that was my wife's first car

While I normally don't build cars, I have to admit that this kit caught my attention. There's a really sick part of me that would love to build a Gremlin to model Garth Algar's "Mirth-mobile" from 'Wayne's World"...

Looking forward to watching your progress on this build!

I don't know anyone who owned this car until now

Wayne and Garth drove a Pacer lol. AMC's have run in the family when they were still Rambler.

Dad and I built 1970 Rebel SST two door HT that used to take awards in almost every show it was entered into. During that time he had 3 AMX Spirits, 1 Spirit GT, 1 regular Spirit, and a Pacer wagon that rumbled like it had a big block in it.

Now he's looking for a Gremlin for his retirement "project" car. He found a picture of a '71 online that is silver with black accent stripes and we're going to model that scheme because its gorgeous.  :)

We even still have some of the orriginal AMC engine color for this project. It should look good when we're done with it. Nothing as detailed as some of you amazing builder's have done in this section however. Just a clean, mostly out of the box, build.

M. Brindos

Wayne and Garth drove a Pacer lol. 

 

Now you see clearly why I don't build cars! I need to stop posting when I'm supposed to be finishing my calculus homework! :)

Lol, I saw this at the hobby shop early this year and thought about picking one up to do a post-apocolypse road warrior Gremlin with bolted-on armour, guns, and a ram... 

Like I need another friggin' project, so I let it slide. 

This is a cool build i will be watching this 

I used to work in Kenosha, WI where these were built.  One of the girls I worked with had a "Levi Edition" Gremlin.  The seats were actually upholstered in blue jean material, complete with red stitching and brass rivets!

My uncle worked for AMC and he owned one of these. His was yellow with a black stripe. His son took ownership of it when he was old enough to drive. This was in the late 70s. It quickly became his cruise mobile. He installed fur on the headliner and all.

Reminiscent of the Pacer used in Waynes World, we cruised around in the car many a night. The music was cranked and we were singing along, just like in the movie. This was long before the movie came out. Laughing.. We had a blast. My cousin claims that he won a few street races with the car. I wasn't there to see it, so I can't say.

This will be a fun build for me to watch.

Please do continue this WIP, Mike. Looks like fun.

A model-building project with your Dad is very neat. That'll be something to remember and treasure one day, you just gotta trust me on that one.

Mike;

    You got me thinking about my A.M.C. cars .Geez , I thought they were pretty neat .Now , can you imagine a plain jane Gremlin with stock everything EXCEPT the 327 , two 4bbl carb Chevy engine and a Borg - Warner four speed !

    That was a true sleeper .Then there was my Pacer Wagon . Bought it wrecked . When I finished it you could not tell where it had gotten hurt . The biggest cost there was the window glass ! But It was a sweetheart that gave my wife over a hundred K Miles of trouble free operation .

 My last AMC car was a American 2dr. Hdtp. with everything .Such an easy car to fix and drive. Thing is , it rarely broke .    T.B.

My last one was a '74 Matador. Big beast of a car with no power brakes lol! Many times I had to put two feet on that sucker to slow it down.

I ended up selling it for the $400 invested into the tires, just to get it out of the parking lot. I was a rust bucket and literally falling apart. I think the guy I sold it to had it in mind for a demolition derby.  :(

I didn't have the money to fix it and I was moving out of an apt. complex. It simply had to go.

It did have the 304ci under the hood though. it got up and went fairly well for a huge car lol.

Not much to show with this one. I've got the black undercote on, in prep for the silver top cote that will be next.

Thanks for looking! 

Mike

Primer looks good.

Model Maker

Thank you. I hope the silver top cote comes out just as nice.  :)

Mike

Finish cote of silver ought to go well.

Top dog of AMC's was the Marlin.

It may have beat the Charger by a year or two as

being the first fastback sedan.

Don't think it ever had a big block though.

Marlins were cool, you could fold down the backseat

and put your surf board in back.

Surfboards were 8 or 9 feet long then.

Would like to see how paint job turns out.

Model Maker

I've seen some beautifully restored Marlins. I've always loved the lines they had. Not as much as, say, a 68 AMX, but AMC did have a few gems in the collection.

No, they never made a big block. You could get a 401ci but it was the same block as the 304ci.

My Dad just brought home a Gremlin last night. Towed it over from eastern Washington. Its going to be fun restoring the old car! We haven't worked on a car together in over 15 years.

Nice smooth even job on the undercoat Mike.

And you and your dad are going to restore the real thing? That should be interesting.

Hey Mike, I'd love to see a pic of your Dads Gremlin. If you are so inclined, that is.

Your project is coming along!

Well I must say the silver has turned out beautifully.

I need to buff this paint out though as it didn't lay as smoothly as I would have hoped. But it is a stunning silver.

Unfortunately the 1974 1:1 Gremlin X is not going to be as easy to work on. Its most definitly a "project" car.

This is going to take years of work to get into proper shape again.

Well looky who we got in here! Good ol' Mike! I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this one! Great to have you on board in the Auto section.

Hey Mike, the silver looks good.

Thanks for posting a picture of your Dads new baby. Look at the hood scoops! What a fun project. 

Good morning, fellas. Yeah, Mustang, Dad wanted to build a car so he could see if he wanted the new project car to be painted in silver. They may not be the same year, but so far, we both love the color on the model.  :) 

I've not built a car in a long time and its been even longer since I've ever finished one. I usually bog down once I get to the body. Engines, transmissions, interiors I've got no problem with. But shiney finishes are a weak point in my skill set. lol.

So far, so good.

Bakster, it's a real hunk of junk LOL! but these kinds of things take years to build up right. First stage will be to take it all apart and find out what can be restored and what will be replaced. The former owners of this car have done a lot of damage to it, inside and out. But we have some extra parts for trade in the deal as well. An extra roof rack, a power steering pump from a chevy, etc.

This car is literally a mess right now. No radiator, leaking break lines, ameture conversion of the shifter from column to floor that is super sloppy. Yeah, we've got our work cut out for us with this one lol.

Those hood scoops are some back yard scrap sheet metal pop riveted to the hood. They even cut holes in it, which means we need to find a new hood somewhere, and these cars are getting VERY rare.

Its an X car, but someone replaced a bunch of stuff or stole it for another car along the way. Fortunately we still have a spare engine sitting in the corner of the garage.

This car actually started with a 232 under the hood, instead of a 304. We've got a 256 that will fit nicely though. Lots of  AM options to fix it up with.  ;)

So years of wrenching ahead of us. It will be nice having this to work on while we have a model of the intended goal sitting on the shelf for inspiration.  :D

Next up for the model, is some tooth paste polishing! That should make it shine!  :D:D:D

Lemme know if you need any help with the gloss finishes when you get there Mike. I've spent the last two years learning and feel ok with where I'm at in that regard.

looking good 

Thanks, Mustang. If I run into any problems or have any questions I will be asking you.

Crown, Thanks! not one problem yet, but Murphy's Law will eventually catch up with me again lol.

A couple shots of the engine/trans that Dad assembled. Believe it or not, this is the actual AMC engine color. We had some left over from years ago.

:D

Hey Mike-- thanks for the synopsis on your Dads car. That was fun to read. The car will be a real gem and a fantastic accomplishment when you get it done. I am excited for you two. What a cool thing to do with your Dad. 

your silver is looking good. I always had an issue trying to get silver paint to look like car paint silver.

That's a really cool shade of blue on that motor Mike. I apply a thinned down coat of Tamiya Smoke to my engines to bring out the detail and to give it a slightly used look. The thinned down coat also doesn't dirty it up too bad so you've got some beauty to it rather than a worn out look.