What does everyone think of the new intro?

The Gremlin I had when I was 17 was the most fun car I ever owned.

I had a 383 Barracuda in my senior year of high school and there was only one car at school that could outrun it. A purple Gremlin X that had a 401 from a Matador swapped into into it. When the guy could get it to hook up, it was wicked fast. My Cuda would hook up better, so it was a good race.

AMC was severely underrated in muscle car circles back then. Truth is they had some pretty good hot rods. AMX, Javelin, Rebel, The Machine, SC/360, SC/Rambler, all of them were the real deal.

A friend in high school had a 304 4-speed Gremlin X. He was revving that motor too much though, and he blew it. We found a guy who was parting out a Javelin, and so we put that 390 in, with a new clutch. It took us a while to get it running well, but that car was a beast once we did.

I was 3 years old in '72 My Mom loved her 304 V8 Gremlin. I cherish those memories

I really miss the AMC cars!

I bought my 73 V-8 new and still have it....great car.

I never knew about the 401-XR. Cool car.

The 401 Gremlin was converted by an AMC dealer and sold in very small numbers. But the 304 V-8 was a regular production option and there were thousands of them sold. So 401 Gremlins were rare but V-8 Gremlins were common.

Had a 76 Gremlin X with the 258 straight six withe electronic overdrive, Drove it to Daytona Beach from Cincinnati, Ohio towing a motorcycle on a trailer. My friend and I were both big men weighing 220 pounds apiece plus luggage. The car had a three speed standard and we averaged 25 miles per gallon, Great memories of that car!! Had plenty of power!!

A friend of mine had a Gremlin Levi edition back in the late 70s. All Levi jeans material interior. Ah the memories.

My family had a 1970 Gremlin well into the 80s. Only the 232 straight six, though, but it was basically foolproof.

Man that’s definitely a sleeper! I learned how to drive on my mothers gremlin. It had the 232 straight six , but it was relatively quick off the line and I was able to beat many a slowmaro or Monte Carlo super slow off the line and up to about 50 mph! Those Chevy boys couldn’t get over almost losing to a six banger!

The 401-XR may have been unobtanium, but used ones with the 304 and the 3-speed floor shift were definitely on my short list as a light, fast modding platform. I nearly bought one, until it turned out that the power to weight ratio put it on my insurance company's muscle car list. At age 17, my annual insurance would have been double what I was about to pay for the car!

I never met one person who actually owned a Gremlin that did not love it. My first 1972 Grem had the bullet proof AMC 258 six, the great Chrysler 904 automatic, A/C and P/S. Got it off the showroom for around 1800.00. The absolute best buy for a young guy with a family at the time.

I loved the Gremlin and still do LOVE them!!!

The AMC 390/401's were no joke. If I recall correctly both came with forged cranks from the factory. My father had a CJ 304 v8 2brl and it was fine for a little CJ. Family friend had one rebuilt with new manifold and headers and it woke the little 304 up. Later, I had purchased a complete death trap a CJ 5 with a 360. The guy I bought it off of was a mechanic who rebuilt engine with slightly higher compression pistons, stock heads but had head work done, the Edelbrock performer package (Cam, manifold and 4brl carb) electronic ignition and added headers. It flew for a Jeep and you actually had to "drive it" no looking over at passenger. CJ 5's were pretty short wheelbase that one was lifted with 33's which didn't help in handling department. That 360 had like double + the horsepower of a stock 304. I can only imagine a tuned up 390 or 401. BTW the Gremlin and Pacer were about the ugliest cars ever. But today I'd love that Gremlin XR in the garage :)

I had a ‘73 X with 304 V8 with 4.10 gears. That thing was lightning quick. A real sleeper.

In '74 I bought a new Gremlin X. Maxi Blue with Levi package. 258 C.I and a 3 speed. Loved that car.

In 1974 I bought a used 1972 Gremlin X 5.0L. Silver with black stripes. 3-speed manual, a/c ..ps/pb. Car came standard with Goodyear poly glass tires that were waaay too easy to spin in this car. I added electronic ignition, traction bars and radial tires. You could take 1st to 55, 2nd to 90 and it went past 120 on the dial. Fastest and quickest car I ever owned until I bought my Tesla.

I bought one of these crazy cars in the Dallas area in 1972 It was 5 liter s of orange & black madness. Nothing could beat me off the line as long as the line was very straight. Breaking the back end loose was easy & never ending What a fun way to go!

I owned a '74 Wagoneer with a 401 in it, and it had a huge amount of torque. I can only imagine what it could do in a gremlin chassis.

The Gremlin's most famous moment was as a co-star in the movie "Brewster McCloud". That little rollerskate doing donuts in the old Astrodome parking lot was unforgettable.

My Dad loved Gremlins and owned 3. The last one was an X model with a 304 3speed manual and posi rear end. It was quick off the line but had no top end. Fun car.

I did work for a AMC dealer in western New York, we ordered the vehicle as we saw it! Sales were great, I owned a hornet with a 4 speed transmission, one of the best car I did own at that time

This is the power I wish my car had and that color is beautiful. I didn't know that AMC had these and now I want it.

255 hp was net hp, so this was a good chunk of power for the time. The 1972 304 powered Gremlin X's were capable of in-the-8 second 0-60 mph times and in-the-16 second quarter mile times with 150 rated hp (again, net, not gross), so you know an extra 100 hp in the lightweight Gremlin was going to kick some asphalt.

Street raced a 401XR with my 64 Falcon convertible. The 401 wouldn't hook up, smoked the tires all the way through 3 gear.

The car scenes from 50's to 80's was the best ever manufacturers actually styled cars instead of how nowadays everything looks the same

I absolutely love the Gremlin, as well as the Pinto. The Gremlin immediately caught my attention as soon as I first saw one. The owner of a local mechanic shop sold his Mercury Cougar Eliminator to buy one. He put Mickey Thompson L60-14 tires on the back of it, that stuck out about 2" past the fenders. Many years later I drag raced a 1972 Gremlin for 7 years. Yes, it had a small block Chevy engine in it. By then the small block Chevy had become my favorite engine. The Gremlin body and chassis was built like a tank. Solid as a rock. I wish I still owned a Gremlin. I have owned three Pintos, and currently own and drive a 1972 Pinto woodgrain wagon. It came with a 2.0L SOHC inline 4 with a 4 speed transmission. It now has a 289 V8 and C4 automatic transmission from a '67 Falcon.

70 AMX 390 is one of my bucket list cars

I will always love how the front ends look on AMC of that era!

My friend had a Gremlin in high school. He carried his scuba gear in plain sight behind the glass rear hatch so everyone could see how cool he was. I was embarrassed for him 😂.

I knew nothing of this 401-XR version. Thank you for this...VERY interesting. ☮

I liked the gremlin. Me & a friend of mine modified a ford 289 HIPO & put it in a gremlin X. Talk about a beast. We called it the GREMSTANG.

My mom bought a purple one when I was a kid. I liked that car but it did have it's share of problems. Seems she always had it in the shop. That said, I would like to have a V8 powered model. RIP AMC, wish you could have made it.

GMs, Mopar, Ford all great muscle cars, but because, you usually didn't expect it, gettin your ass kicked by a AMC cut deep, lol. This Gremlin, the Scrambler, the Machine and a few other AMCs earned respect.

Randall AMC in Mesa, AZ, did a few of these cars and was well known for high performance AMC engines and cars. If my memory is still any good, I seem to recall twenty something or so were built. Sadly, there's nothing left of the dealership these days, when I was there in Mesa years ago it was an empty lot.

Rarer than hens teeth and 10x harder to document. Although there were maybe 20 or 21 XR 401 Gremlins, I'd be perfectly happy to own one of the nearly 11,000 V8 Gremlins produced from 1972 through 1976. I happen to have a 232-powered Gremlin and it's more than adequate.

Cool, these cars were so odd looking, you either liked or hated them. When I was in highschool my friend's dad got him one as a first car, base model with a straight six and a three speed on the floor. Over the summer of our junior year, we swapped in a 340 and a 4 speed, was a completely different car. He was actually outrunning Zs and TAs, so much fun 👍🇺🇸🤘🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

so rare that i never heard of it growing up & have'nt seen one at a car show - 20 or 21 super-lucky owners, though.......

My auto shop teacher in high school had one of those Gremlins. I had no idea how rare they were. I wish I would have rode in it at least once in retrospect...

Wow thank you for the History regarding the Gremlin XR. Nice car for the time period and you couldn't beat the price .

I had a friend in high school who's dad had a Gremlin cloned out with a 401. Smoke show machine. They rarely drove it. It was a beauty, a show car.

The Gremlin was a simple yet really cool looking car. AMC was kind of ahead of their time when it came to the styling of this and the Javlin/AMC .

1972 Gremlin with the 258 six. Loved that car. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I see a lot of KZfaq videos that claim the 390- V8 was the largest motor made by American Motors. Glad to see the 401-V8 getting some recognition.

This was a very interesting model, and I certainly appreciate you covering this unique car with your excellent, thorough post. Thank you for your excellent, fact-filled and interesting post!

In Australia we had the Hornet under the Rambler badge (6 cyl) but not the Gremlin. I remember my dad talking about Studebaker Larks and Rambler Rebels being cop cars here in late 1960s, early 1970s. Great video mate 👍

always loved the gremlins... my first car was a 1975 gremlin, slant 6, 4 wheel drums... scary

I had one with the V8 3 speed!!. It was a blast. Stop light to stop light you couldn't catch it!!!

I really enjoy this format. Thank you!

Outstanding, thanks for the history lesson. While I was alive and loving anything with wheels it's nice to hear of lesser known cars.

My friend had a Gremlin X 304 Levi addition. What a great car all around easy to drive. The engine was bullet proof like all AMC engines.

I remember Kenny's White with orange striped Gremlin X from back in 1979 on Forest lane in Dallas. Man that thing was sharp!

Ahh! Otto! There's a Gremlin on the side of the bus!

Being a lifelong AMC fan, and owning four some decades back, I like the Gremlin. They were on the road many years after the Pintos and Vegas were consigned to the junkyards. This 401 stuffed in a Gremlin.... Basically they "AMXed" the Gremlin. 😎👍 AMC themselves did this later in 1980 when they created the Spirit AMX. The Spirit bring the follow-on to the Gremlin but better looking. Limited to the 304 V8 though.

I never heard of these factory units, even though I owned a Gremlin back in the mid-seventies. A friend speculated that a 401 out of a Matador would be a fun project for my car, but I never seriously considered it. It was a nice little car though the front end would leave alignment and start eating tires if I so much as kissed a sidewalk with it. Mine was one of the base models with no opening hatchback and no back seat. Thanks for the info.

Back in the day, my older step brother worked at AMC in Wisconsin. He would talk about how the guys working at the factory had one heck of a side business modding Gremlins, and other AMC cars. While not production of factory approved, a lot of bad azz AMC's were running around at the time.

Another great episode!

Great job telling us about these gems!

They shoulda just called it The Dorkmobile. I had a purple Gremlin X back in the mid-80's. It had a 304 in it with a 4-speed.

Awesome,I feel like building a tribute car since I've never seen one in flesh

This channel provides me with a shopping list of dream cars

A friend bought a '72 Gremlin with the 304 and a 4 speed. I few years later he was at an auction and bought a '72 Matador ex-LAPD patrol car that had 70,000 on it. He pulled the engine(a 401) and trans out of the Matador, rebuilt both, and put it in the Gremlin. Long tube headers, intake manifold, Holley carb with a home made "Shaker" cold air hood scoop, Sig Erson cam and cam kit, rebuilt 998 with a Trans-go 2 shift kit, and the limited slip differential with 3:91 gears, made the Gremlin a screamer. It dipped into the 11's a few times on good days. I have a picture of it at Irwindale with it's left front tire about 6 inches off the ground coming out of the lights. My '69 440 Road Runner(that was no where close to stock!) didn't stand a chance against it.....

I drove a 304 powered Gremlin X as a demo Fun car to drive but loose in the rear. A sheriff in central NJ had one that surprised a few who thought they could outrun it. It was pretty dent so I'm guessing he played rough.

I couldn't find a cheap gremlin, so I ended up getting the smaller and lighter Geo Tracker 2dr 4x4 convertible. I'd love to squeeze a small walk in there though lol

A friend of mine had one and I used to drive it all the time. Blew the doors of a Boss 302 mustang in a drag from light to light. Surprised the hell out of him.

Had one in High school with the V8 was the X with the 304, Loved it was bad ass Had it in 1976, 1977, 1978.. FUN FUN

Had a Gremlin with a 258/6, and a 4 spd....for years. Gave it away and THAT girl drove it for years. She loved it

Seeing the "Dealer" ad finally made sense the problems with Jeep and AMC. Renault!

The seats were hideous in these things! I had a Honda and ripped the seats out of that and installed them. You could stick just about any V8 you wanted in these cars. I had these crazy biker friends who helped me build it! People hated being smoked by these things you're right about that!

We had a 74 6cyl and the only thing I remember bad about it was the hinges. They would cause the doors to sag

A guy I went to high school with had a green Germlin with a heavily modded 304. Its nickname was "The Frog". And it was very quick. I can only imagine what another (almost) 100 cubic inches would have done. Nicely covered, just subscribed ~ Chuck

Those are the greatest cars ever. They quit making them because their other models were not selling. Mine has 12,984,909,843,978,684,583 miles.💪

Went for a ride in a yellow 304 manual trans car it was scary as hell hitting 100mph in that tin can🤯 Couldn't imagine a 401

Wow. I lived in Mesa, AZ in '72. AMC was my favorite brand and I knew of Randall but never heard about this car. I wish I had. Would've loved to see one. Didn't have the money for a new car back then, but I could dream.

I always like the looks of the Gremlin. There was one in my area that was the glossiest black with Cragar mags that looked awesome.

My brothers son passed his car test so he bought him a car , my brother being into American cars bought him a US Datsun Cherry the Datsun F-10 he bought it from a guy in Darlington about 40 miles away who bought from the US bases he had a massive yard full of cars and scrap all bought from the bases you could buy a 1980's Chrysler police car to a 40 foot school bus , I was down there once he showed us a mobile radar station he was scrapping for the gold in the circuit boards . I used to work at a Vauxhall dealers (GM at the time) our head off was Datsun so I had a lot of knowledge of Cherries , it still make me laugh to think the Gremlin was built to compete with small imported cars chalk and cheese spring to mind LOL . PS my brothers mate had a AMC Javelin I really liked that car .

Years ago I bought a 77 Gremlin ( 2.0/4-speed ) and dropped in a nearly stock 360 and auto from a 76 Matador coupe and a rear axle from a V8 Hornet. I put some earlier closed chamber heads ( 291C's ) and a Comp 268H cam. With 3.15 gears on stock sized 175R-14 tires I ran a traction limited 13.87@101 quarter mile. Easily one of the most fun cars I've ever owned.

You can make whoopie in the back of one easier then most cars , which makes them cool

Have a look at the Aussie 1978 Holden Torana A9X Hatchback. 5 litre, 308 cubic inch V8 Holden Engine. Cheers Louis Kats 👍

I had a friend that owned one. We were amateur Drag racers I had a 67 GTX 440. That light Gremlin was fast and it was I think if my 440 was stock would have been a close race.😊

Being old I remember the Gremlin, and it was never offered to the customer with a 401 from the factory. This was like a Yenko Chevy where the dealership did hop-ups ostensibly for racing only which ended up on the streets. The Gremlin was essentially a chopped-off AMC Hornet, and the Hornet wasn't considered a bad-looking car. AMC sold plenty of the Gremlins in the initial years, mostly to younger buyers who liked the avant-garde 'funky' look and the numerous special trim/paint schemes. It was mostly old fogeys who disliked them.

A story I read way back when said that like the GTO, AMC engineers replaced the 304 with a 390 and tore the rear axle out when they banged second gear. This made the suits blanch and ban the big engines from the Gremlin. But that never stopped the hot rodders, and they rolled their own.

How cool I remember seeing V8 powered gremlins when I was a kid never gave it much thought. My family had one for a little while six-cylinder manual shift. I guess it was an OK car. Thank you for the video.

Just watched your short & it intrigued me.!! 👍 👍

Back in high school a teacher had a 390 Gremlin X,it was purple with a hugh X on the car. I miss the 70' s.

I owned a Gremlin X with a 6 in the early 70’s and I remember seeing one of those 401 Gremlins

what a cool car! great episode

I friend of mine's mom had a V8 one. He said the weight distribution was so bad you had to be really careful making turns at lights because if you gave it too much gas it would spin like a top. I can't even imagine what the handling in a 401 version would be like.

Always loved this car as a teen!

I was a Canadian who grew up in NH …. I “borrowed” my Brother’s 68 Mini Cooper S and his Renault R17 Gordini which were both fully tuned and I would beat my friend in his v8 Gremlin every time. To be fair, my friend was 300+ lbs so not quite a fair match! BTW, my current 79 1275 mini….highly tuned is a strong match to my A4!. The Gremlin was fast but only in a straight line 😅

There was a really attractive girl that ran around with one of these in my town. And this was in the 2000’s! I figured she must have been some kind of enthusiast to maintain a Gremlin. The car was in great shape. And the fact that this smokin’ hot girl drove one made me like it a bit more. 😂

My grandpa, who always drove American from the Hudson forward, had a 304 Gremlin. You don't really think of your grandpa as a hot rod guy, but there he was zipping down to the store and muscling back up his driveway with a sweet rumble.

My parents had a gremlin X i love this little cars.

First I heard of this car but I think it's so cool that there was an AMC equal to the likes of Yenko, Baldwin Motion and Royal Pontiac. There was a home built 401 Gremlin around my town years ago and it would dance, let me tell ya, so I don't doubt that these Randall built examples were pretty impressive.

A friend in high school got a new green 1970 Gremlin the summer before his senior year. I remember that he was taking everyone he knew for rides in it, and put 135 miles on it the first day he had it. It was the six and stick, but since most cars that size were four cylinders, it had good power and all for its size.

Good video! I had no idea Yenko was in teh same area as this. I'd love a Yenko Stinger Corvair. I remember these Gremlin cars riding around - never drove in one.