Development on Detroit’s 1960 compacts started in mid-’57, ahead of the 1958 recession, but that year’s economic woes certainly helped justify Detroit’s decision to go small. The popularity of Renault, VW, and a scattering of British outliers, combined with a 31-percent year-to-year drop in domestic car sales, surely helped popularize the push for the compacts that were due in 1960.
Thing was, Rambler was already there. The Nash Rambler (and its 100-inch wheelbase) was around from 1950-’55, and took a breather before AMC relaunched it as the Rambler American in 1958. When it returned, Rambler couldn’t have hit the growing compact-car-zeitgeist bullseye any harder than it did. A new marque forged from the ashes of Nash and Hudson, Rambler always stressed economy and value. Rambler’s three-model lineup from 1958 included the 100-inch-wheelbase American, with styling that recalled the “bathtub”
