1913 Rambler

[Guest]

I have the opportunity to buy a 1913 Rambler "Cross Country Touring". It is a big impressive car but I don't know anything about them. Does anyone know if they are good tour cars and if they are dependable?

Thanks

[oldcarguy615]

I have the opportunity to buy a 1913 Rambler "Cross Country Touring". It is a big impressive car but I don't know anything about them. Does anyone know if they are good tour cars and if they are dependable?

Thanks

Sorry it looks like I am 10 years to late. I have ridden in one on tours and were able to pass about any car on the road.

But in case anyone else would like to know. YES the quality rivals or surpasses Cadillacs of the same year. There is one exception Ramblers don't have to have a piece of plywood mounted on the inside of the hood to deflect the spark plugs when they pop out going up a hill. (worn spark plugs threads are not deep enough for the pressure). LOL. 1911 Ramblers outsold Cadillacs by a large margin, 1912, the year of electrics,s,s, for Cadillac, they took most of the sales gained in 1911.

By 1913 Rambler had all the same equipment though implemented differently from Cadillac. They had stepped up to the challenge and even included a full spare, mounted wheel....

I am restoring one (4500 mile car) for a friend and the engineering and materials used were the best that could be had at the time. Starting on the Upholstery today, diamond tufted leather with horsehair. Top, side curtains.......

Will update with pictures as the project continues if people reply with interest. I have Auto Electric books from 1914 that give a complete rebuild instruction for the USL electrical system which was used in Kissels and Nelsons...?? and wiring diagrams 1912 -1942.

bye for now,

Old car guy.

[Marty Roth]

I had the honor and pleasure of driving a friend's 1909 Rambler for one day on a Reliability Tour. The car was relatively easy to drive, and was quite powerful. It take a few moments to get accustomed to the unusual shift pattern of the 4-speed tranny. My wife thought that it rode well, but then it is a "big" car.

[avantey]

Marty and I looked over a nice '13 Rambler in the Chocolate field at Hershey. The vendor was from Maine and for an older resto was still pretty nice. He was asking a lot for it IMHO and since then I have seen it advertised for a lot less. At the 2003 Glidden in Huntsville, AL Bud and Lorene Jonas drove their '13 down from Michigan, toured the week and drove home. The car was awesome! I heard they put the top up 5 miles from home due to snow after three weeks topless. A friend had a 1912 if I remember right but I do not remember what model and it too was a big, impressive, powerful car. They are definitely a nice higher end brass car.

[Marty Roth]

Visiting Bud and his late wife Lorene Jonas at their home in Belding, Michigan several years ago, Bud showed me his barn of Brass cars, and was especially complementary when telling me about the Rambler. I didn't get to ride in his, but it was really special.

Ramblers were a solid and reliable car - even back to 1904, as seen in the photo with Reggie Nash's wife. Their granddaughter Alex also drove the 1909 for a day.

[oldcarguy615]

Visiting Bud and his late wife Lorene Jonas at their home in Belding, Michigan several years ago, Bud showed me his barn of Brass cars, and was especially complementary when telling me about the Rambler. I didn't get to ride in his, but it was really special.

Ramblers were a solid and reliable car - even back to 1904, as seen in the photo with Reggie Nash's wife. Their granddaughter Alex also drove the 1909 for a day.

______________________________

I am glad to see another generation is hopefully getting into OLD cars, I laugh when people say "I am restoring" and 1990 MR2.......

I also knew a friend that had a 1904 Rambler and I guess still do. Tom Mueller had one he had almost restored... He had finished the mechanicals and hand built the radiator before I was born and it sat... waiting for paint and upholstery for the whole time I knew him.

I talked to him about it and was going to offer to finish it for him, but he died suddenly, it was sold to another club member who hasn't even dusted it in 3 years... I had a painter lined up and I do hand stuffed horse hair tufted upholstery. He didn't have any patterns, but it is similar enough patterns in my collection to make it look like new, I am also a trained pattern maker. I scaled and made a pattern for my Model T speedster off of a picture. It would have been nice to see it finished.

If you need any kind of technical info let me know. I have a room full of books and my interest is in early stuff up to WWII, but have much beyond that.

I have an electrical technicians book 1913 -1926 with all American cars and every auto electrical component in it by make and application. Others years beyond that in different forms and publishers, Interchange manuals, Gates, Gilmore belt books1912-1990, National auto parts books, Autolite ref books and how to rebuild generators. My oldest book is from 1906's describing how to repair "The Automobile".

I would like to eventually scanned it all and make it available to people online to aid in restoration and for instant (beside the car) access for judged at shows. But I am not Jay Leno and have to work for a living, not that he doesn't..... I met Jay and he showed me his collection.

Dave, the 1913 Rambler owner, needs a tail light for the car, the pictures from the sales brochure are not so good. I did a little research and found a line drawing in a hardware book from 1913 that I had. I can see if I can figure out how to attach it. It is A BALL tail light similar to my 1928 Cadillac Coupe.

Nice chatting with you

Todd Abraham

Edited December 4, 2013 by oldcarguy615
trying to add attachment (see edit history)

[oldcarguy615]

lets see if it worked.

[Mircea TUDOR]

Hello to everyone! I recently bought a rambler 1913 7 seats from Denmark. I am interested to get any available technical documentation to restore it. Can somebody to help me? Many thanks in advance. 

Mircea TUDOR mircea.tudor@mtstch.ch

[wayne sheldon]

As this is the "wanted to buy" or "items for sale" section of the AACA forums, you would likely get better responses if you started your own questions thread in the "General Discussion" area of the forum.

The AACA also has one of the best research libraries for early automobiles. You can get directions to there also in the "General Discussion" forum.

 

Rambler automobiles from that era are not common, however they are very highly respected, and desirable cars!

If you can give more specific information about the model, and post some good pictures of it? That would help in getting better responses also.

A seven passenger, I would imagine a touring car, would be a large and impressive car!

 

With a " .ch ", are you in Switzerland? And the car came from Denmark? What is the condition of the car? It sounds as though more than a little restoration is needed?

 

Sounds very interesting.

 

Welcome and good luck!

[mikewest]

They are a big car with a puny motor.... Not a great road car. I had one.

[Mircea TUDOR]

Hi Wayne, thanks a lot for your suggestions. Yes I am in Switzerland passionate by collecting classic cars especially prewar. You're right My Rambler 1913 model 83 needs extended works as tghe clutch is blocked, some valves as well and I am looking for a workshop (service manual) or any documentation describing the particular configuration of this car with dry sump lubricating system. I'll folllow your advise.

Regards,

Tudor