“I might be the only grandmother here who brought her pro touring car,” says Suzy Bauter as she stands beside her massively flared AMC Rambler American on the floor of the 2017 SEMA Show. No doubt.
Why a Rambler? Sure, it made one eye-catching piece on the show floor, but why not build something with more performance potential?
Suzy explains.
Five years ago, she decided to give autocrossing a try. She even got her feet wet, driving a 1968 Camaro belonging to her partner, Rodney Prouty. But she wanted to develop something that she could call her own. And her build had one big ultimatum: It had to be a vintage wagon.
Suzy started her search with her heart set on a Falcon wagon. She grew up with one.
After some searching, she found a Falcon for sale. It was rotten. Totally rotten. Even so, the price? $5000.
She decided to take another route, expanding her search to cover other wagons. Her search brought her to a trailer park where she found a cream-colored Rambler. It was parked beneath some blue tarps and huddled next to an abandoned motorhome. The Rambler wasn’t perfect, but soon they had it on the trailer.
For five years Suzy and Rodney cut, welded and hammered the Rambler into shape. Once they had fixed the rust and eradicated the shag carpet, they started their performance setup. “That’s when the money started flying out the window,” Suzy exclaims.
The Ramber’s most striking modification has to be the 8.5-inch fender flares, with each one attempting to shelter 315-width tires. Huge 14-inch rotors and six-piston Baer Brakes hide behind the wheels.
When Suzy first started her build, she wanted to retain the original straight-six drivetrain, but they quickly realized that wouldn't be sufficient. Instead she worked in a stock 5.3-liter Chevy LM7 V8–basically the truck version of the famed LS.
They also fit a first-generation Camaro suspension up front, while the rear comes from a fifth-gen Camaro. The dampers feature technology that was barely a dream when the Rambler rolled out of Kenosha: Viking Performance’s Berserker Active Shock Management, a system that allows the dampers to be remotely adjusted on the fly.
Suzy and Rodney did all the work in their home garage–no lift, even–doing everything except paint. Suzy sewed all of the interior and carpeting. In fact, they moved across the country twice with their Rambler project in tow.
Future plans? SCCA CAM autocross competition. Yet her autocross adventures are getting a jump start: At the 2017 SEMA Show, she was awarded a golden ticket to participate in this weekend’s Optima Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational.
Comments
She sounds like my favorite kind of grandma. This is one cool wagon 
We had a Rambler American 2 dr. sedan. IIRC it had a flathead 6.
Also had a Rambler American 2-door sedan version. Mine had a OHV-6.
I think I saw them pan across that car on the Velocity channel coverage of SEMA the other night. It has an angry looking face. 
Where's Crackers he needs to see this for inspiration?
NOHOME
UltimaDork
11/3/17 6:07 a.m.
I don't know how I feel about this. It is crazy with insanely cool flairs but the overall look is just off to me. Looks more like a slammed, wide wagoneer to me than a rambler.
Awesomeness. I'm moving into grandparent age. I wonder what the odds are of my wife becoming a motorhead at this point? Hmmm. Jesse Jackson joining the Klan seems like a rough equivalent.
Ian F
MegaDork
11/3/17 9:29 a.m.
NOHOME said:
Me gusta mucho!
My goal in life is to care less and less about more and more until I reach the point where I dont give a Berkley about anything.
When I had delusions of stuffing a V8 into my crusty ES, I soon realized it would end up looking something like this.
NOHOME
UltimaDork
11/3/17 10:06 a.m.
Ian F said:
NOHOME said:
Me gusta mucho!
My goal in life is to care less and less about more and more until I reach the point where I dont give a Berkley about anything.
When I had delusions of stuffing a V8 into my crusty ES, I soon realized it would end up looking something like this.
I am not done yet!
That said...I am not a huge fan of the flat flares. If I were to go that way, I would harvest something off of a VW RAbbit repair panel like the MGB guys do.
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