1959 Rambler American Wagon

Ladies and gentlemen. here we have something you do not see every day. It took years of work and lots of money from the vision to realization to build this car. The idea was to create a hot rod with a rad rod theme in mind that would be different from the rest and would get noticed anywhere. It had to be outrageous yet it was not meant to be a trailer or fairground queen. It had to be a wagon and it had to be professionally built.

The recipe was as follows: First you take an innocent 1959 Rambler American Wagon and strip & prep it completely. then build a full tube chassis around it with Corvette suspension and add race brakes. Then you shoehorn a take-no-prisoners Chevrolet big block engine in it and add a blower for a good measure. Since real men drive stick it was decided the only way to go was a 6-speed manual. What you get is an ultimate grocery getter with an attitude that will drop jaws anywhere it goes.

The engine is 502 c. i. d Chevy marine block with high Nickel content. With forged crankshaft. forged rods and forged JE pistons assembled with ARP hardware throughout and carefully balanced it was build to withstand continuous punishment. The camshaft is 232/242 Lunati blower cam. The cylinder heads are pocket ported 14097088 rectangular port heads with all Lunati hardware. roller rockers & lifters. valve springs. Ti retainers and locks. ARP studs and FelPro wire ring head gaskets keeps cylinder pressures at bay. Oiling system is all high volume with Moroso & Melling parts. Exhaust is minimalistic with custom build headers & turndowns with vortex cones. The fuel system consists of fuel cell. BG Big Sumo 2000hp fuel pump/filters and couple Holley 850 double pumpers with FPR and a return line back to the fuel cell. Blower is TBS 6-71 with 8mm drive. Ignition is HEI. The engine makes 701 ft-lbs of torque and 716 horsepower at only ~6psi of boost on pump gas. The torque curve is as flat as it can be. If you as so much as think of throttle anywhere off idle the car will throw you against your seat. The power delivery is instantaneous and brutal. Extra blower pulley that will up the boost to 13psi is included. It is brand new as it was never installed since the engine is plenty powerful as is.

Cooling system is Moroso water pump and PRC aluminum radiator & overflow tank. The engine has never overheated. ever.

The transmission is a Tremec M28 6-speed with a heavy duty clutch. The rear differential is a big Ford 9 -inch with Auburn Pro Series limited slip. 3. 55 gears and Strange Engineering 31-spline heavy duty axles. A set of extra 3. 99 gears come with the car.

This car has a custom build 2 x 3 inch square steel tube chassis from front bumper all the way to the back just like you would find on a purpose build race car. There is no rust and the whole underside is all painted. Any rust on the body panels you see is surface rust that goes with the rad rod theme.

Suspension up front is all Corvette with coil over shocks. Corvette steering rack & power steering. Rear is solid axle with fully adjustable ladder bar setup and coil over shocks. Brakes are Corvette up front with drilled rotors and Hawk HPS pads. rear brakes are Wilwood Dynalites with 4-piston calipers.

Flaming river steering column. The pedal setup is all Tilton with 3 separate master cylinders for front and rear brakes and clutch. Instrumentation consists of tachometer. boost/vacuum. fuel level. volts. oil pressure. water temperature and wideband air/fuel. There is also Innovate SSI-4 datalogging setup for boost/vacuum. rpm and AFR.

Tires & wheels are brand new Mickey Thompson Street Comp 275/40/17 up front and Mickey Thompson ET Street II Drag Radial 315/35/17 with Corvette ZR4 wheels.

The pictures do not show the gage side bars installed but they do come with the car. They are removable. The rear side sliding glass windows are not installed but I have all the glass & sliders that will come with the car. All other windows are there.

This little wagon drives great. It starts straight up every time. goes straight and stops great. I would not hesitate to drive this car anywhere. anytime. It is a really well build hot rod that will not disappoint. It is a street legal vehicle. it is registered & insured in GA with working lights. turn signals etc and I do drive it on the street.

Build cost & dyno tune on motor alone was close to $18k. Combined with the body prep. building the custom chassis. fitting Corvette suspension and 6-speed and sorting everything out the car has easy $50k in it. This car was build by a professional hot rod shop that specializes in high end builds and restorations.

Cash by person. cashiers check or PayPal only. All payments must clear in advance before I give the keys. There is no title since it is not required for old cars in GA.

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