Posted on 04/06/2015 8:10:56 PM PDT by beaversmom
Video Link: 1975 AMC Gremlin: The Legend Revisited! - Ignition Ep. 129
Hornet. You forgot the Hornet.
Bookmark for high school memories...
I believe they made one called the Rebel, too.
I had a 1969 Javelin with the 390 V8, actally a nice looking car. I just couldn’t get the auto tranny to hold up even after getting it rebuilt. Mark Donohue drove the Javelin to I believe three Trans-Am championships.
I owned one back in the days right after I got married. We were very poor and it was used. It was a nice little car except for the molded plastic dash which would droop on hot afternoons while sitting in the parking lot and return to form in the cool of the evenings on the way home.
I believe the engine was made by Ford and the transmission by Chrysler on mine. Leaked a lot of fluids. Boss asked me not to park it in company parking lot, especially the VIP slots, after one of the VIPs had his Mercedes’s engine rebuilt twice by the company mechanic because he thought it had fluid leaks. (I enjoyed parking in the VIP slots while working weekends and nights and left some puddles which the VIP assumed were his.) I remember getting the right replacement parts was another hit-or-miss experience for me.
I drove the h*ll out of that sucker and tried to trade it in several times on a newer car. No dealer would take it as a trade-in. One even asked me to get it off his lot as it was leaking badly at that time. So I sold it to a salvage yard for $189 and bought me a newer car without the Gremlin trade-in. Two weeks later while driving to work I saw an abandoned Gremlin like mine sitting dead on the side of the road. I never saw it again and I have often wondered if my old Gremlin survived the salvage yard and is still leaking fluids somewhere today.
I could have had a Pinto (commonly called the torch) or a Vega (an engine rebuilder’s dream machine) back then...neither of which were any better in their day.
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“Vegas rusted in the showroom.”
On a quiet night, you can hear a Vega rust.
Actually, Donohue’s first two Trans-Am championships were in Camaros. There’s a fellow up here in the SF Bay Area that owns the Javelin he drove, along with several other vintage race cars.
And Yugos had rear window defrosters to keep your hands warm as you pushed.
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