Hooniverse Easter Weekend Edition – The Ride of a Crazed Easter Rabbit For Sale on eBay

Jim Brennan
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It is a special Easter Sunday Edition of Hooniverse Weekends. Ever wonder how the Easter Rabbit seems to get around delivering all those Easter Eggs, Jelly Beans, and Hollow Chocolate goodies? Well, I imagine that he would be able to do it in this thing, a 1972 AMC Gremlin, with a newly installed 401 CID V-8, with a twin carburetor setup, and a 4-speed stick. Oh yea, and it’s Purple, the perfect color for a Crazed Easter Bunny.


This little car calls Armona, California home, but I would like to think of Armona as Aroma, as in the heavenly aroma of Chocolate, and Marshmallow, and Jelly Eggs… anyway, this is a project car that is not quite finished. All the really hard work is done, with the installation of the 401 V-8, most of the interior in installed, and the paint and stripe kit has been taken care of.

According to the listing:

Up for auction is a beautiful 1972 AMC Gremlin X. I bought this car from its original owner in untouched condition. Car is very straight and totally rust-free. It had the original 304ci engine with 3-speed manual, but I immediately replaced that powertrain with an AMC 401ci and 4-speed manual. Engine has big dog-leg heads with cam and two 4-barrel Carter carbs. Carbs are all-new, but may need to be re-jetted. 

Car had original paint when I got it, and I had it totally redone in the original Wild Plum Metallic with new white Gremlin X stripe kit. Interior has been totally redone- door panels, headliner, carpet, etc. Car has new tires on the original rally-style wheels. Transmission was not rebuilt, I think it may need synchros. It is a factory a/c car, but I’ve not reinstalled the compressor and a/c components. Windshield wiper system is currently not installed, as the wiper motor doesn’t clear the carbs, but I have all the parts for it and they are included in the sale.

We rebuilt this car some years ago, but it was put into storage and I haven’t had time to finish it. Engine has less than 100 miles on it since rebuild.


Currently the bid for this wild Gremlin is at $5,300, with an unmet reserve. So what do you think this Easter Surprise would be worth, and could you see yourself driving this thing like a Crazed Easter Rabbit? See the listing here.

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Jim Brennan

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  1. RichardKopf Avatar
    RichardKopf

    That rear-end will surely be hopping like a bunny, if nothing else.

    Reply
  2. RWB Avatar
    RWB

    I need it, with vanity plates: GRIMACE

    Reply
  3. fhrblig Avatar
    fhrblig

    Gremlin + V8? I'm in.

    Reply
  4. west_coaster Avatar
    west_coaster

    What an awesome sleeper. Most people who see it would assume it's owned by some tattooed fedora-wearing urban hipster, and has an inline six or 304 under the hood.

    Reply
    1. facelvega Avatar
      facelvega

      I don't know if something that screams its presence from three blocks away can be called a sleeper. More of a fake-out, I think. Any by the way west coaster, here in hipster Brooklyn I have no tattoos and am currently wearing red nantucket pants and a coonskin cap, not a fedora. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

      Reply
      1. west_coaster Avatar
        west_coaster

        I was actually referring to the hipsters here in La La Land, who populate Melrose Avenue, Silver Lake and Echo Park. They have some kind of a monopoly on plain-jane '60s and '70s cars, and the tattoos and fedoras seem to be their current uniform.

        Reply
        1. facelvega Avatar
          facelvega

          Ah, funny to think that they dress so differently coast to coast. And actually, among AMCs here they would rather have a rusty white Rambler or Eagle. Anyway, despite the outfit I don't actually qualify as a hipster by BK standards, reinforced by the fact that I would totally drive the purple Gremlin.

          Reply
        2. FuzzyPlushroom Avatar
          FuzzyPlushroom

          I'm hoping the combination of fedora, post-Malaise Volvos, lack of tattoos, and ponytail don't reflect poorly in this context.

          Reply
  5. Jim-Bob Avatar
    Jim-Bob

    Just don't take corners too aggressively! I have a Spirit (same chassis as a Gremmie but with longer leaf springs) with a 360 and it will go from terminal understeer to snap oversteer at the drop of a hat if you push it too far. Still though, I would love to have this one. As for what it is worth, I expect to see it go for a minimum of $8,000. The 401 alone is worth over $1,000 nowadays. Throw in the AMC pattern T-10, Model 20 rear, rally wheels and the desirable V8 crossmember (used in anything from the Rambler American to the AMX and Javelin, etc.) and you have no less than $3k-$4k in rare parts. Throw in a good body with fresh paint and upholstery and it is easily worth the cash to an AMC aficionado.

    Reply
    1. ZomBee Racer Avatar
      ZomBee Racer

      They would do the same wild cornering even with the straight 6, especially in the dirt. I used to canyon race mine back in the day, and it made for a wild ride. Wasn't the fastest car up there, but the torque helped it keep up amazingly well in the twisties when you weren't facing the wrong direction.

      Reply
  6. ZomBee Racer Avatar
    ZomBee Racer

    I always wanted to throw a V8 in my 72 Gremlin-X. It had the 4.2 litre/258ci straight six and was a load of fun, but I always imagined it with a stealth monster under the hood.
    Same X-stripes, roof rack and rally wheels, but in blue and white. This one is a dead ringer for my first car…
    <img src="http://www.autoviva.com/img/photos/494/amc_gremlin_x_5_litre_img_32494.jpg&quot; width="500" />

    Reply
  7. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    Er, you guys can keep this one. Ill-handling, probably overpowered, crude, still some assembly required (tranny rebuild?), and at the end of the day you still have a grape-flavored Gremlin. I'd spend my $5,300 elsewhere.

    Reply
  8. Joe Dunlap Avatar
    Joe Dunlap

    Handling? Where we're going, we won't need handling. Do WANT!

    Reply
  9. gooseboy78 Avatar
    gooseboy78

    me? i like the gremlins the blue and white reminds me of the smurfs. the purple car not so much. now a piece of usless info. when jeep bought the tooling for the v8 its shares it with the wrangler v8

    Reply
    1. Jim-Bob Avatar
      Jim-Bob

      Kaiser Jeep originally used the old Rambler V8 (250/287/327 family) before switching to the Buick 350 in the mid-60's. They also used the Buick V6 from the Skylark diring this time as GM had sold them the tooling when the original A bodies went out of production. The AMC V8 and L6 did not come until later, after AMC bought Jeep from Kaiser in 1970. AMC then sold the Buick "Dauntless" V6 tooling back to GM a few years later during the original OPEC oil crisis when they needed a more efficient engine design. The Wrangler never got the V8 as it was first produced after the 304 had been discontinued in 1980 (the Wrangler name was not used until 1986 or 87 if memory serves). The CJ-5, CJ-7 and CJ-8 however were available with the 304 starting in the mid 70's. The CJ-6 may also have been available with it but I cannot recall it's production dates at this time.
      (I apologize for any dates I am not able to pin down but I am doing this from memory and don't recall them precisely at the moment.)

      Reply
  10. OA5599 Avatar
    OA5599

    You call that a crazed Easter Rabbit's car?
    <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2425/3889486775_6cb9560b2b.jpg"&gt;
    <img src="http://www.orangeshow.org/tpeople/wwwOrangeShow4.1/vvaris/photos/28/RexRabbit-m.jpg"&gt;

    Reply
    1. jjd241 Avatar
      jjd241

      Here is a picture of the driver and his hostage…
      <img src="http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2011/3/19/5b99e880-66c6-45bd-9f5f-ffb6bb86608f.jpg&quot; width="300">

      Reply
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