A Gremlin! Not something one comes across easily anymore. A neat find by its own in the quiet neighborhood I was staying in El Cerrito last December. However, really lousy shoot location. How to appreciate that shortened Hornet body, almost all hidden by garbage bins? Worth the trouble to capture or not?
No harm in a couple of shots, right? So on I went.
But wait…
A 6.6L decal? This was either no ordinary Gremlin, or someone claiming it to be a no ordinary Gremlin. Being no Gremlin expert myself, I now had to do some digging into AMC etceterini.
As many know, there were several dealers in the tuning business back in the heady ’60s-’70s, from the famous to the unknown. Chevrolet had Yenko and Baldwin Motion, Pontiac had Royal; in today’s case, we’re revisiting a creation from Randall Rambler (later AMC) in Mesa, Arizona, a dealer known for its performance upgrades on AMC products, and that has a “godlike legacy” among Kenosha performance fans. If you wanted to tune your AMC’s V8 products, Randall was among the preferred places.
Of course, by the early ’70s, AMC had fully entered its quirky age, and Randall’s choices played along. Enter in ’72, the “Superacious” Gremlin 401 XR-1, carrying American Motors tall-deck 401CID V8 engine, with 255 net HP from the factory. The conversion started with 304V8 Gremlins, to which Randall added upgraded cams, a high-riser manifold, and a Holley carburetor. There was a choice of a 4-speed manual or a TorqueFlite transmission. In all, a track vehicle that could trip the 1/4-mile in the mid to low 13 ETs.
About street use — no idea. The original Gremlin wasn’t exactly known for its well-planted handling, with known issues of axle tramp. Then again, it was the ’70s, where that was not a rarity. And, well, buyers of such cars had few such concerns, from what I gather.
Visually, not a whole lot separated the 401-XR from a lesser Gremlin other than a few badges and decals. Apparently, all came with color-coordinated fascias and special bucket seats.
In all, depending on options, costs for the 401-XR were rather competitive with an AMX 401/AT. Does that math work for AMC fans out there?
About two dozen 401-XRs were put together by Randall, with an unknown number of later Gremlin fans creating tributes. That’s a low figure of “original” 401-XRs, and this one found by a driveway doesn’t seem to be such a special setting for a low figure model. Then again, while the Muscle Car nostalgia market is hot, I would think the Hot Gremlin thing has yet to happen. So, tribute or real deal?
Related CC Reading
Curbside Classic: 1971 AMC Gremlin – Small Car Comparison Number 6
Vintage Snapshots: A Gremlin Owners Gallery – Quirky Devotion
CC Capsule: 1974 AMC Gremlin X – Perhaps Not Quite As Advertised
Pretty cool .
I never knew about these until now .
Long ago the C.O.L.A. had a goodly sized fleet of Gremlins, I remember they cracked the front cross member on a regular basis, I wonder how well these V8 versions handled the extra torque .
-Nate
Holley is spelt wrong in the ad! That alone would turn me off. If they can’t even spell that right, what else could they screw up?
Used to live near in Mesa. Streetview of 2007 shows the building standing.
I don’t recall the specifics, but I seem to recall that the federal government shut-down at least one dealer engine swap in or after 1972 due to non-CARB compliance. IOW, the dealer engine swaps didn’t meet the new emissions requirements, a quite extensive and expensive process which was nowhere near covered by the meager profit of these extremely low-volume cars.
Besides the feature Gremlin, another interesting 1972 car came from good ‘ole Mr. Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge. Although they were no longer selling A-body cars with swapped big-blocks, they, evidently, could legally sell a new 1972 Demon 340 with an added supercharger, creating what they called the Demon GSS (Grand Spaulding Supercharged).
CARB is State of California (California Air Resources Board); I don’t think the Feds would be involved. And by the mid-70’s it was getting challenging to even do home modifications that affected emissions controls, although if it passed the tailpipe test you could always find a tech who might ignore discreet but still visible mods.
The feds would not have standing to enforce CARB compliance, which falls under California state law, but under the Muskie Act (42 USC 1857 § 203), federal law made it illegal:
(The original Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Act of 1965 only prohibited tampering prior to delivery to the ultimate purchaser, which would not have barred a dealer from making an aftermarket swap on a customer car unless it was prohibited by state or local law. The “after such sale” stipulation at the end was added by the Muskie Act.)
Each individual violation was subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000, so a dealer that modified ten cars could be fined up to $100,000 (around $800K adjusted for inflation!).
An important point is that it would generally not have mattered if the modified or engine-swapped cars met the federal emissions limits or not. The law required that the manufacturer go through the process to certify that the car or the engine met the standard, and a dealer engine swap or dealer modifications of the Baldwin Motion variety would probably nullify the original manufacturer certification. In later years, I think tuners who wanted to offer turn-key tuned cars ended up registering with the EPA (and/or CARB, as needed) as small manufacturers, so they could recertify the modified car to allow it to be legally sold in the U.S.
That “6.6 Litre V/8” badge is similar font to the more mundane 4.2 Litre (258 ci) badging used on 6 cylinder Gremlins. I found a photo of a 6.6 Litre badged Gremlin on an AMC forum but no reference to it have a 401V8 or Randall. When I was showroom stock racing against 258 (or maybe even 232??) Gremlins I got some good views of axle hop coming out of Sears Point hairpins; I can’t imagine what a 401 would do.
From what I have been able to gather, in 1972 Randall contacted AMC in 1972 about the conversion ; AMC shipped the Gremlins with the 304 and a shipment of engines to Randall.
the conversion was relatively straightforward as the 304 and the 401 were the same dimensions. Apparently 21 conversions were built, they reportedly did the quarter in the 12s.
I also remember reading an article in Car & Driver-I believe in 1976 or 77 where Randal was installing the 401 in Pacers.
I like the idea, big chunks of hp and torque with minimum car, perfect dragstrip toy, but with that wheelbase and too much hp I bet they were a handfull on a road
i had a friend from work who had a 401 4sp up here in canada , ontario but , i couldnt remember if it was a 72 or 73 . this was back in mid to later 70’s . this colour in unmolestid shape is one of the handful of cars/vans i would take a morgage out for . thanks for shareing this find with us .
Perhaps I saw one of these ads in a car magazine, but it never registered. Pretty cool!
If this “find” had been up in New England I’d figure it for a fake/tribute, but in present location, it might well be a real one. Good eyes!
FWIW, another dealer (Beckley, WV, 1972) offering the big 401—but who knows what else?
This would be the opposite of the old Doonesbury cartoon “Wouldn’t a Gremlin have been more sensible?
Personally I’m not sure any Gremlin was sensible, a Hornet was better proportioned and several competitors were better driving cars