1971 Gremlin Project

Awesome car Ian!   sure reminds me of my '72.........................noticed that the front bumper has the 'guards'.....but not on the back bumper..........My car had those on it, and I think those are hard to find in good condition.

Some updates on the project!

The car is down to a roller (except the dash, which will come out tomorrow night). Next I'll be soda blasting the exterior, removing the damaged valance and doing some minor body fixes, then get it on the rotisserie and get ready for paint!

Working on a California car is so much better than a midwest car. Even the exhaust bolts came right off without penetrating oil. The only rust I've found is a small amount by the battery tray.

This is an oddly optioned car. It is a base 4-seater Gremlin with 13" wheels and standard wheel covers, but it has the big 258 (first year for the 258). It has a single lift strut, but does have the interior appearance package (carpet, high back buckets, deluxe steering wheel)and light group. It doesn't have the glovebox door, which I believe is a 70-71 only option. I sent the original liner to REM and they will be reproducing it. I've also talked with legendary, and they will be using my rear seat as a pattern to offer a cover for the rear seat on the gremlin, too.

(sorry for the poor pics, they were taken with my cell phone. I have a ton of camera pics, just haven' downloaded them yet. pics are also before engine, bumper gas tank etc was pulled)



interior:


Here is the first batch of interior parts I've refinished. I'm using SEM Color Coat (NAPA Red is a perfect match for the dark red 71 interior). The arm rests were green, and one of the seat corners was blue. I was really worried about recoloring such dark pieces, but everything came out great. Color Coat is a pretty involved process with all the prep steps, but the results are incredible. I have a green dash and dash pad to do yet, black seat backs and an NOS brown steering wheel to turn red.



Edited by kirkwood - Jun/01/2011 at 8:36am

Forgot to mention that part. This car was clearly wrecked at some point early in it's life. The driver's quarter is an NOS replacement, and the rear panel was replaced from the driver's side over to the passenger taillight. They made an overlapped seem just to the left of the taillight. The drivers door was also replaced with a factory replacement part, but the driver's fender is original to the car. They reattached the door tag with standard rivets, but the build date tag never made it over.

There is zero sign of any frame or inner structure/under carriage damage, so I am thinking it must have been cosmetic damage.

The only changes I plan to make to the car is to switch it to Quicksilver metallic, add correct '71 style power steering, add front disc brakes and run 71 magnum 500 style rims with polyglas tires. I'm thinking I may mount a set of 13" tires too so I can give it that original look if I want. It will look a lot like the '71 catalog car when complete.

did you ever figure out what the 3 holes on either side of rear window were for ?

That'll give you a whole month to finish it for Kenosha!