|
|
|
| Welcome to Swifty's Garage. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Thank You, The Swifty's Garage Team Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features. |
| Car of the Day: August 28, 2015; Hot Wheels '71 AMC Gremlin | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 28 2015, 12:16 AM (1,031 Views) | |
| Dean-o-mite | Aug 28 2015, 12:16 AM Post #1 |
![]()
Muscle Car
|
![]() Today's car of the day is Hot Wheels' 1971 AMC Gremlin. ![]()
![]() For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: AMC Gremlin ![]() ![]() This was the first Gremlin to join my collection, long before Johnny Lightning and Motor Max made their excellent castings. I distinctly remember finding and buying this Redline Hot Wheels "Gremlin Grinder" during my first trip to the small toy show held at the Rack & Cue (a billiards hall that hosted a monthly toy car sales event) in Orange County, CA back in 1998. Kimmo had invited me to meet with him at the show, and I found quite a few cars for my collection, but this Gremlin was the star of the show for me. I knew of the casting from a HW Collector booklet, but didn't figure I'd be able to afford one, with the popularity and prices of Redlines in the 1990's. As expected, this one was out of my price range, even with the paint chips. However, during my second visit to the table selling the Gremlin, toward the end of the event, the seller told me that I could have it for a heavily discounted price, since it hadn't sold during the morning and because he could tell I really wanted it and would give it a good home. I wish I had a way of letting that guy know that all these years later, I am still very appreciative of his gesture and the car holds a special place in my collection. The copyright date on the base is 1974, however I didn't think the casting matched up with the nose changes on the real car for 1974, so I went with 1973 for a model year. The model year is open to correction from our resident AMC experts. ![]()
![]() ![]() |
![]() |
|
| Hobie-wan | Aug 28 2015, 02:15 AM Post #2 |
|
SUV
|
Yay Gremlin, and you posted the green one, not the Chrome. ![]() The Open Fire has a 71 Copyright and the Gremlin Grinder is just a near 'back to normal' version of that. So my guess would be a 70 or 71 Gremlin. Not that I'm an expert either. |
![]() |
|
| juantoo3 | Aug 28 2015, 07:27 AM Post #3 |
![]()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
![]()
|
Go Gremster! |
![]() |
|
| pjedsel | Aug 28 2015, 10:35 PM Post #4 |
![]()
Muscle Car
|
Great old Red Line - I have the chrome version. Always thought it was neat that Hot Wheels did the Gremlin - even with the oversized engine - still a neat little model to have in the collection and at the time one of the few AMC goodies in small scale.
|
![]() |
|
| corvairjim | Aug 29 2015, 12:29 AM Post #5 |
|
Fullsize
|
You make it sound a lot worse than it actually is. For a toy that's in the 40 year old range, even if half of that time it's been in the hands of a collector, it looks to be in pretty decent condition. The article isn't kidding when they say the back seat is for children only. I was already over 6' tall in 10th grade when I went with my older brother and one other guy in my brother's best friends Gremlin to a church-related gathering a few towns away. I was the next to shortest of the guys (that didn't own the car), so I was relegated to the back seat. I almost wish we'd taken my brother's Mustang - it had more room in back! |
![]() |
|
| JeepXJLover | Aug 30 2015, 03:13 AM Post #6 |
|
Minivan
|
I have such fond memories of Gremlins. My granny drove a 73 faded blue Gremlin with the white stripes for the longest time. You could always hear granny coming because the exhaust was rotten on it. Each winter my uncles wrapped chains on grandma's Gremlin so she could get up the snowy hills on the old Highway G76 to her clients. My grandfather also had a 72 Gremmy in poo brown. He drove it back and forth to work at Cargill. He passed away in 1984 in the same hospital I was born in just a few days after I was born. His Gremlin sat for years in my grandparent's driveway until my uncles stripped it out and turned it into a drag car. I think grandpa would have liked that. |
![]() |
|
| jurcpa | Sep 10 2015, 07:01 AM Post #7 |
|
Fullsize
|
interesting car,but not a beauty |
![]() |
|
| mymo | Sep 11 2015, 09:41 AM Post #8 |
![]()
Microcar
|
Nice. In most cases the styling year is the year on the base with release of the casting in the following year. |
![]() |
|
| Hobie-wan | Sep 12 2015, 05:38 PM Post #9 |
|
SUV
|
But that's the year that the casting was designed, not the model year of the vehicle when it is based off something real, nor the year it was sold in stores when castings are released again in the future. You get all those ebay listings where people assume they have vintage gold because the copyright on the bottom says 77 or something, but it's a version that was in stores a year or two ago. |
![]() |
|
| Gremlin75 | Sep 13 2015, 07:06 PM Post #10 |
![]()
Microcar
|
Thinner bumpers, and the little Gremlin character badge casted into the front fender (well, that's what it's supposed to be). And the copyright on the Openfire being 1971, it's a '70 or '71. |
![]() |
|
| Dean-o-mite | Sep 14 2015, 12:55 AM Post #11 |
![]()
Muscle Car
|
Cool, thanks for the info. I'll update the original post. |
![]() |
|
| Sergoids | Sep 14 2015, 08:14 AM Post #12 |
|
Fullsize
|
Thank you for this interesting article about this cute little car. This car always stood out for me as a bit of an oddball as it looked quite 'unamerican'. this due to it's size and look which was very different as most American luxury sedans or muscle cars. I wonder if it could have been popular here if AMC would have had the idea of exporting it to Europe. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Car Of The Day · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
2:33 PM Jul 11
|




















Great old Red Line - I have the chrome version. Always thought it was neat that Hot Wheels did the Gremlin - even with the oversized engine - still a neat little model to have in the collection and at the time one of the few AMC goodies in small scale.



2:33 PM Jul 11