Being sold with title.
Top-quality restoration all the way around
Needs nothing
Engine bay is clean
Interior is near perfect
Brass is bright
Top in excellent condition
This is a gorgeous restorationand ready for any show or tour! With
what seemed like a popular color combination of the era, it
features a garnet burgundy body, wooden wheels painted candy red,
with a pine green chassis and accents. Throw in the English
Oakfirewall, off-white top, and shiny brass hardware and you've got
a lot to catch the eye. Somehow, it all works magnificently!
This may be one of the finest cars in the auction. The car, and
especially the engine with its separated cylinders and brass/copper
tubing running everywhere, must have been the inspiration for the
steampunk movement. The interior is near perfect from the steering
wheel right down to the floor. Every detail of this car is amazing.
Given the level of restoration and its rarity, it is sure to bring
top dollar.
The first use of the name Rambler for an American made automobile
dates to 1897 when Thomas B. Jeffery of Chicago, Illinois and
builder of the Rambler bicycle, constructed his first prototype
automobile. After receiving positive reviews at the 1899 Chicago
International Exhibition & Tournament and the first National
Automobile Show in New York City, Jeffery decided to enter the
automobile business. In 1900, he bought the old Sterling Bicycle
Co. factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and set up shop. Jeffery started
commercially mass-producing automobiles in 1902 and by the end of
the year had produced 1,500 motorcars, one-sixth of all existing in
the USA at the time. The Thomas B. Jeffery Company was the second
largest auto manufacturer at that time, (behind Oldsmobile).
Rambler experimented with such early technical innovations as a
steering wheel (as opposed to a tiller), but it was decided that
such features were too advanced for the motoring public of the day,
so the first production Ramblers were tiller-steered. Rambler
innovated various design features and was the first to equip cars
with a spare wheel-and-tire assembly. This allowed the driver, when
experiencing a common puncture (flat tires) to exchange the spare
wheel & tire for the flat one. In 1914, Charles T. Jeffery, Thomas
B. Jeffery's son, replaced the Rambler brand name with Jeffery in
honor of his now deceased father.
In 1916, the Thomas B. Jeffery Company was purchased by Charles W.
Nash and became Nash Motors Company in 1917. The Jeffery brand name
was dropped at the time of the sale and the manufacture of Nash
branded automobiles commenced. In 1937, the concern became the
Nash-Kelvinator Corporation through a merger with the well-known
appliance maker.
In 1910 the Rambler Model 53 made 34 hp, with a 281 cu. in. inline
four-cylinder engine. The engine camewith individually cast
cylinders, three-speed manual transmission, front and rear
semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension, and two-wheel hydraulic drum
brakes at the rear. Wheelbase: 110" Rambler, advertised as "The
Right Car at the Right Price," ranked second only to Olds in
production volume in 1902.
