Rambler

Rambler was founded in the 1890s by Thomas B. Jeffery, a wagon[?] maker of Kenosha, Wisconsin, originally as the name of a line of bicycles. In 1900 Jeffery decided to go into the new business of automobile manufacturing. He started building experimental autos that year. He started commercially mass-producing automobiles in 1902, and by the end of the year had produced 1,500 motorcars, one-sixth of all existing in the USA at the time.

Rambler introduced such technical innovations as interchangable wheels and spare tires, and later the "Hydra-Matic", an early version of automatic transmission[?].

Ramblers were briefly marketed under the brand name Jefferys.

In 1916 Jeffery's firm was purchased by Charles W. Nash, and became part of Nash Motors. The Rambler brand name was dropped, and was not revived until March 1950 when Nash reintroduced it for use on its new line of compact cars.

In 1954 [American Motors]] was formed from the merger of Nash-Kelvinator and the Hudson Motor Car Company. The Nash and Hudson makes were continued through 1957, after which all of the firm's offerings were marketed as Ramblers.

In 1963, the entire Rambler line received the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. The Rambler name had acquired a stodgy image, however, and AMC began to phase it out in favour of an "AMC" marque beginning in 1966. AMC continued to sell cars under the Rambler nameplate through 1969, after which it was dropped entirely in favour of the AMC marque.

External Links

• Ramblers History on amcrc.com (http://amcrc.com/history/history.htm)
• Ramblers from 1900 - 1904 (http://www162.pair.com/nashram/nash01.htm)
• Ramblers History on emory.edu (http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~marisa/MOTORTREND/HISTORY/)