Gremlin turns 50 today.

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Loved these little car's. I had a company car, think it was a 304ci? V-8 with a 3 or 4 speed trans. Man, that car could move.... Also, the only time I had a car slip off a bumper jack while i was partially under it... Glad it wasn't a caddy....

 
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My uncle Charlie was a car nut and he had one of the Rambler Scramblers I think it was called Red White and Blue with hood scoop and ran good. The did pretty good at the drag strip.

Dekalb Tool & Die in Atlanta bought some of the press out of their stamping plant when they closed it up. 



 
I grew up in AMCs hometown of Kenosha, Wi. Dad started working there at age 18 and retired 40 years later in 99. The stories I can tell on AMC cars. New a guy with 1 of the prototype rumble seat fiberglass AMX’s. Had a high school buddy with a Gremlin with a nasty 401. Could carry the front wheels 40 feet. Worked on plenty of Rebels, Marlins, Javelins, AMX’s, Matadors, and jeeps. My daily in high school the 9 months the 72 was parked was a 76 Pacer. Bought it for $50 and sold it two years later for $50 for the leaf springs. Again, aaaalot of stories I could share

 
The Gremlin body cut up made a lot of nice modified stock cars back in the 1970's in my area.  The (used to be) famous Reading Fairgrounds Speedway was a few minutes from my house.  That half mile clay track was knocked down in 1979 to build a shopping mall, and right now that derelict shopping mall is finally being knocked down 41 years later.  Just like I go for the '71 to '73 Mustang body style, I also like the '71 to '74 Javelin body style.

 
My wife keeps telling me how she rebuilt the engine in a Gremlin she had early on, yet won't pick up a screw driver anymore for fear of messing something up.  Interestingly enough, my '80 CJ-7 has the same 258 I-6 that her Gremlin had, but she says it looks funny.  I think I might have to call B.S. on her hinky stories.  LOL!

I like Gremlins - a lot like Vegas, Mavericks, and even Pintos, they can be some nasty little sleepers.  Would've loved to have had the '71 Javelin I was drooling over when stationed at Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, NM.

 
AMC has built some really good performance cars over the years. Most could probably qualify as sleeper cars since AMC built very few "look at Me" vehicles. I feel most of their performance offerings were always over shadowed by the cult status Boss 302, Z-28, and Big block monsters from the big three.

Unless your old enough to remember the Javelin or are an Alabama resident from the '70s, there was another first for AMC. The 71-72 Javelin Alabama State Trooper car! I actually rode in one of those in 1972. I was en-route from Robbins AFB, Ga to Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS when our military truck developed a crack in one of the injection lines and broke down on I-65 in Alabama. A State Trooper in a Javelin stopped to see if he could assist us. (It is 1972...No cell phones)! He ended up taking me to a diesel repair shop for help. 

That was really a treat to ride in a police car uncuffed!    😄

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My uncle Charlie always had several cool cars. 1950 Ford yellow and black Crestliner, Model A roadsters, PU's even Model AA log truck. He even had a Packard lemo. He like Fords best but he also had this little rambler. Not his but just like his.  I spent lots of time in Wisconsin with John Deere in Horicon. You still see some parked but not as many as you would think. A tool shop in Atlanta Georgia, DeKalb T&D bought several of the big presses when they shut down AMC.
My cousin kept none of his dads cars he had a 1935 Ford coupe with 800 miles from Arizona and he did not even keep that. Same way my son will be zero interest.

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