1967 Rambler American Drag Racing thread

                                                                                                                                                                                                        This a quote from Larry Blatt on the drag racing link ;                          Lots of information, but some of it's not right. The 343 was not available in wagons, and they were X code, not Z code. But it's the first time I saw an actual production figure for the 343 Rogue. It's listed as 33.
Also, I never heard the term "Super American" used for the 343's. The Hurst shifter didn't come until mid '68, I think. Mine supposedly was the first with a Hurst shifter. They made the brackets special from a '67 290 Rogue that was trimmed like mine. It came from a Philly dealer, Northeast Rambler. A friend of mine was a salesman there and sent the car to Hurst Campbell in Warminster, PA, the Hurst factory at the time, for them to make a shifter for it. After it was made, my friend called me and told me I could get it for $37.50. The usual price was $100, and I jumped on it. Another friend of mine and I installed it. Worked much better than the Ford shifter. There was no heavy duty radiator. The heavy duty cooling system consisted of the seven blade flex fan and the shroud. There is only one number in the parts book for a V8 American radiator. Mine ran cooler than a similar 343 American without the heavy duty option. The only optional rear gears were 4.44 and 5.00. The others, 3.73, 4.10, etc. weren't available until 1968. They have different mounting bolts to the carrier, but they can be used if you drill out the holes. This is what I've been told by guys who did it.

 

I could tell you LOTS of stuff about the '57 Rebel. Suffice it to say that the Bendix system patents were bought by Bosch of Germany, they upgraded the system electronics with transistors, and the system first appeared on the '68 VW Type III Fastback and Squareback. I worked for a VW dealer then as a mechanic and asked to be sent to the FI school. They had their early "teething problems," but they made wholesale changes in 1970, and they ran great and were very reliable. I owned two of them used, a '71 stick and a '73 automatic. The systems were virtually trouble-free except for fuel line leakage. Great little cars. Smooth, reasonably powerful for what they were, and very economical. 

I had a 68 I think 4 door american with 290 4 speed with a/c..

Again, anyone here know who this guy is... either he has some really valuable (never before seen) documentation, or has compiled a TON of hear-say from all of his internet searches!!!

Some of the info posted was incorrect. The Vin had an X code for the motor and not a Z. The 7 343 Rogue converts has never been documented. Larry Mitchell listed this figure in one od his books IIRC.

What about the base 220 models?  If the 343 was available in all 2 doors there would have to be a few of these out there.  I know of 2 67  Americans that I'm fairly sure are both 220's with the 343.  Unfortunately I don't own either one.  Anybody else ever seen one?