![]() The right pedal takes effort, real quadricep effort. This 2,600-pounder, on the other hand, moves, at least when you can get the gas pedal down. I’ve driven old Pontiacs, old Camaros and old Fords, and they sound the part, but with so much weight to lug around, all of that sound and fury is often for naught. Regardless, the 401-XR feels like a real muscle car. The brand played this up in ads, with one spot featuring a gas station attendant who remarks, “Where’s the rest of your car, toots?” That was back when it was apparently acceptable to call women “toots.” The Gremlin is funny looking, to be sure. It’s possible Cadillac Allante owners have no sense of humor Fire regulations prohibited using real cotton denim. ![]() This was a Levi’s edition- jeans, is there anything they can’t do-meaning it came with denim-look nylon on the seats and doors, including a door storage pocket made to look like the back pocket of some 501s. But a handful tribute cars were built, even ones that came from the factory with the I6 like the one you see above. Only 20 were built, maybe 21 depending on who you ask, making them rare. R for Randall, X for the trim that included body side tape stripes, body color front fascia, slotted road wheels with Goodyear Polyglas tires, bucket seats and "X" decals. A swap was hatched: AMC gave its unofficial endorsement and shipped 20 401s to the Randalls for installation in Gremlins, creating the Gremlin 401-XR. When AMC started offering the 304-cu-in V8 for the Gremlin, they noticed it happened to have the exact same block dimensions as the 255-hp, 401-cu-in V8 AMC was already producing for the Javelin, Matador and others. Its first AMC-branded car was the Marlin (1967), followed by the AMX (1968), Javelin (1968) and eventually the strange-looking Gremlin in 1970.Īmerica was just getting out of the horsepower wars in the early-mid ‘70s, but some dealers were still holding on-dealers like the Randall brothers in Mesa, Arizona. It consolidated the Nash and Hudson cars before starting to produce small, fuel-efficient vehicles decades before the oil embargo years. If you’re under 30, this could be the first time you've read about an AMC.ĪMC focused on small cars, saying they were nimbler than your Fords, Chryslers and Chevys. AMC plugged along from ’54 to ’88, which means if you’re younger than 40 years old, you might not even be familiar. ![]() The company was big enough at one point to be called part of the “Big Four” American car companies. Dick Teague was chief stylist and held positions at GM, Packard and Chrysler before becoming VP of design for AMC. began in 1954 with the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corp. and we can’t talk about that until we get some AMC housekeeping out of the way, so we’ll start there.Īmerican Motors Corp. I can’t really talk about this 6.6-liter V8, four-speed tribute 1974 AMC Gremlin 401-XR without talking about the original, and we can’t talk about the original without talking about the basic compact Gremlin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |