1973 AMC Gremlin X from North America - Comments

Purchased brand new... 304 V8 GREMLIN X

OWNED 10 YEARS 1973-1983

Was extremely reliable

Great solid body!!! Thick sheetmetal. Great paint job - today's cars do not have the durability...

Easy to work on and fun to drive. Surprisely great handling on back roads.

E60-14 front G60-14 tires changed from E70 Goodyears from the factory. Harder ride, but better handling.

I bought it new in college; actually my mom did! Ha! AMCs was very popular back then... Mark Donahue Javelins, SC360 Hornets and quite a few AMX390s were about... I had a tan with gold stripe model, with the typical popular side pipes, lakewood traction bars, ACCEL.60 series tires etc etc, that I added bit by bit. My vanity tag was "GERM".

I never was stranded and actually drove this car quite a distance to work everyday until I bought a larger necessary family car! The Gremlin X V8 was not as common a sight as the two sixes... I recall some special models, Levis for one, that were available.

Was behind a red Gremlin this morning--wide tires, big dual exhaust tips, huge "Gremlin X" decal on the back window (like anybody needs to be told it is a Gremlin). The driver was driving like an a**hole: cutting from one lane to the other, cutting in front of people, running red lights.

All I could think of was here is this doop who spent a lot of money to make this old car go fast--and he still looks like as much of a dipstick as he would have in 1973!

I wrote the original post. Since I owned it for a long period I treated and drove it sensibly. Lets see Trans Ams, Indy Pace cars as well as many many others have large logos on them also.

Comparing factory logos to aftermarket die-cut ones applied by the owner is ridiculous.

I know... but the factory can only do so much.

The reason the decals are put on the cars is so the owner does not forget what kind of car they drive. They have to be that stupid to do so.

Some decaled cars such as the Yenko Camaro, a 60 Indy Pace Camaro SS Convertible are very unique and quite valuable today. An AAR Cuda stripes for example clearly define what it is not just another Barracuda. A person that bought one of these is actually a fairly astute individual today. I would find it a real stretch to call them stupid. My Gremlin X factory stripes indicated it was a V8 not just another 6. Another AMC friend of mine had an SC360 Hornet that had tasteful decals so it would not appear as an average grocery getter... I agree however about large non factory logos and I despise clones. When is the last time you saw a real Gremlin X V8? It would be great to have one again.

The cars were well made

as per symbols some may be larger the\an others, but I would think it is a sense of pride by the manufactor.

it would be similar to someone flying there home countries flag. that shows they are proud to be a citizen of the country.

Thank You.

American cars of the late '60s and early '70s, the muscle car era, had some wild, attention-grabbing graphics and color schemes. The graphics that came from the factory on a Ford Mustang Cobra or the billboards and strobe stripes on a 'Cuda are completely different than somebody putting a "Fox" or "Oakley" sticker on their rear window. One is cool, the other is not. I'll leave it up to everyone to decide which is which. The Gremlin "X" is a lot cooler than checking the badge to see if some Toyota is an ES or LX. Like anybody cares, anyway.

This Vega was my second car getting my driver's license at 15 in Louisiana. My first was a Gremlin. Do I remember correctly... there was something with aluminum in the base of the car that heats up and makes problems. It did fall to the ground after getting off the interstate. I called my Dad and he said "did you have a flat?" I said it is sitting on the ground, at a stop light! I freaked a bit but my friends and I were safe. When he got there he drove all my friends home and they towed it away. He felt bad but we were all safe. Gosh that was 30 plus years ago but one I will always remember! Other than that last experience, great car!

Gremlin X was a cool car to transplant the 401 with 4 speed.

I lowered mine and it was a blast on twisting back roads with the 304 prior and factory posi.