AMT 1976 AMC Gremlin X

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

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, 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???!

Looks great mate.

Hi, that came out great.

Pat

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

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

DBL post  

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   

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

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.

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.

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. :)

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 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.

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 

Hmmm.... Maybe? 

So who's bathroom do you use? Lol

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. 

Bakster

 ...

 

. 

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 

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!!