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What Are The Most Underrated Classics?
Many cars could have qualified for our top five, and it was tough to narrow the list down, we did. Here are the classic cars we think don’t get enough love and the reasons that they should.
1964-67 AMC Rambler American
For over a decade in the fifties and sixties, the Rambler was known as a fuel-miserly people mover with great quality and a low sticker price. The car consistently won the Pure Oil Economy Trials and the Mobil Economy Run year after year, (designed to test engine fuel efficiency) even when gas-guzzling V8s were all the rage. A year after winning the 1963 Motor Trend Car of the Year, AMC introduced a new, larger version of their award-winning car.
The sales brochures for the third-generation Rambler called them the “Sensible Spectaculars” and offered three different wheelbases for customers to enjoy. While the American was the smallest of the three (Rambler Ambassador and Classic were the other two models), it was no slouch. Customers could opt for a 2-door hard-top coupe, four-door sedan, station wagon, and convertible.
The economy-minded American only offered the option of 90 hp, 129 hp, and 138 hp versions of the 3.2L Inline six. (In 1965, AMC corrected the issue by offering more the 3.8L overhead valve straight six. The new engine jumped horsepower to 155 and came standard on any American with automatic transmission.
One of the reasons that this car doesn’t get the respect it deserves is that AMC sold over 164,000 of the Rambler model in 1964. The quality was so good that many hard-working families plopped down $1,959 for the privilege of owning one. At the time, it was the lowest price American-made automobile.
1971 Plymouth Duster 340
Despite the new regulations the government was trying to impose, Plymouth fashioned the 1971 Duster as its own muscle car, clearing it from the shadow of the Valiant once and for all. (like the Barracuda had done the year prior). The Duster 340 was initially intended to compete with the Chevy Nova (‘68), Ford’s Maverick (‘70), and the AMC Hornet (‘70), but sales were so good that Dodge got jealous and stole the concept for its Demon line. (That’s right, the original “Demon” was a carbon copy of the first Duster).
The 340 had a standard 5.6L LA Wedge V8 engine, which produced over 275 hp and 340 lb-ft of torque. While it wasn’t the most powerful engine that Plymouth fashioned (that distinction belongs to the 426 Hemi), it was fast enough to scoot down the track doing 0 - 60 mph in six seconds flat. Of course, that didn’t stop many owners who tweaked the engines for further displacements to force them to go even faster. Back in the day, the rule of thumb was that there was no “replacement for displacement.”
Despite its naturally born muscle car stigma, the Duster offered several lovely amenities, including disc brakes as an option. Owners could have a tape player that would record off the radio (with a built-in microphone for dictation) and powered side mirrors (one of the first cars to offer this feature). This car doesn’t get the respect it deserves because the Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Barracuda hog all the limelight. While only 12,886 were produced (the base Duster sold 173,592 units, making this the car one of America’s truly underrated muscle cars.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 XL
It might have gotten its roots as a way of capitalizing on the space race everyone talked about in the sixties, but the truth is that the Ford Galaxie 500 is one of the most underappreciated cruisers ever built. While Mopar and Chevrolet dominated the mid-sized muscle car market, Ford struggled to offer anything that could compete.
In 1963, Ford stepped up, offering a Galaxie 500 Sport Coupe model that featured one of five V8 engines, optional power steering, power brakes, power windows, and a “swing away” steering wheel (with automatic transmission). The interior had leather-like vinyl seating, wall-to-wall carpeting, gorgeous padded dash, and armrests, but mostly it had room for the entire family to pile in on their way to church.
While early Ford brochures labeled the “XL” as meaning “eXtra Lovely” and ”eXtra Luxury”, both terms probably applied. (We’d added “eXtra Lively”). While the Galaxie offered a standard 289 V8 engine, it also introduced the option of the 427 V8 as a mid-year upgrade. with the option up to the 427 V8, which Ford released as a mid-year upgrade. This offered the best of both worlds, a very fast muscle car filled with the kind of luxury that many families had grown accustomed to enjoying.
1965 - 70 Buick Wildcat
While the Impala might get much of the glory from the sixties for its massive sales figures (over a million units in 1965 alone), we’d like to offer an oft-forgotten car from Chevy’s sister car maker - Buick. The Wildcat might have been named after some concept car from the ‘50s, but it was as good a car as the Impala, with more features and a standard engine that was almost as powerful as the top 427 that the Impala offered.
The Buick lineup ads asked, “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” and apparently, people listened. Sales for the Wildcat topped 73,561 for 1968, a year after GM introduced the 430 ci 4-bbl V8 that produced 360 hp. With a Super-Turbine transmission, the General Motors product could scoot down the track in around 7 seconds, and while not as fast as other muscle cars, the Buick offered a nice balance between luxury and performance.
There was a lot to like about the Wildcat with its “executive-like” interior. The car came with leather strato seats, carpeting, a soft padded dash, and too many amenities to count. The interior space was a wide sweeping dashboard and instrument panel, with plenty of room in both the front and rear seats. While not luxurious as the Electra 225, the Wildcat shared similar features but cost considerably less. As far as a great classic car restoration project, the Wildcat might just be the perfect choice.
1967 Mercury Cougar
Ask anyone who’s owned a late-sixties Mercury Cougar, and their eyes will sparkle with eager, childlike wonder. Even though the Ford Mustang GT tends to hog all the limelight, the Cougar was an excellent offering for its day. Designed to follow in the Mustang’s footsteps, but little did Lincoln-Mercury know, the pony car soon came into its own. Before a year was up, the Cougar accounted for over 2/3rds of the total Lincoln Mercury production. Buyers weren’t the only ones who loved the car. MotorTrend named it their 1967 Car of the Year (the only Mercury to ever win such an award).
The ‘67 Cougar offered only V8 engines, the 4.9L 289 and the 6.4L “Marauder” V8 producing 320 hp. The Cougar had hidden headlamps powered by dual vacuum actuators behind an “electric shaver” grille. The Cougar was sold as a sports car with European luxury and finer attributes than its competitors. With vinyl bucket seats, standard carpeting, cruise control, power disc brakes, power steering, whisper-quiet air conditioning, and a tilt steering wheel that could be moved in nine directions, it’s hard to think of the Cougar as anything but a great muscle car, but it was genuinely so much more.
Considering that Haggerty values the ‘67 Cougars as having an average of $25k, we think that is a small price for one of America's classic pony cars.
