1979 AMC Spirit Base review from North America

Rear window squeaked.

Carburetor needed replaced.

Rear springs needed replaced.

Silver paint was very thin.

My parents bought my new silver with black vinyl interior 1979 Spirit sedan (Gremlin rear) for me to drive in high school.

It was a 2.0L with automatic. A/C, manual disk brakes, power steering. AM/FM radio.

The car came with very skinny Firestone non radial tires. My parents replaced them with larger radials on a set of factory rally wheels. The car was not the coolest for a guy in high school. The fact that I had a new car was cool. Everyone still called it a Gremlin. I drove it very very hard. Trying to keep up with friends with V8's you had to keep it floored most of the time. It was a fun car to drive, just very slow. Handling was good for the time. I could drive circles around guys in Impalas or Delta 88's.

The Holley carburetor had to be adjusted often. It would develop a large flat spot at take off. The dealer replaced the carburetor to fix the problem.

The rear glass hatch window would sometimes squeak .It was maddening at times. Silicon spray fixed it for a time. but it always returned.

After about two years of hard driving the rear springs began to sag and cause the rear wheels to hop over bumps. New shocks did nothing to fix the hop. The dealer replaced the springs.

One of the best things about the car was the dealer. They provided free service for oil changes and a loan car free for the day when your car was in the shop. When I left the lights on and ran the battery down, they sent their road side assistance truck at no charge to jump me. This was 1979 remember. common today but very rare then.

I kept the car 4 years and traded it in on a low mileage M G B. Big mistake. Should have kept the A M C.