A Ford flathead in a car labeled “Rambler Rebel” would strike many as somewhere between odd and wrong, but labels can be so misleading.
“It was built at Ed Burnham’s (Nash) Rambler dealership in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania,” said Pete Trumbauer, who owns the 1932 Ford race car today. “This was in the winter of ’52. They wanted a stock car from the dealership and they got hold of this fellow named Jack Reese.
“Jack’s building this Ford-powered Ford race car at a Rambler dealership. His buddies came in and they were ragging on him and they said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m building this for Ed.’ They said, ‘You’re building a Ford-powered Ford in a Rambler dealership? You’re a rebel.’ He, said ‘I’m a Rambler Rebel.’ There’s the name on the car. That was put
