Boise Street Sighting: Rambler Super

In the 1950s, America's automotive landscape was dotted with many independent makes along with the usual Ford, GM, and Chrysler vehicles. Contrary what many of America's "triumphant" automakers did, Rambler tried to produce smaller cars-- but it didn't quite go as hoped. In order to compete with the styling trends of the day, these compacts were fitted with all of the style of their competitors; fins, two tone paint, and lots of lots of chrome. However, all of these styling characteristics seem a bit out of place on a smaller vehicle-- to me anyway.
While I'm not too sure what year this particular Super is, I'm going to take a stab and call it a 1957 model; apparently, I was wrong-- my friend Jason who writes http://californiastreets.blogspot.com/ has since corrected me. While it didn't have the rorty 327 cubic inch V8, this car probably isn't fitted with the crummy six cylinder either. I'm going to make a guesstimate and say this one is fitted with the now-"famous" 250 cube V8. While the 327 chucked out a respectable 255 horses, the little 250 cuber made a now-laughable 190 horses; for comparison between then and now, a four-cylinder Honda Accord makes 190 horses out of a 2.4L four.
I can't really say whether I like these cars or not; to be fair, I really have only seen this one and maybe one or two others in my whole life. While they're obviously not the most pretty vehicles ever made, I wouldn't call them bad looking per se. Maybe if I saw more, they would grow on me. As it is, I can't really make a judgement. I will call them interesting, and leave it at that.
This car obviously isn't mint, but when these pictures were taken, it was drivable, if not restorable at least. The chrome is decent, but the paint and most of the trim is completely shot; as one can plainly see, it's covered in surface rust, probably due to being left outside in the driveway rather than being covered by either a carport or a garage. I would venture to say that for an enthusiast of the brand, this car would make a great project. Aside being a relatively rare car on the street, it seems like something like this would attract attention at any car show it was brought to. But, like all classic car stories, this one must come to a tragic end. Unfortunately, the following summer I visited, I didn't see this Rambler in the owners' driveway, but the Volvo 1800 in the background was still there, and looked to be in remarkably worse condition that I remembered it. Here's hoping this Rambler got saved before it turned out like the Volvo it shared driveway space with.