Vinyl roof
Vinyl roof refers to a vinyl covering for an automobiles top. This covering was originally designed to give the appearance of a convertible to models with a fixed roof, Vinyl roofs were most popular in the American market, and they are considered one of the period hallmarks of 1970s Detroit cars. An early example of this was the 1928 -1929 Ford Model A Special Coupe, that featured a roof completely covered with a vinyl-like material. This Model A Special Coupes vinyl roof had two exposed seams on the corners, with a lateral seam on the top covered with a narrow trim strip. The technique fell out of favor in the 1930s and 1940s, when smoother, envelope bodies began to be fashionable, for these designs, the look of the modern, integrated metal roof was important. Lincoln used the look on some of its Cosmopolitan coupes in the 1950s, as did the Kaiser firm on its Manhattan sedans. In the very late-1950s, Chryslers Imperial made a use of true vinyl on some models. Ford followed a few with a vinyl roof option on the 1962 Ford Thunderbird.
The vinyl covering proved popular, and some form of vinyl trim would be seen on Thunderbird roofs for the two decades. Other manufacturers noticed immediately that the new look could be profitable – it did not cost very much to add, Vinyl appeared on some coupe models in GMs 1962 full-size line. Chrysler made a vinyl roof available on the Dodge Dart, Ford soon offered it on the first Mustang as well. By mid-decade, four-doors as well as coupes could be topped with a number of colorful vinyls, from that point on, vinyl proliferated rapidly and became very common in most car classes by the late-1960s, even appearing on some station wagons. Vinyls were produced that mimicked other materials such as canvas, chrysler briefly produced some patterns, with paisley or floral designs – this was called the Mod Top option. The Mercury Cougar briefly offered a houndstooth pattern, there was even an aftermarket spray-on product that claimed to add that factory vinyl look. By 1972, even the humble Ford Pinto sported a vinyl roof option, at about that same time, the modern opera window first appeared, and it went so well with a vinyl surround that the two together became emblematic of American body design in the 1970s.
During this period, vinyl with padding under it was sometimes used and Japanese manufacturers were not immune to this trend. Chrysler used it on upmarket models of its Hunter and Avenger saloons, Ford had vinyl roofs on Escorts, Taunuses, british Leyland had vinyl roofs on the last Wolseley and top-end Princess models, and optional for all other models. Toyota adopted vinyl roofs for its Corona Mark II, Crown and Century sedans in the mid-1970s, and they could be found on Nissan Laurels and Glorias
Pillar (car)
Pillars are the vertical or near vertical supports of a cars window area or greenhouse—designated respectively as the A, B, C or D-pillar, moving from the front to rear, in profile view. The consistent alphabetical designation of a cars pillars provides a reference for design discussion. As an example, rescue teams employ pillar nomenclature to facilitate communication when cutting wrecked vehicles, the B pillars are sometimes referred to as posts. This pillar provides structural support the roof panel and is designed for latching the front door. As the most costly body components to develop or re-tool, a roof and door design are a major factor in meeting safety. Some designs employ slimmer, chamfered windscreen pillars, A pillars, as perhaps the most complex of all the structures on the vehicle, the center or B-pillar may be a multi-layered assembly of various lengths and strengths. Closed vehicles without a B-pillar are widely called hardtops and have available in two or four-door body styles, in sedans and wagons.
Designs without a center or B pillar for roof support behind the front doors offer increased occupant visibility, while in turn requiring underbody strengthening to maintain structural rigidity. In the early 1970s, General Motors broadened their definition of hardtop to include models with a B-pillar although, up to then, thus a two-door hardtop or a three box designed coupé could have its rearmost pillar called the C-pillar even in the absence of a B-pillar. Conversely additional doors, such as on limousines, will create additional B-pillars, the B-pillars are numbered, B1, B2, and so forth. In addition to the pillar nomenclature derived from viewing an automobile in profile, some cars have a two-part windshield or a split rear window. Posts for quarter windows are not considered a named pillar, automobile design Automotive head-up display Blind spot Driver visibility Quarter glass Art of Automotive C Pillars—flickr photo group created 2005-07-26, webpage accessed 2008-02-10
Touring car
A touring car is an open car seating four or more. A popular car body style in the twentieth century, it declined in popularity in the 1920s when closed bodies became less expensive. A tourer, in Britain and the Commonwealth, is a vehicle, however. The term all-weather tourer was used to describe open vehicles that could be fully enclosed, a popular version of the touring car style was the torpedo, with the hood/bonnet line at the cars waistline giving the car a straight line from front to back. This eventually became the version of the touring car. In 1916, the US-based Society of Automobile Engineers defined a touring car as, the term has been defined as an open car seating five or more. Touring cars may have two or four doors, engines on early models were either in the front, or in a mid-body position. When the top was folded down, it formed a bulky mass known as the fan behind the seat, fan covers were made to protect the top. The touring car style was popular in the early 20th century, being an alternative to the runabout.
Most of Model Ts produced by Ford between 1908 and 1927 were four and three-door models touring cars, accounting for 6,519,643 cars sold out of the 15,000,000 estimated Model Ts built. The popularity of the car began to wane in the 1920s when cars with enclosed passenger compartments became more affordable. In Australia tourers may have two or four doors, the belt lines of tourers were often lowered in the front doors to give the car a more sporting character. And would be named sports tourers, the torpedo body style was a type of touring body used from the early twentieth century until the mid-1920s. A torpedos hood line was level with the waistline, giving a straight line from front to back. The torpedo style became the style of touring car and the name fell into disuse around 1920
Rambler Six and V8
The Rambler Six and the Rambler V8 are intermediate sized automobiles that were built and marketed by American Motors Corporation from 1956 to 1960. Launched on 15 December 1955, the 1956 model year Rambler Six ushered a new era in motoring has begun according to George W. Romney, in 1956, the Rambler was sold through both Nash and Hudson networks of dealerships. This resulted from the merger of the two companies to form AMC in 1954, the new Rambler line created and defined a new market segment, the compact car as the automobile classification was called at that time. A V8 engine powered model, the Rambler V8, was added in 1957, imported vehicles from Europe and Asia were much smaller, but found buyers in North America. American Motors focused its resources to introduce a line of cars than were available from the domestic Big Three for the 1957 model year. The designs were developed by its Styling Director, Edmund E. Anderson, as the chairman and president of AMC, George W. Romney avoided a head-to-head battle with the U. S. automakers by focusing the company on the compact car.
He felt that with the Rambler I had the car of the future, the short-wheelbase two-door versions were no longer available. The new line retained the 108-inch wheelbase that was used for the previous versions of the Nash Rambler. The Rambler was substantially smaller outside compared to the popular domestic cars of the era. Construction was unusual, being unit body, the 1956 Rambler models were marketed under both the Nash and Hudson brand names. The cars were almost identical except for minor badge engineering that included different logos on the hubcaps, grille insert, the new Ramblers came only as four-door models. Along with the usual four-door sedan and station wagon was a new four-door hardtop sedan, Rambler introduced the industrys first four-door hardtop station wagon in 1956. The station wagons used the rear doors as the sedans with the back roof dipped lower over the cargo area. The wagon models were called Cross Country, an innovation for station wagons was Ramblers roll-down tailgate window, competitors models used upward-hinged windows.
The new car was described as distinct and different, can be recognized at any angle from its wide-open competition- type grille to the pronounced arch over rear window. According to automobile journalist Floyd Clymer and high-performance do not go hand in hand, but in the Rambler, though smaller, is safer than many cars. The welded, unitized body-frame construction offers above-average protection in collisions, the single-unit construction that was used by AMC on all of its models provided a marketing advantage by offering buyers a $25,000 personal automobile injury insurance policy at no extra cost. The Typhoon straight-six for the new Rambler was based on the previous 195.6 cu in block and it was the only engine available in the 1956 Rambler because the automaker was still developing its own V8
Buick Roadmaster
The Roadmaster is an automobile that was built by Buick from 1936 to 1958, and again from 1991 to 1996. Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buicks longest non-limousine wheelbase and shared their basic structure with entry-level Cadillac and, after 1940, senior Oldsmobiles. Between 1946 and 1957 the Roadmaster served as Buicks flagship, the Series 80, which belonged to an upper category trim package, had a 344.8 cu in straight eight engine developing 104 hp of power to 2,800 rpm. The next year the pace grew and was introduced a new high engine power unit developing 113 hp. In 1933 the model was completely revised, at the end of 1933 the 80 series was discontinued after 24,117 units produced. In 1936 the model was re-introduced and changed its name to Series 80 Roadmaster, the origins of the Roadmaster name date to 1936 when Buick added names to its entire model lineup to celebrate the engineering improvements and design advancements over their 1935 models. Buicks Series 40 was named the Special, the Series 50 became the Super, the Series 60 was named the Century, the Series 50 was retired, but new for the model year was the Series 80 Roadmaster.
The implications of the name were clear, for as the 1936 Buick sales catalogue said, the Roadmaster was introduced in a year when Buicks valve-in-head straight-eight engines were heavily revised. Buick reduced the number of engines from four sizes to two, a 233-cubic-inch, 93-horsepower job for the Special, and a big,320. 2-cubic inch, 120-horsepower engine for the other series. In addition to major engineering change 1936 was the year Buick adopted an all steel turret top. Coil springs were in the front, the Roadmaster was a big car, in sedan form tipping the scales at 4,098 pounds, some 88 pounds heavier than Cadillacs new Series 60. But pricewise, the Roadmaster was a tremendous bargain, the sedan sold for $1,255, $440 less than the least expensive Cadillac. The only other body style available was a convertible phaeton, priced at $1,565. With Roadmaster being a new model, and with Buick having totally restyled its entire line for 1936. But that was not the case, Buick was the only GM car, along with the Chevrolet Standard, to retain its basic 1934 styling for 1935, so the 1936 re-style merely caught Buick up with the rest of the GM marques.
For 1937, Buick moved to newly re-styled bodies along with all other GM cars, the Roadmaster gained a divided grille with horizontal bars. The center section of the grille was painted to match the body of the car, fenders became squared off and the headlight shells were gracefully streamlined. Overall height fell by 1.5 inches without sacrificing interior room, a new carburetor and revised camshaft raised engine horsepower to 130
Chrysler Newport
The Newport was a name used by Chrysler for both a hardtop body designation and for its lowest priced model between 1961 and 1981. Chrysler first used the Newport name on a 1940 show car of five vehicles were produced. The first Newport, known as the Chrysler Newport Phaeton, was produced during 1940 and 1941 and it was a dual-cowl phaeton that used the Chrysler Spitfire 143 hp L-head straight-8 engine with dual carburetors coupled to a three-speed manual transmission. The Newport was based upon the Chrysler New Yorker, and was designed by LeBaron / Briggs Manufacturing Company designer Ralph Roberts, actress Lana Turner owned a Newport Phaeton, as did Chrysler founder Walter Chrysler, who used it as a personal car. Five are known to exist today, the Newport Phaeton served as the pace car for the 1941 Indianapolis 500 race. This pace car, chassis number C7807503, was the one that did not have hide-away headlights. Photos of the car can be found here, the Newport name was used during the 1950 model year to designate the two-door hardtop body style in Chryslers lineup.
The Newport version was available as the Windsor and New Yorker, the redesigned 1949 Town and Country was first proposed as a hardtop, however the body style only appeared in the models final year in 1950. Chrysler revived the Newport name for their new, full-size entry-level model for 1961, at a base price of $2,964, the Newport was the least expensive Chrysler model, intended to appeal to owners of the discontinued DeSoto brand. The perception of an inexpensive Chrysler hurt the marque in the run by cheapening the brands cachet. The base engine for the Newport was the 361 cu in V8 engine rated at 265 hp, optional was the 413 cu in and the 383 cu in that was mostly used in the Town and Country station wagons. All Newports could have been ordered with the 413 either single or dual four-bbl carbs and most of the 300 letter car options, except the four seats, center console. Station wagons from 1961 through 1964 featured hardtop body styling, with no B pillar, the canted headlight approach was previously used by Lincoln, and briefly by Buick, but by 1961 when this generation was introduced the feature was unique to Chrysler.
The 1962 model year Chryslers continued to use the 1961 body, the Newport was restyled alongside the New Yorker and Chrysler 300 for 1963, with this body style continuing for 1964. The 1963 model year was a major restyle without any tail fins, the 1964s saw the return of small, chrome-topped fins. The 1965s Newport was built on an all-new Chrysler C platform, shared with the 300 and New Yorker, along with the Dodge Polara, Styling mimicked the square lines of the Lincoln Continental and the 1964 Imperial, while wheelbases increased 2 in to 124 in. A new bodystyle for 1965 was a six-window Town Sedan that included a small side-window in the similar to the three-window design of 1950s cars. This design would return in the 1970s
Studebaker
Studebaker /ˈstjuːdəbeɪkər/ STEW-də-bay-kər) was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers and the military. Studebaker entered the business in 1902 with electric vehicles and in 1904 with gasoline vehicles. Until 1911, its automotive division operated in partnership with the Garford Company of Elyria, the first gasoline automobiles to be fully manufactured by Studebaker were marketed in August 1912. Over the next 50 years, the established a reputation for quality and reliability. After years of problems, in 1954 the company merged with luxury carmaker Packard to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation. However, Studebakers financial problems were worse than the Packard executives thought, the Packard marque was phased out, and the company returned to the Studebaker Corporation name in 1962. The South Bend plant ceased production on December 20,1963, according to the official Studebaker history written by Albert R.
The last part of the name, was changed to baker. In Albert Russel Erskines official history, John Studebaker, father of the five brothers, born in Adams County, in any event, John Studebaker moved to Ashland, Ohio in 1835 with his wife Rebecca and taught his five sons to make wagons. They all went into business as it grew to gigantic proportions with the country. The five sons were, in order of birth, Clement, John Mohler, Peter Everst and Henry Studebaker, Jr. became blacksmiths and foundrymen in South Bend, Indiana, in February 1852. They first made metal parts for wagons and expanded into the manufacture of complete wagons. At this time, John M. was making wheelbarrows in Placerville, the site of his business is California Historic Landmark #142. The first major expansion in Henry and Clems South Bend business came from their being in the place to meet the needs of the California Gold Rush that began in 1849. From his wheelbarrow enterprise at Placerville, John M. had amassed $8,000. In April 1858, he quit and moved out to apply this to financing the vehicle manufacturing of H & C Studebaker, which was already booming because of a big order to build wagons for the US Army.
In 1857, they had built their first carriage—Fancy, hand-worked iron trim
Chrysler New Yorker
The Chrysler New Yorker is an automobile model which was produced by Chrysler from 1940 to 1996, serving for several years as the brands flagship model. A trim level named the New York Special first appeared in 1938, until its discontinuation in 1996, the New Yorker had made its mark as the longest running American car nameplate. During the New Yorkers tenure, it competed against upper level models from Buick, the New York Special model was originally introduced as a distinct sub-series of the 1938 Chrysler Imperial. It was available in 1938 as a sedan with a 298.7 CID straight-eight engine. For 1939 it was expanded two more coupe versions and a two-door sedan and a larger, more powerful engine. Now the C23 series, it took on the New Yorker name, the first convertibles were introduced with the all-new body-design of the 1940 models. This, the C26 series, was the first New Yorker to be considered a model rather than as an Imperial version. It saw the introduction of Fluid Drive, a coupling between the engine and the clutch.
The only transmission available was the basic three-speed manual, there was the New Yorker Highlander, a special version with tartan seats and other interior elements. Lightly redesigned bodies were introduced for 1941, with the business now being of the three window design. The bodies were all marginally wider and lower, with increased glass surface, another new model was the Town Sedan with the rear doors having the hinges at the forward edge of the doors. This year, the Vacamatic was made available, although unlike the version sold on six-cylinder models, with America entering World War II on 7 December 1941, all automobile production came to an end at the beginning of February,1942. Thus, the 1942 model year was roughly half the normal length, Cars built after December 1941 had blackout trim. The 1942s were quite modern, of a design which was heralding the post-war ponton style with fenders more incorporated into the bodywork, the grille consisted of five horizontal chrome bars which wrapped around the front, reaching all the way to the leading edge of the front wheelhouses.
12,145 New Yorkers of the C36 series were built this year, Chrysler would produce and experiment with engines for tanks and aircraft during World War II. One post-war application of this would lead to the creation of the first generation Hemi of the 1950s, after the war, the New Yorker became a separate series. Unlike most car companies, Chrysler did not make changes with each model year from 1946 through 1948. Thus models for 1946 through 1948 Chryslers have the basic appearance, noted for their harmonica grille
Nissan Gloria
Initially based on the smaller Prince Skyline, the Gloria line was merged with Nissan Cedric starting with 1971 models and both continued until 2004, when they were both replaced by Nissan Fuga. Glorias were sold at Nissan Prince Shop dealerships that were affiliated with the Prince company. The Prince G engine was used in the Gloria until 1969 and it was inspired by the Latin word Glory. In February 1959 the BLSIP Gloria was released with the 80 hp 1.9 L GB-30 OHV 4-cylinder engine, reflecting popular appearances found in North America, the Gloria used a styling feature on the front bumper, called Dagmar bumpers. The grille featured PRINCE in individual gold letters, th side trim was similar to the Skyline, except the chrome-framed painted strip ends at the rear door instead of the back of the car. The other side of the section is painted the same color as the car. Inside the Gloria used the dashboard as the Skyline, but a clock. The radio featured two speakers, a new idea for the time, the seats were similar but were trimmed in a plush cloth fabric.
The rear seat featured a fold down armrest, in April 1959, Crown Prince Akihito was presented with the first Gloria as a wedding gift. The Prince Automotive Industry was the official supplier to the Imperial Household Agency at that time. Previously, the Crown Prince was presented with the first Prince Sedan earlier, in February 1960 the BLSIP-2 was released. The front end was modified with quad headlights and although the opening remained the same. The rear end was redesigned, the tail lights were moved low to just above the rear bumper. The tail fins were capped off with steel trim that ran from one fin, down under the trunk lid opening. The trunk lid featured a Prince badge and a Gloria badge to the right of it, the panel between the tail lights was covered in metal trim. Side trim remained identical from the BLSIP-1, the BLSIP-2 continued to use the GB-30 engine. In February 1961 the BLSIP-3 was released and it featured the new 94 hp 1.9 L GB-4 inline-four engine. The front end was changed slightly, with the PRINCE grille letters removed, the side trim and rear trim panels remained identical to the BLSIP-2
Trunk (car)
The trunk or boot of a car is the vehicles main storage compartment. In South Asia the trunk is usually called a dicky/dala or slang diggy, the trunk or luggage compartment is most often located at the rear of the vehicle. Early designs included an exterior rack mounted on the rear of the vehicle to which it was possible to attach a real luggage trunk, designs integrated the storage area into the vehicles body and evolved to provide a streamlined appearance. The main storage compartment is provided at the end of the vehicle opposite to which the engine is located. Some mid-engined or electric cars have luggage compartments both in the front and in the rear of the vehicle, examples include the Volkswagen Type 3, Porsche 914, Porsche Boxster, Toyota MR2, and Tesla Model S. The mid-engined Fiat X1/9 has two compartments, although the rear one is small, easily accessible, and practically cuboid in shape. Rear-engined cars have the trunk situated in front of the passenger compartment, sometimes during the design life of the vehicle the lid may be restyled to increase the size or improve the practicality and usefulness of the trunks shape.
Examples of this include the Beetle redesign to the 1970s Super Beetle, the door or opening of a trunk may be hinged at the top, side, or bottom. If the door is hinged at the bottom it is termed a tailgate, a bottom opening door is common on a station wagon, pickup truck, or sport utility vehicle. Traditional U. S. station wagons included a roll down window, because of the potential for carbon-monoxide fumes, the tailgate window on station wagons should be closed whenever the engine is running. Tailgates may contain accessories like a pocket for storage purposes, traditional station wagon and pickup tailgates can serve as a mount for a workbench. A 3-way tailgate is hinged at the side and bottom so it can be opened sideways like a car door, or downwards like a truck tailgate, the window can be opened to load small items. The door and hinge mechanisms of the 3-way tailgate are designed with special handle for opening in the selected direction, in the late 1970s, it was the most common station wagon tailgate arrangement.
If the door is hinged at the top it is termed a hatch, the trunk lid is the cover allows access to the main storage or luggage compartment. Hinges allow the lid to be raised, devices such as a manually positioned prop rod can keep the panel up in the open position. Counterbalancing torsion or other spring can used to help elevate, on cars with their trunk in the rear, lids sometimes incorporate a center mounted third brake light. A rear lid may have a decorative air spoiler, on many modern cars, the trunk lids can be unlocked with the cars key fob. In 1950, Ford introduced a trigger catch to allow for one-handed lifting until the trunk lid was automatically caught in the open position, in 1952, Buick marketed its counterbalanced trunk lid that practically raises itself and the automatic locking mechanism
Toyota Crown
The Toyota Crown is a line of full-size luxury sedans by Toyota primarily aimed at the Japanese market and sold in other select Asian markets. Its traditional competitors in Japan and Asia have been the Nissan Cedric/Gloria/Fuga and the Honda Legend, along with the defunct Mazda Luce, Isuzu Bellel, and Mitsubishi Debonair. Available at Toyota Store dealers in Japan, the Crown has been popular for government usage and it has been popular with Japanese companies as company cars along with use as a taxicab. In North America, the first through fourth generations were offered from 1958 through 1973 and it was replaced with the Toyota Corona Mark II, which was renamed the Toyota Cressida, after which the Cressida was replaced by the Toyota Avalon as Toyotas large sedan in North America. Later models of the GS and Crown have taken on a strong aesthetic kinship through shared design cues. The Corona, introduced as a companion to the Crown means crown in Latin and was initially exported as the Tiara.
The Camrys name is derived from the Japanese phrase kanmuri meaning little crown and the Toyota Scepter took its name from the sceptre, the Crown was exported to the United States from 1958 to 1973. Exports to Europe began in 1964 with the first cars going to Finland, other European countries which saw early imports of the Crown included the Netherlands and Belgium. Canada sold the Crown from 1965 to 1973, the United Kingdom was another market until the early 1980s. It was exported to Canada for a few years—1965–68, Australia was another important export market for the Crown—to the extent that it was manufactured there from the mid-1960s until the late 1980s using many local components. Trinidad and Tobago was another country where the Toyota market had a successful run, the Crown were introduced in 1955 in Japan to meet the demands of public transportation. The Crown was intended for purchase, while the Master served in a commercial form as a taxi, both with the same 1.5 L Type R engine used on their previous car.
The front doors open conventionally, and the doors are suicide doors. The appearance of the Crown shows some similarities with the European Ford Versailles, the Crown was designed to replace the Super but Toyota was not sure if its independent front coil suspension and its suicide type rear doors were too radical for the taxi market to bear. So the Super was updated, renamed the Master and sold in tandem to the Crown, while the Master was discontinued the commercial vehicle based thereon, the Masterline, continued to be offered until 1959. A six-door wagon known as the Airport Limousine was shown as a car at the 1961 Tokyo Motor Show. It did not go into production, in December 1955 the Crown Deluxe was introduced, a posher model equipped with a radio and heater as standard. The initial RS model received an update in 1958 to become the RS20, now with hooded headlights
AMC Ambassador
The Ambassador was the top-of-the-line automobile produced by the American Motors Corporation from 1958 until 1974. The vehicle was known as the AMC Ambassador, Ambassador V-8 by Rambler, the name Ambassador had applied to Nashs senior full-size cars. The Ambassador nameplate was used continuously from 1927 until 1974, at the time it was discontinued, most Ambassador models were built in Kenosha, Wisconsin. They were built at AMCs Brampton Assembly in Brampton, Ontario from 1963 to 1966, Australian Motor Industries assembled Ambassadors from knock-down kits with right-hand drive. The U. S. fifth generation Ambassadors were produced by Industrias Kaiser Argentina in Córdoba, Argentina from 1965 to 1972, fifth and seventh generation Ambassadors were modified into custom stretch limousines in Argentina and the U. S. Following George W. Masons unexpected death in the fall of 1954, George Romney, succeeded him as president and CEO of the newly formed American Motors. Toward that end, he set out to increase AMCs market share with its Rambler models that were selling in market segment in which the domestic Big Three automakers did not yet compete.
However, as sales of the large-sized Nash Ambassador and Hudson Hornet models slowed, it clear to Romney that consumer confidence in the historic Nash. Reluctantly, he decided that 1957 would be the end of both nameplates, and the company would concentrate on the new Rambler line, which was registered as a marque for 1957. American Motors planned to produce a stretched a 117-inch wheelbase version of the Rambler platform for Nash dealers to be the new Nash Ambassador, and another for Hudson dealers. Shortly before committing to production of the new versions of the Hudson. Its features included a 327 cu in V8 mated to a BorgWarner supplied 3-speed automatic transmission with push button gear selection. In 1956, AMC first produced its own V8, an overhead valve V8 displacing 250 cu in, with a forged steel crank shaft. In 1957, AMC bored and stroked the 250 CID V8 to 327 cu in displacement which when offered in the Rambler Rebel used solid lifters, in 1958, the Ambassador was equipped with a hydraulic lifter version of AMCs 327 CID V8 rated at 270 hp.
Although AMCs 327 CID V8 shares its displacement with the Chevrolet small-block, the Ambassador was available in a body style exclusive to its line, a pillarless hardtop Cross Country station wagon. However, the car wore Rambler Ambassador badges on its front fenders, the 1958 Ambassador is a substantially longer car than the 108-inch wheelbase Rambler Six and Rebel V8, although both lines shared the same basic body and visual cues. However, all of the Ambassadors extra nine inches of wheelbase were added ahead of the cowl, the Ambassadors came with plusher interior and exterior trims while the front end incorporated the Rebel V-Line grille from the prototype Hudson model. Through effective market segmentation, the Ambassador was positioned to compete with the models offered by other automakers
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