1956 Rambler

There was a major redesign of Rambler for 1956, and the short wheelbase models were dropped from the line-up. Styling changes included a new oval shape grille with the headlights housed inside.Running lights in each fender that stayed on when the headlights were on, and the first four-door hardtop station wagon was introduced. Cargo space was increased in wagons and sedans as AMC continued to market the vehicles as the most travel ready vehicles available.

Motorsport April 1956

Read about the road test for 1956 Rambler, in this vintage April, 1956 issue of Motorsport magazine.

1956 Rambler Press Release

1956 Rambler Hardtop

New for 1956, was the Rambler 4-door Hardtop series. The series featured the new 120-h.p. overhead-valve engine and carried a $2,224 base price tag. Tri-tone paint was also offered in 1956, see the brochure for color samples. The new hardtop was featured on the cover for the 1956 Rambler brochure.

1956 Rambler Station Wagons

Leading the industry for ideas in station wagons, AMC introduces the roll down tailgate window. This was a design giving better options to owners that the second lift gate window other manufacturers were building. The Cross Country wagons increased cargo capacity by 33%.

Station Wagons

New AMC V8 Engine

Packard built 3015 V8 engines that were used in the 1956 AMC models until March of 1956, when American Motors introduced their own a 250-cid 190-bhp V8 engine. American Motors spent $10 million dollars to develop the new V8, projected to save $200.00 per unit in production cost over buying the Packard built engines.

1956 Nash Ambassador Country Club Hardtop

1956 Hudson Hornet

1956 Hudson Wasp

1956 Nash Metropolitan

View more about the Met in our Metropolitan Timeline.

1956 AMC Palm Beach Show car

Seen by some as a replacement to the deleted Nash Healey, the Palm Beach was built as a full function proto-type that could be brought to production. Plenty of space. The Palm Beach was just 49.75 inches tall, 176 inches long, and built on a 101.5 inch wheel base. The Palm Beach was a joint venture under contract with Pinin Farina, working in the new Nash styling department with former GM styling executive, Edmund Anderson.

1956 Rambler Concept Art Work

Not all cars designed in the new studio would be complete working proto-types. This 1956 Rambler concept art work is a sample of the future dreams of Edmund Anderson's team at AMC.

Car Life August 1956

The Concept Rambler made the cover of Car Life in August of 1956. Read the Car Life article "The Man Behind The Rambler", in this issue.

Rambler Concept Car

This 1956 factory photo shows the Rambler concept car designed by Bill Reddig.

1956 AMC Astra Gnome Concept