1968 AMC Ambassador sedan- rare- one of 1,881 made- solid project car!

1968 AMC Ambassador Description

Rare survivor- 1968 AMC Ambassador 4 door sedan in laurel green. NOT running- must be towed. Moving, must sell. Wife does not want it in the yard at the new house! Good, solid project for someone who appreciates cars that "aren't like everyone else's". Comes with a trunk and back seat full of parts- including some VERY rare exterior trim parts, all good used or better.
I bought this car from the son of the original owner in around 1999. The story: The old man was a notorious skinflint in his 70's, and his wife- who had never driven a car in her life, had been nagging her husband for a good decade or longer to trade their 1952 Nash Statesman in on something- anything- that had a radio and heater in it (the old Nash had neither!). Finally, he relented and they decided to stop in at the local AMC dealer "just to look", around Christmas of 1967. The salesman who met them at the old Nash wanted to show him the fancy new models, but the old man was having none of that- he didn't want a "clown car", as he called the compact American, or a "Hollywood" car as he called the new Javelin and the Rebel. He explained to the salesman that a car was "supposed to be big enough for real people" but wasn't supposed to have any "nonsense and frippery" on it. Of course, the salesman suggested the Ambassador and tried to show him the new models, all of which were too fancy for our old man here. Realizing that no dealer would have such a sparsely-equipped Ambo in stock, they went inside and sat down with the order book- remarkably, the old man didn't protest one bit, and at this point his wife had not uttered a single word. Working down the options list, the old man replied "no" to every single one of them- even a radio- and he wanted to delete all of the standard equipment he felt he would never use- things like seat belts, 4 way flashers, turn signals, outside mirror, back up lights.... of course that was impossible, but the salesman told him that for 1968, Air Conditioning had become standard factory equipment on the Ambassador but could be deleted for a credit (as I recall around $350) on a factory order such as he was about to place. This was when the wife spoke up, after she picked up her big, heavy black purse (you know the type) and whacked her husband on the shoulder with it!- she told the salesman that "if it comes on the car we're keeping it!" and glared at her husband. She said, too, that "she wanted a heater and a radio in their new car and she didn't care if it came out of the monthly grocery budget, they would have them. Old man said nothing. The salesman then asked what color they would like their new Ambassador to be, and the man said "black- cars are supposed to be BLACK!". His wife said "I'm sick and tired of riding around in a car that looks like it belongs to a funeral home- what are MY choices?" Her husband started to protest, and she picked up that purse again- and he fell silent. She chose the brightest color she could find- Laurel Green, and dared her husband to say a word. As a result, we have a 1968 Ambassaador, base model, with the standard 232 cubic inch inline six, a three speed manual column shifted transmission, no power steering or power brakes, vacuum windshield wipers(!), and an AM radio. With a black vinyl interior. At some point, someone added a pair of vent visors over the front doors, and owner number 3 added an electric clock for some reason (the blanking plate is in a box in the trunk).
That said, this is a cool old car. It is NOT- as I'm sure some of you are thinking- a beast to drive (ok, parallel parking is a bit of a wrestling match, but otherwise you don't realize it has no power steering) and the old six cylinder has enough torque to move the relatively light Ambo decently- it's no hot rod, (it's a roomy, comfortable grandpa car with a huge trunk!) but a Smart or a Geo Metro won't outrun you at a stop light either. You definitely will not see yourself at a car show anywhere- only 1,881 base model Ambassador sedans were made to begin with, and chances are high most of those went to the Post Office or other fleet buyers, mostly with automatic transmissions. This car has always been in the northeast Florida area, starting out in Jacksonville and migrating about 40 miles west in 2004. In 2005-07, the carburetor was completely rebuilt and the clutch was redone, as were the trunions. AC was refitted to R134A around that time as well.
Sadly, this car has sat unused for the past nine years. It is NOT running, and I'm not certain what all it will take at this point to get it running. It's all there, nothing is missing, and it has no serious rust- a bit of scale in the front wheel wells, some bubbling in the lower corner of the left front door, and some more bubbling over the left rear wheel. Obviously it needs a good scrubbing (I've provided many pictures). It comes with a back seat and trunk full of parts, an extra intake manifold, and an OEM Service Manual and owner's manual.
Car is located in Northeast Florida, zip code 32040- about 40 miles west of downtown Jacksonville. Feel free to contact me for specific pictures or more information. There is NO reserve on this auction!! I want to see it go to an AMC-loving home that will bring it back to its former uniqueness and skinflint "glory". That, to me, is much more important than whatever little bit of cash I might realize out of the old girl. I truly do love this car; I hate to sell it but I know that I'll never be in a position to give it what it needs, and I hate to see it detriorate further (and, there's that wife issue too, so....).

On Aug-03-16 at 18:38:06 PDT, seller added the following information:

I reserve the right to end this auction early, as the car is for sale elsewhere and locally.