Alameda Street Sighting - 1965 Rambler Classic 770 Coupe

For some reason nearly every Rambler Classic I see is a Cross Country station wagon. The sedans must all be parts cars or daily drivers for old ladies in the upper Midwest or something. I've come across one '63 four-door sedan, one '62 two-door sedan, and one '65 convertible. And then there was this handsome 1965 Classic 770 hardtop coupe.

The Classic coupe was available in two forms, the regular 770 and the higher-trim 770-H. The normal 770 came standard with bench seats and a 232 cubic inch inline six. Bucket seats and a 287 or 327 cubic inch V8 were optional, the former of which appear to be equipped on this car. A V8 car would have a stylized V8 badge underneath the word "Classic" on the front fender, a feature I don't see on this coupe. I'm thinking it's a six-cylinder car, though whether it has the 1-barrel or 2-barrel carburetor would have been a question for the mechanics at the shop. The 770 was the top trim level, yet this one still wears small dog dish hubcaps on body-color steel wheels. I can't narrow down the exact color of this car as multiple aquas and a pale green were available that year, but my best guess is Woodside Light Green Poly.

The body is great on this example, very well taken care of. Only minor trim pieces are missing, and I hope the right rear hubcap was hiding somewhere in the shop with a new tire. I quite like the 1965 Rambler styling pretty much across the board, and the Classic coupe is one of my favorites along with the fastback Marlin (also built on the Classic platform). This was nearly the end of the road for the Classic, as American Motors was rebranding and would no longer use Classic as a model name after 1966. Rambler itself was demoted to a sort of sub-brand after 1967, used only on the compact American and on certain export models overseas. This Classic, finally, is a classic in its own right.