AMC Gremlin. We forgot the trunk.

Submitted by Markydoodle September 10th, 2011
Certifikitsch Winner

Bullfighter plaid seats.  Nice!

A “Barn Find” out of Wisconsin advertised earlier this year on ebay with only 44,000 miles.

Time Magazine named it one of the “50 Worst Cars of All Time.”  That makes me a little sad.

http://youtu.be/Zm7Jam2phTk

Sorry about the distracting blue circle, but I love this old TV commercial for the 1974 Gremlin.

14 Responses to “AMC Gremlin. We forgot the trunk.”

  1. Allee Willis

    What on earth qualifies that is bullfighter plaid?!

    I remember when the Gremlins 1st came out. I was way more of a Pacer fan from an aesthetic POV. But looking at it now, especially the way the silver one in the ad is done up, I’d certainly like my hands on one now!

    • Mark Milligan

      The “X” model had a 304 V8 in it, and a guy I knew had a plum-colored one, it was a screamer. Of course they handled like a cross between a toboggan, and a home made soap box derby car, and he got drunk after a dance and rolled it several times on the edge of town before it was a year old. Somehow he wasn’t hurt seriously.

  2. Mark Milligan

    That’s just what we always called seats with loud plaid seat covers, but could they be also called Matador Plaid?

    I was always partial to the Pacer, and am thinking about buying one. They’re still pretty cheap. I like the sedan better than the wagon, but found a wagon in the Denver area I’m eyeballing.

    • BeeJay

      I would LOVE to own a Pacer! Here in germany they practically don´t exist, I only know them from photos and always thought they are gorgeous.

    • Douglas Wood

      Mark– your last listing (the car seat ad) also mentioned “bull fighter plaid”– a term I had never heard before. So it just refers to any bold plaid?

      • Mark Milligan

        Hi Doug! I just remembered when I saw that ad, people calling LOUD plaid seat covers “Bull Fighter Plaid” when I was a kid, and of course thought it had something to do with sex in a car back then. I saw your WTF? and that’s why I went straight to an old AMC car, because I remembered somebody had one with those plaid seats. I had to drive a banana yellow gremlin with green plaid seats, and no a/c, about 180 miles round trip for my boss when I was about 18. It was July, and I had to pick up a lady and her three boys at a bus station in rural Nebraska.

        • Douglas Wood

          Thanks for the explanation, Mark. By the way, Googling “bullfighter plaid” and “definition” provides no results!

          Also, your experience driving the lady and her 3 boys for your boss sounds like a great short story (or novel.) Was it as intriguing as it sounds?

  3. Lisa Rios

    My mom & dad both had Gremlins in the 70’s. Dad had baby blue & mom’s was orange.

  4. k2dtw

    We had the Yellow one…we didn’t keep it very long. I remember it was very fast off the line, and it was like riding in a fish bowl?