L.A. Rob comes through with a mottled Rambler

CROSS COUNTRY ACROSS THE COUNTRY

L.A. Rob isn't an elitist; no matter how many Ferraris he spots on a weekly basis he's always happy to snap some pics of a multicolored Hooptie should he happen upon one in the wild. He actually sent me these pics a while back, but it wasn't until I was sent a pic of the same car by another friend in Cali that I was reminded of this trove. Check out this Ramblin' beast!

What we have here is a 1961 Rambler Classic Cross Country. The basic car itself was introduced this year as the Classic, with the wagon being given the additional moniker Cross Country. Engine choices were limited to an inline 6 cylinder or a small V8.

Hey this thing has been around and seen some serious sunshine. I'm talking about the sort of sun that strips a car of its paint, warps the dashboard uncontrollably, and destroys the parts of the seats that are exposed. In California cars die from the top down as opposed to the salty, wintry East.
The original color on this Rambler is Berkeley Blue Poly, but it seems to have picked up an Alamo Beige door along the way.

From this rear quarter angle we get a sense of how quirky this design is. The station wagon roof section  and rear posts were basically added on to the standard 4 door Classic body; the back window on the sedan had wraparound glass that started at the same rearward-leaning angle as the rear side glass here before curving around the back of the car. The upgrade for a wagon over a sedan cost a mere $339.

The rear of just about any wagon of this era is cool, and this one's no different. Pointed gothic taillights are tucked under the batwing fins, and the whole rear window is set under the roofline to allow for ventilation when it's raining. 

Cross Country is written in script under the rear window. From here you can see more of that funky roofline. A rusty roof and clean underneath? This thing might originally be from the desert where sand works in concert with the sun to ruin your cars surface.

This cool ride was ingenious as it's actually a basic design from 1956 that was given some fresh skin. It certainly worked as Rambler was the 3rd biggest selling automaker in the U.S. for that year (the only time it ever attained such popularity). While Rambler was a part of AMC (American Motors Corporation) in '61, the name Rambler was dropped from all vehicles in 1966. To go from #3 in the States to a defunct nameplate was unprecedented, but the company lived on in robust fashion after buying up AM General in '71, who produced the iconic Jeep.
I love this funky ride and it just goes to show that being unique can make you more noticeable in the crowd since 2 different friends sent me picks of this exact car out of the auto paradise of Los Angeles.