Re: 8.75 vs 2.1

Posted by Steve203 On 2014/11/18 21:39:18

Romney was being sincere. The Rambler was on the brink of its historic climb to number three position in the industry. AMC had a capacity at Kenosha for 160,000 to 180,000 six-cylinder engines a year. In 1957 AMC built 114,000 cars, but for 1958 it would build 217,000, most of them Rambler sixes. Romney was just as sincere when he cancelled further orders for Packard-built V-8's in late 1956: With Rambler in the ascendancy, AMC was closing out its big Hudsons and Nashes."

Well...this sounds like a lot of hooey.

First, AMC was in severe financial trouble in 55-56 and there was no guarantee the company would even see 58, let alone sell that many Ramblers.

Second, the development of the AMC V8, a design pinched from Kaiser by hiring Kaiser's engine designer who had already done most of the engineering on Kaiser's dime, was a product of the "reciprocity" dispute and Nance and Romney throwing spitwads at eachother.

Third, Studebaker was desperate for a bigger 6. The Champion 6 was 170cuin. Though it was stroked to 186 in 55, it still lagged the big three's entry level 6s which ran around 230cuin. If The Champion had stayed small, it could have managed, but it had grown too much for the old engine.

If Nance and Romney really wanted to solve the 6 problem, there was an easy solution: The 55-56 Kenosha built Hudsons still used Hudson engines, rather than Nash, the 308 in the Hornet, and the 202 that Hudson had developed for the Jet, in the Wasp.

It would have simplified AMC production to use the 196 in the Wasp and make the 202 for Studebaker, or sell the 202 tooling to Studie.

Here is how the engines line up, according to classiccardatabase:

Studie 170(54) 85hp, 138ftlbs
Studie 186 (55) 101hp, 152ftlbs
Nash 196 as used in the 55 Statesman 100hp, 155ftlbs
Hudson 202 as used in the 55 Wasp 115hp 158ftlbs

When Studebaker truncated their platform to make the Lark, they took the 6 back to 170, so I suspect the 186 version had significant operational shortcomings.

And, consider that, while AMC was hemorrhaging money, Romney spent millions on tooling and machining line to make his own V8 so he could avoid buying from S-P.

Again, it's a matter of the conflict between Nance and Romney that trumped solutions to their problems that were literally laying at their feet.