The Quadraphonic Gremlin Progress report....

[Q-Eight]

I say bravo to you Sir. As a car guy myself, I appreciate the restorations. Never done any myself, but I follow a few that do on the Tube, and of course, yourself. I sort of "lived it at the time" so to speak, as I had several cars that would become classics, my fave being my prized '68 Chevelle. I rebuilt a '64 Corvette 327 and dropped into it after the engine failed. Put a close approximation to the old 30/30 Duntoff cam into it and man did I get heads turning when I fired that puppy up with that high lift/short duration cam.

I was rebuilding m/c engines at 15, my first Chevy 283 at 16....made every stupid mistake you could make but it ran. Had to push it to crank the first time, but those early cast iron Powerglides had a rear pump so if the driveshaft turned it would engage. lol. I still blame those chrome rings....and me not gapping them properly!

Please do keep us apprised of your project. No details too small!

Thanks!

Mechanical work has NEVER scared me. I am a terrible welder, so I tend to shy away from the rusty stuff. Like you, I too have made some COSTLY errors. Worst is when I put faith in others and they can't deliver. That's bitten my ass far too many times which is why I choose to do as much as I can myself. I'm self-taught. I'm not rich, either. My last job as a grocer I was barely pulling in $45k a year. I'm making way less now. My worst habit?? Soda pop.

I do enjoy how my love for AMC's and Quadraphonics can blend together. Nothing screams the 1970's more than a colorful American Motors product with a period 4-channel 8-track deck installed. Gremlin and Javelin both currently DO have Quad systems. The Yellow Hornet may get it's QD-500 back eventually. I even lucked into a QD-1000 that might go in the TRUCK so even it will have Quad.

Back to the Gremlin, it's actually getting to the point where reality is setting in. Yes, I'm an old softie and yes I'm beginning to get emotional about it. This cars' been my little buddy for almost 23 years. It's ALWAYS been the backup car. It's ALWAYS been the car loaned to people when they need emergency wheels. Even when it collapsed a lifter it STILL got me home on 5 cylinders. It's never let me down. I honestly hope one day it finds it's way to a museum. It's an icon. It's a treasure. It's pure Americana.

She's come a long way, baby!

 

[mandrix]

That is one good looking Javelin. You certainly have a love for AMC and it shows.

My last car was that black Z28, I think I said already I traded that in when I retired for my wife's grand cherokee. I just drive the old '96 Ranger when I can get the battery charged enough. Engine runs great although the odometer quit at 110K decades ago. plugs, wires, caps for the two distributors, a few batteries and a front joint, that's about it. Oh and the A/C quit years ago, probably got a clogged orifice valve or such. Never bothered to fix it. Did another stupid thing here....it sits under a big tree and I cleaned the paint up with a Mr. Clean pad. DOH! took the clear coat left on the hood right off. Rest of it still a nice red as it came, though, and the stainless wheels look good.

Ranger is a real bitch to change the plugs on. As you probably know, these old 4 bangers have 8 plugs, 4 on one side, 4 on the other side of the head nestled between the manifold, and putting the plug wires back in place there I made a tool out of pvc pipe as you can't get them back on by hand, or at least I can't. I could change all the plugs on my Z28 in an hour, even with long tube headers, not so much on the Ranger.

 

[Doug G.]

I used to have to jack up my '89 Formula and get underneath to change a couple of the plugs.

Doug

 

[4_everyman]

That is one good looking Javelin. You certainly have a love for AMC and it shows.

On an almost-semi-related note, the postal service just issued a series of Pony Car "Forever" stamps. I plan to pick up a few sheets this morning.



https://www.usps.com/ecp/asset/images/482404-Z0.jpg

 

[Q-Eight]

I guess it's time for my yearly update. I'm preparing the car for it's first public showing. BIG car show in Nelson, BC on Saturday. Will take my Javelin for the Friday pre-show fun, but will take the Gremlin Saturday for the big show. I finally got some vacation time and have procrastinated lots, but I've finished putting in the seat-rail extensions so my fat ass can fit in the car once again. All the cargo plastic has been put in, hopefully for the last time. I've been doing the little detail stuff like placing all the reproduction decals on the door and under hood. It's currently in the air for a last-minute oil change and shifter adjustment. Tomorrow I'll insure it and give it a few shakedown runs.
I still haven't found back speakers that fit so I can have Quad in the car again. I also have an ORIGINAL D70X14 Polyglas Tire as a spare now, but for the life of me cannot locate my vinyl spare tire cover. I'll have to keep looking.

A few fun pictures:
Reproduction Door tag with VIN and build date.

Rear cargo area plastic. Not exactly correct for '70 (1970 should have 5 pieces) but it's the best I can locate.

Gotta know how much coolant to put in.

Funny story. After 50 years, my car has the CORRECT emissions decal. It originally had a decal for an automatic car. My car is three-speed stick.
Interestingly enough, I've verified the existence of another Big Bad Green Gremlin and his is virtually identical except it has an automatic trans. Our cars share the same build date of 6-70 and our VINS are less than 1700 units apart. Our cars may have come down the line together and received the wrong decals!!

This was expensive, but kinda cool. It's just a plastic battery topper, but it makes it look like an original equipment battery. It's the little details like that what make me smile.

 

[Owen Smith]

Looking good! That green...

 

[mandrix]

Would be sweet if you had a way to clean up that exhaust manifold. A PITA, though to pull off and put a wire wheel on it.
Hmm. Headers on the Gremlin? lol. I guess not since you want to keep it factory. Plus the tuning and carburetor hassles....
Ah, just musing.
Looking good, though. What a labor of love!

 

[Q-Eight]

Would be sweet if you had a way to clean up that exhaust manifold. A PITA, though to pull off and put a wire wheel on it.
Hmm. Headers on the Gremlin? lol. I guess not since you want to keep it factory. Plus the tuning and carburetor hassles....
Ah, just musing.
Looking good, though. What a labor of love!

Oh I know. I do the same thing. I've got three aluminum intake manifolds sitting around because I once saw somebody take three of them and make a single manifold for THREE down-draft 2-barrels. I had thought about doing that to my blue, 6-cylinder Hornet when I had it.... just because the car was so sedate.... but then having trips under the hood would be the shocker. But it's the day-dreaming that helps to come up with some fun accessories.

I last detailed the engine in 2005 when I had the head re-done and replaced the lifters. The top of the engine looked so pretty, that I eventually scrubbed down the block, even replacing the water pump and timing chain with fresher parts. The engine has NEVER been out of the car but I probably will pull it eventually for a freshening and detailing. At the same time I might touch up the under hood paint. The thing is, the passenger side inner and firewall are original, 53 year old paint and look amazing. It's only the driver side inner fender that's a bit scabby. I have painted forward of the shock tower around the battery because vintage batteries would off-gas and ruin paint.

But, at the same time, I still have my yellow, V8 Hornet. That car was such a basic car that it really had no collector value. It became my blank canvas for my creativity. That's why it got disc brakes, front & rear sway bars, Hornet/AMX interior, window louvers, and soon: hood scoop, fender flares, Marchal driving lamps, and maybe even some sort of vintage aluminum mag wheels. It is slowly becoming a "Disco" Hornet, but that's sort of the appeal, too. I want it to scream "1977".

That's the beauty of owning multiple cars. You get to explore different themes on each one.

 

[mandrix]

Post up some more pics of your cars when you feel like it, @Q-Eight .

 

[Q-Eight]

Today was Gremlin's first public showing. Over 400 cars, 5 AMC's total. We tried to get the dude with the '70 AMX to move up by us so we could represent one-half of the 1970 AMC lineup, but he preferred his shady spot.

I wanted to sit next to the Challenger to show folks that AMC's "Big Bad Green" was nothing like Mopar Sublime. My car has WAY more Green to it.

I don't know if I won anything, not really the point. Probably the highlight was that the stupid comments were kept to an absolute minimum. Nothing like "AMC stole engines from other manufacturers...." or "AMC failed because they made horrible cars." I have had comments like that in the past and it makes a fellow NOT want to show off his junk.
But today, comments were 99% positive. Everybody loved it. It got a lot more attention than my friends' Rebel Machine! People were digging the tape deck and got a kick out of some of my Gremlin Promotional material I laid on the dash.

I had meant to set up my Go-Pro and capture some peoples' reactions but.... I had a space kadet moment and just totally forgot I'd even brought the thing.

 

[mandrix]

Thanks for the pics! ...and Bravo for making the showing.