheme produced, though in much fewer numbers. All told, 1,512 Hurst SC/Ramblers were built, and AMC sold every one of them.
Join Muscle Car Campy as he gives us his driving impressions on an A-scheme 1969 Hurst SC/Rambler. If you enjoy this video, be sure to check out other Muscle Car Campy segments.
Source: www.classiccars.com