April 2004

Tommy DeMaria: 1969 AMC Hurst Scrambler, news letter article

“Little Terror”

The year was 1969 and my brother Phil was looking for a new car. He went to price a Firebird, but loaded up it was over $4,000. Being about 18 years old, it was too high to pay off. I showed him an article on a Hurst sc/Rambler for $2,998 well equipped. This car had Mag wheels, a 390 V8 with Ram Air Induction, 4 barrel Carter AFB carburetor, 4 speed T-10 transmission, and 3.54:1 posi-rear. It also came with reclining bucket seats, a heavy duty radiator and flex fan, and a suspension that was tuned with staggered shocks! It was painted white with the red sides and blue decal stripes on the hood, roof, and trunk. It also had a functional hood scoop. This was called “Color Scheme A”.

They produced the first 500 SC/Ramblers this way and they sold out. But then the dealers complained that they were too loud looking, so the next batch produced were all white with no decals except for the word “AIR” on the scoop. They also put a long blue decal and a red border on the rocker panels. This was called “Color Scheme B”. 688 of these were produced. The last 324 made were back to “Color Scheme A”.

My brother drove the car for 3 ½ years on the street and got tired of it, being afraid it might be stolen if he went somewhere like the movies, etc. So we became partners in the car and he went out and bought a Chevy Nova. I raced the sc/Rambler for about 6 years. First we had to better the stock time of 14.2 seconds in the quarter mile at 97 miles per hour. Zero to sixty was about 6.3 seconds.

We changed the cam and lifters to an Isky .456 lift solid cam, put in factory 4.44 gears and we ran low 12s! (12.08). Then we decided to bore the engine .030 over and changed the manifold over to a dealer option cross ram with two four barrel carbs. We also installed a set of 5.14 gears and 10 ½ inch slicks. The car ran 11.31 to 11.36 all day!

By the time National Speedway was closing (the last day to be precise), we had a pro motor in the car. It was a 360 honed to 372 cubes with 11.5 Jahns pistons, 2” aluminum Howard rods, and a fresh custom camshaft cut by General Kinetics with .725 lift intake and .695 lift exhaust valves. We installed a Tunnel Ram setup with two Holley 600 Double Pumpers. In feeling the car out during the first few “no load” runs, it ran 11.18 seconds at 121 mph in the quarter. That was launching and shifting at 7,000 rpm. On the sixth run I launched at 7,500 rpm and shifted at the same. The car turned a 10.86 at 126 mph! I backed that time up with another run on 10 ½” slicks. Then I had some minor trouble with the engine and called it a day.

We still have that pro motor on and engine stand with the heads removed. (18 years now) It gets oiled and rotated every 30 days. We still own the car (with original modified motor back in it) and it only has 22,000 original miles! So if you see us at any shows or cruise events, say hi. And remember that Rambler song from the 60’s (old timers!) Beep Beep “How do I get this car out of second gear?!”

“Little Terror” is owned by Tom and Phil DeMaria of Oceanside, New York.

Pete Giordano
Long Island Classic Cars.com
www.liclassiccars.com

1972

Cars Magazine