American Motors Corporation, or AMC in short, may have been dead for nearly 36 years, but most of its models live on in the hands of passionate petrolheads. Some have gotten bored of constantly putting money into their classic rides, so they're looking to sell them, often for a good chunk of cash.
Case in point, meet another AMC Gremlin that's searching for a new home. But what exactly is a Gremlin? A subcompact model offered as a two-door hatch and two-door sedan, which went against the likes of the local market's Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega and imports like the iconic Volkswagen Beetle.
It shared numerous nuts and bolts with other AMC cars, including the Concord, Eagle, Hornet, and Spirit, featuring a front-engine and rear-wheel drive layout. The AMG Gremlin had a curb weight of just over 2,600 pounds (~1,180 kg) and measured only 96 inches (2,438 mm) between the axles, or about as much as a modern-day Hyundai i10 city car.
Most of the lineup came with straight-six engines and also included a straight-four. However, the most sought-after examples featured a V8, and this was the engine initially powering the pictured 1974 AMC Gremlin X. The original mill was swapped with a 360 ci V8 with a carburetor, and the undisclosed output and torque go to the rear wheels through a four-speed automatic transmission.
Photo: Garage Kept Motors
The vendor mentions the AMX '20' twin-grip rear end, 3:54 gears, and what we can see in the pictures accompanying the ad, namely that it has a red exterior finish with gold decals on the sides, chrome bumpers and window trim, and five-spoke wheels wrapped in BFGoodwich Radial T/A tires. It has a tan interior with brand-new carpets, a three-spoke steering wheel, and traditional gauges, with the odometer reading 53,035 miles (85,352 km) at the time of cataloging.
As a result, this AMC Gremlin X hasn't seen an excessive amount of action for a car born fifty years ago, and to the right buyer, it should be an exciting proposal. We also find it exciting, mainly due to the hipster-ish design and V8 engine that breathes air from behind the grille. Moreover, it is very shiny for an old-timer and excessively clean for an unrestored example, regardless of whether we're looking at the exterior, basic cockpit, under the hood, or the underbody.
The final piece of information that matters here is the asking price, which is $26,900, according to Garage Kept Motors. This makes it $2,000 more expensive than the copy we covered last summer, which packed a straight-six motor with a three-speed manual transmission. But would you rather buy a Gremlin on this budget, or would you get something else, like a classic muscle car or perhaps an old truck?
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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