Rambler is an automobile brand name that was first used by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company between 1900 and 1914.
Charles W. Nash bought Jeffery in 1916, and Nash Motors reintroduced the name to the automobile marketplace from 1950 through 1954. The "Rambler" trademark registration for use on automobiles and parts was issued on 9 March 1954 for Nash-Kelvinator.
Nash merged with the Hudson Motor Car Company to form American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1954. The Rambler line of cars continued through the 1969 model year in the United States and 1983 in international markets.
Rambler cars were often nicknamed the "Kenosha Cadillac" after the original location and their most significant place of manufacture in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The first use of the name Rambler for an American-made automobile dates to 1897 when Thomas B. Jeffery of Chicago, Illinois, builder of the Rambler bicycle, constructed his prototype automobile.
After receiving positive reviews at the 1899 Chicago International Exhibition & Tournament and the first National Automobile Show in New York City, Jeffery entered the automobile business. Following the sudden death of his Rambler partner, R. Philip Gormully, Jeffery sold their bicycle business to the American Bicycle Company, but retained rights to the Rambler name. In 1900, he bought the old Sterling Bicycle Co. factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and set up shop.
Thomas Jeffery and his son Charles experimented with such early technical innovations as a steering wheel (as opposed to a tiller), left-hand driving and the engine placement under a hood instead of under the seat, but they was decided that such features were too advanced for the motoring public of the day. The first Ramblers were tiller-steered, had right-hand drive, and the single-cylinder engine was positioned under the seat. Rambler innovated various design features and was the first to equip cars with a spare wheel-and-tire assembly. This allowed the driver, when experiencing a flat tire, to exchange the spare wheel and tire for the flat one, rather than patching.
Jeffery started commercially mass-producing automobiles in 1902. By the end of the year the company had produced 1,500 motor cars, priced at US$750 (equivalent to $27,257 in 2024), one-sixth of all cars that were manufactured in the U.S. during that year. The Thomas B. Jeffery Company was the second largest auto manufacturer at that time, behind Oldsmobile.
In 1904, Jeffery built 2,342 Ramblers. Higher-powered two-cylinder versions with front-mounted engines and steering wheels were now available. In 1905, the single-cylinder was discontinued, and three larger two-cylinder models priced from $1,200 to $3,000 were offered (equivalent to between US$42,000 and $105,000 in 2024). A Rambler four-cylinder was introduced in 1906.
New employee Edward S, Jordan, who would later become Jeffery's secretary and general manager, provided advertising copy such as "The Right Car at the Right Price", “June Time Is Rambler Time”, and other similarly evocative phrases. By 1906, Rambler was considered an industry leader, with one of the best-equipped automobile factories. Thomas Jeffery was not interested in increasing mass production, however, and settled into a pattern of producing 2,500 Ramblers a year.
In 1910, all Ramblers were now four-cylinder medium-priced cars. While on vacation in 1910, Thomas B. Jeffery died of a heart attack and his son Charles took over the newly incorporated Thomas B. Jeffery Company. Charles increased annual production by about 500 cars and, in 1912, introduced new Ned Jordan model names such as Cross Country, Country Club, Knickerbocker, and Valkyrie. For 1913 the last Rambler branded models were the Cross Country roadster and touring car, an Inside Drive coupe and the Gotham Limousine, priced from US$1,650 to $2,750 (equivalent to between US$52,000 and $87,000 in 2024).
In 1914, Charles T. Jeffery, Thomas B. Jeffery's son, replaced the Rambler brand name with Jeffery in honor of his now-deceased father.
In 1916, the Thomas B. Jeffery Company was purchased by Charles W. Nash and became Nash Motors Company in 1917. The Jeffery brand name was dropped at the time of the sale. The manufacture of Nash-branded automobiles commenced. In 1937, the concern became the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation through a merger with the major appliance maker.
