1965 AMBASSADOR 990  FIVE PASSENGER CONVERTIBLE!

1965 AMC Ambassador 990 Convertible

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This 1965 Ambassador 990 Five Passenger convertible with a 327 engine was originally bought by a Mr. Roy Stoddard, Jr. of Oskaloosa, Iowa in November of 1964. The car was titled in his business name, Tri-State Farm Stores, Inc. In August of 1974 Roy sold the car to Michael McFadden, also of Oskaloosa, IA. In late February, 1978 Mr. McFadden offered to sell the car to me, Al Lane, as he was moving to Wyoming and needed some money. At that time I was living in Sigourney, Iowa. I offered him a price based on what some of the local dealers said the car was worth, which he accepted.

The car was actually built August 1, 1963 at the Kenosha, Wisconsin plant. I have the registrations from the original purchase and each of the transfers of ownership included. After I had purchased the vehicle, I went to have the car insured through my agent, Mr. Kenny Pfaff, who was an agent for State Farm Insurance. Mr. Pfaff indicated that the Omaha office had said that they had not or did not build this car according to records.

A local manager from Century Motors, that was in Sigourney at that time, helped to take a full roll of film, used carbon paper rolled the VIN plate and the door plates and submitted it to State Farm. Approximately three months later they were able to issue insurance on this 1965 Rambler Ambassador 990. Shortly thereafter, on about June 20, 1978, I sent to American Motors Customer Relations Department a memo asking them how many of the 1965 990 convertibles they made. They replied to my memo that they made “one”. In about seven or eight days after I had sent the memo and received their reply, they phoned me asking where the car was and if I had the title.

They proceeded to offer me any American Motors car that I would choose and they would pick up the car from me. I told them only under one condition – for them to tell me how it came to be that only one car was made. They never replied and I did not show interest in trading the car back to them.

In August of that year, I made contact with Paul Bell, who was with the Vintage Auto and Antiques Museum in Mobile, Alabama. He was doing some judging at the Iowa State Fair and had agreed to stop in Sigourney to do an appraisal on the vehicle. He indicated that the paint work was extremely good and original; the bright work was excellent to mint; the glass excellent and original throughout and the appointments fitted with the original equipment to include all amenities including factory air. He indicated to me at that time to maintain the car in original condition at all costs and means. At that time, we did get $10,000 insurance on the car, based on Paul’s appraisal. It wasn’t until October 2003 that I decided to do some further investigation on this car. I was talking with several of the AMO Collectors Club members and they indicated that I should find the build sheet if it was in existence. I did find the location of it (it was under the carpet in the back floor) and took it immediately to have it laminated to protect the coloration. On the build sheet, it shows a build date of August 1, 1963. However, this car was not introduced as a five-passenger convertible with a floor shifter and all the appointments until the fall of 1965. Once the build sheet was found, it filled in a lot of the gaps.

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CALL Steve Arrendale at 330-432-0036