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AMT 1976 AMC Gremlin X

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  • Member since
    July 2014
  • From: Franklin Wi
Posted by Bakster on Sunday, September 18, 2016 2:37 PM

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!

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, September 18, 2016 2:15 PM

Nice smooth even job on the undercoat Mike.

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

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, September 18, 2016 1:26 PM

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.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    December 2011
Posted by model make on Sunday, September 18, 2016 10:18 AM

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

 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Saturday, September 17, 2016 10:49 PM

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

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    December 2011
Posted by model make on Friday, September 16, 2016 6:46 PM

Mike

Primer looks good.

Model Maker

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Friday, September 16, 2016 12:33 AM

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!  Smile

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 4:50 PM

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.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    June 2014
  • From: New Braunfels , Texas
Posted by Tanker - Builder on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 12:25 PM

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.

  • Member since
    May 2013
  • From: Indiana, USA
Posted by Greg on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 9:05 AM

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.

  • Member since
    July 2014
  • From: Franklin Wi
Posted by Bakster on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 8:54 AM

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.

 

 

  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: Longmont, Colorado
Posted by Cadet Chuck on Monday, September 12, 2016 9:51 PM

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!

 

Gimme a pigfoot, and a bottle of beer...

  • Member since
    August 2015
  • From: the redlands Fl
Posted by crown r n7 on Monday, September 12, 2016 8:32 PM

This is a cool build i will be watching this 

 

 

 Nick.

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Monday, September 12, 2016 2:42 PM

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. 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    April 2013
Posted by KnightTemplar5150 on Monday, September 12, 2016 1:17 AM

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! :)

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, September 11, 2016 11:07 PM

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.

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: California
Posted by SprueOne on Sunday, September 11, 2016 10:44 PM

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

Anyone with a good car don't need to be justified - Hazel Motes

 

Iron Rails 2015 by Wayne Cassell Weekend Madness sprueone

  • Member since
    April 2013
Posted by KnightTemplar5150 on Sunday, September 11, 2016 10:42 PM

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!

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Sunday, September 11, 2016 9:11 PM

that was my wife's first car

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Tumwater, WA.
AMT 1976 AMC Gremlin X
Posted by M. Brindos on Sunday, September 11, 2016 8:53 PM

This is a re-release from "2nd Time Around LLC" with the orriginal box art and a couple of other goodies in the box. I'm co-building this with my Dad because this was his first car. Actually I think that was a '71 Gremlin. I do know that it was White with Red stripes and a Red interior.

So far just doing the body work has been fun. Memories have been shared and it has been a really great time just getting it into primer.

So without further ado, I present to you what we have gotten done so far.

Aside from sanding all of the mold seams I took an artistic approach and eliminated the marker lights, both front and back, and blended in the front grill/headlight to give the car a smoother, cleaner look. There are still a few places that should be addressed, but they are small and not noticable unless you know these cars really well lol.

I also had to add shims to the sides of the hood and carefully sand them until the matched up with the body. It fit fine in the back, but there were large gaps in the front and it did not look good at all.

As of the end of today we considered the body work complete and we sprayed it in flat black in preparation for the AMC Silver paint that will go on next. No pictures, sorry.

 

More to come next week!  :)

- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"

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