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.
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!
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
