The frenzy that is LS Fest is over and on my schedule, and in my world that means that the next major event I have to gear up for is SEMA in Las Vegas. I’m always looking forward to the week of serious work that goes into SEMA, mainly because I’m ready to see the finished-product cars sitting pretty on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Unlike previous years, however, I have the chance to share with you a car that will be on the floor this year at the K&N/Spectre booth, and it is going to be a doozy.

For our fans of autocrossing, the name Suzy Bauter should be familiar. Suzy, along with Rodney Prouty, have been very busy this year on a special project in-between thrashings of their 1968 Camaro, “Plain Jane”,  in the cones. And this is it. It’s a 1963 Rambler American 440 station wagon, a car that was at the tail end of it’s second generation and had been mechanically identical to it’s 1958 first-generation roots, but was also a fine example of what the minds that combined from Nash and Hudson were able to create that could actually compete with the Big Three. Rambler’s take was to make a small car that drastically undercut based on cost and sold based on economy, thrift, and to be fair, bejing a good size smaller than the aircraft carriers that were the norm of the day. The one thing they were not were powerhouses…even with a power bump, the 138 horsepower 195ci straight six was meant more for sipping fuel than anything else. And don’t ask about handling…Corvette, it is not.

However, there’s just a bit of Camaro floating around in Bauter’s Rambler. Up front, a first-generation GM F-body subframe with Global West upper A-arms, Detroit Speed lower control arms, a XXX steering box and sway bar kits out the suspension, while out back a Zeta-platform Camaro’s independent rear suspension and sway bar went in almost perfectly in line with the Rambler’s black metal. Viking Performance Berzerker ASM adjustable coilovers are at all four corners to dial in the Rambler once it’s moving under it’s own power. That power will come from an LM7 5.3L V8 that is getting an Edelbrock carburetor conversion and a host of goodies from Spectre, Moroso and MSD. The transmission will be a 700R4 automatic with a TCI Automotive Autocross valvebody and TCI ratchet shifter. Baer Brakes have thrown in massive 14″ Pro+ six-piston brakes with Eradispeed rotors to slow down this fun. Suzy herself is doing up the interior, while Best Of Show Coachworks in Escondido, California is handling the paint and bodywork.

In order to get this scoop, I had to do some things…like bring my wife down to meet up with Suzy and Rodney, and to bring a watermelon from my garden in trade. We pushed the Rambler out of the garage where some early bodywork has been taking place, shot the pictures, and pushed it back inside before the rain came down. The Rambler has been the focus of Suzy’s world this year, more so than the autocrossing, and while there isn’t the reality TV show deadline deal, there is a deadline: the car has to be on the floor at SEMA. It’s spot is there, the car must show. And she knows it, confiding that the paint might be cut and buffed on the floor of the Convention Center if they cut it close.

We will be looking for the car once we start our work in Vegas, and if you have managed to get your passes into the show, stop by and check the finished product out. We will!