AMT 1976 AMC Gremlin X

I have no problems with you guys posting fond memories at all. That seems to be the soul of this thread. :)

If only I could find a kit of an '83 Ford Escort 4-door, or of the '92 Metro I drive now lol!

Anyone know if they make an '02 Hyundai Elantra GT? My wife would get a kick out of me building her car lol!!

Bakster

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Hi,

That could be a fun subject for a model build, if you could find a kit.  Hopefully not getting too far off thread, a short while ago I saw that Moebius came out with a 65 Plymouth Belvedere (though only as a two door) and my first car was a 65 four door.  I've been tempted to pick up a copy in the hopes of trying to build it up to look like my old car.  Eventhough it was a very generic car that had previously actually been owned by a little old lady since it was new, I still kind of have fond memories of it.  There was enough room under the hood to almost climb in alongside the V-8 and I think you could have probably landed a small helicopter on the trunk if you tried .  To me, as a 16/17 yr old kid it was probably the best $600 that I ever spent.

I think I owed it right around the time the B-52s came out with their song "Love Shack" and even though it was a Plymouth and not an actual Chrysler, I remember thinking my car was "as big as a whale" and I think you could actually probably have fit 20 people inside if you tried.

Pat

PS.  I was young and dumb and one day I noticed the car was making blue smoke and burning gas quickly.  I asked my brother if he had any ideas what was wrong.  It turns out one of the spark plugs had died, and I was just cruising along on the other 7, and never even noticed 

PPS.  Sorry for getting off track 

PFJN

I guess the moral of that story is that if you stay 10 miles away from home bathroom you'll probably be pretty safe 

You might have something there. 

Just for fun--here are two images of the Bakster Vega Mobile. Brindos, I hope you don't mind me posting them to this thread. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing em.

Below: The endless fight against rust. The 70s cars rusted out long before the engines died.

Below: Primed and ready for paint. This was not long before the first accident. Check out the whip antenna. That there folks is the social media of the day. CB radio--it was a hoot.

It was a fun project for a young kid like me.  

10-4. I'll be 10-20 on the side. 

Hmmm.... Maybe? 

So who's bathroom do you use? Lol

Bakster

...you know how they say that most accidents happen close to home? The stoplight of both accidents was maybe 100 yards from my house. I would never have believed that statistic, but I am living proof of it. ... 

You know what they say...

• The majority of accidents on the road happen within 10 miles of home, and
• The majority of accidents at home happen in the bathroom.

I guess the moral of that story is that if you stay 10 miles away from home bathroom you'll probably be pretty safe 

I had a Ford escort in a similar situation once. That one ended up dying in a cloud of smoke after all four rings blew on the freeway on my way to work. I got there with an enormous cloud in tow lol.

But yeah, it was my baby for a long time. I put a lot of work into that car.

Yeah, like you said, it is good that it didn't happen after a nice paint job! That is a good story...

Your story kind of reminds me of my first car, a 1971 Vega wagon. I bought it used for $150. I was poor, beggars can't be choosers. The car was rusting pretty bad and the tailgate had a dent that I bondo'd up. I had the car primed up and near ready for paint. I drove the car as such until then. One day, I was at a stoplight when I was hit from behind. I get out of the car to find my bondo job laying on the ground. The driver was about my same age. He told me that he was gawking at two girls walking along the road. Thus, the reason for hitting me. Since I told you that much, I will tell you the cars final demise. A few years later, at the same stoplight, a car ran a red light and pert near t-boned me. It was just far enough forward of the door that my car spun around. Well, the Bakster Vega Mobile was no more. BTW...you know how they say that most accidents happen close to home? The stoplight of both accidents was maybe 100 yards from my house. I would never have believed that statistic, but I am living proof of it. Crazy..

Keep up the good work Brindos!

PS: I forgot to mention this nugget. The guy that totaled my car went to my high school. He was a classmate, in my same grade. You can't make this stuff up.

I was just helping Dad give the '74 a tune up yesterday. Plugs, wires, timing. We managed to get that old 232ci humming pretty well. We have a 258ci on a stand that we're going to rebuild with some mild performance upgrades. Lope the cam a bit, maybe a slight bore increase and such.

I must admit more work has been done on the 1:1 than the model lol.

Also I have an amusing story. The last owner decided to remove the rear marker lights and used a copious amount of Bondo to fill the holes instead of welding in some sheet metal. Dad decided he wanted to put them back in and took a drill to it, but as he did the entire "block" of Bondo just fell out into the car lol! Both sides just took a little push.

Well the rear marker lights went back in without much of a problem after that lol!

Can you imagine that happening after a nice paint job was put on it? We (not being body guys, just wrench monkeys) know you don't use heavy ammounts of Bondo to fill holes. You gotta have things spot welded if you want them to stay put lol.

What works in small scale does not work in 1:1 lol!

Anyways I think I should probably make some sort of progress on this kit some time this summer. :)

That is a slick article. There's some cool lookin' rides through out that issue as well. Jim Haught is leaving SA. He's got a little snippit in his normal spot in the magazine about that.

Say Brindos... I was at a Hobbytown today and I thumbed through the latest Scale Auto. They had a build in there for a 76 Gremlin. The build was called something like, a Patriotic Gremlin. They painted it in the colors of the US flag.

Thought you might be interested.

Thanks Duster. I'm going to try looking for some of those ideas. Something will end up working. :)

Not sure of the kit size instrument faces.   Look for some embossed foil wrapping paper, gift bags, ribbon, etc. (1$ store is your friend) there are designs and colors so you may find a good substitute . 

Good job on the 1:1 instrument faces . 

Although I not sure how you will be able weather them realistically   

DBL post  

I would have said an old cd but at this scale the hole in the middle is probably bigger than the dial

Thanks, Ken, and Pat. I need suggestions on how to replicate this. Maybe foil?

Hi, that came out great.

Pat

Looks great mate.

Yeah, Lee, these cars were not built for their handling lol! That's for sure!

A tad bit off topic, I think, but some work on the 1:1 scale was how I spent my afternoon. Dad had the instument clusters out of the car so we could make one good one out of them. There was a lot of oxidation and the needles were faded with age.

Since we had them all out anyways I decided to pull out the Brasso and Mother's chrome polish. I repainted the needles with MM Turn Signal Amber Metallic and it ended up looking almost new again.

Now.... how the heck am I going to replicate this on the model???!

LMAO!!!!!!  My best friend in high school....his sister had a Gremlin.  And the little bugger had a 427 ci mill in it.  Scary as anything.  That ugly little car would blow Corvettes into the weeds.  Couldn't go around corners, but off the lights, nothing could touch it.
Way scary.

Yeah, it looks really cool, Mike. It looks ready to cruise in. Nice tire tips from Mustang too.

I like what you've done ;

   Now how about this . take the body and cut all the back off behind the door.Straighten the upper door post and fasten the new half to the other .You will basically have a " Pushmi-Pullyou " Gremlin .

  And with a trunk where the hood would be on either end you can carry a heck of a sound system to carshows ! LOL.LOL. Saw one in So.Cal . Last year at a car show . Wish I had gotten a picture . T.B.

Man that thing looks really sharp Mike!!! I love the stance and the wheel / tire set up as it gives it an nice aggressive look. Say, if the tires aren't permanently glued/ adhered on yet I've got a good tip for you in regards to the tread and side walls.

 Grab a cordless drill and shallow 12mm socket (pictured is a deep socket but I learned my lesson due to all the wobble that occurs when using a longer socket) and mount the tire on it like so:

The results:

another thing I did was I painted the tires with a flat coat with one or maybe two drops of gray mixed in for more of a flat / rubbery look.

Here's a before shot without the clear coat.........

and this one with the clear coat applied:

Well Maybe not perfect, but....

BAM!

I think I got it now, where we would have it on the real car. About a 1 inch lift in back and 2 up front. She's got a good rake going now that doesn't scream "Drag Racer" lol.

This is just gonna look bit$&in! Wow!!! Can't wait to see the final stance because something tells me that it's gonna be perfect.

Uh yeah, lol.

I started playing with the stance of the suspension. The fist try was too agressive and made the wheel base a bit too long. Second try is a little high, but the wheel base is ligned up correctly.

The front was lowered by about two scale inches and the back now sits about two scale inches higher than stock.

^ A bit too much heigth.

^ That's a bit better.

M. Brindos

 Power steering, but no power brakes, unfortunately, was quite common with AMC's.

 

 

Thanks! It does look pretty dang close. Normally AMC would finish the grill with a silver inset with chrome trim around it. But we've always prefered the look of these blacked out. It just looks cooler and gets you some attention at a car show. We'll be doing such things with the '74 in the driveway lol.

So now I think I'll have to pay some attention to the frame so we can mount that engine and I can build a Power brake booster. The kit didn't come with one. Power steering, but no power brakes, unfortunately, was quite common with AMC's.

Thanks for the comment!  :)

yes, those detail touches are looking realistic.

:)