Save My Gremlin

Welcome to the Save My Gremlin initiative, an attempt of mine to collect resources with which restore my 1975 AMC Gremlin beyond its original brilliance and shine.

Ultimately, I'd like to turn the thing into a neat-o future-machine bursting with all kinds of Nerdy, sometimes useful features, like a computer that controls everything going on in the car and a sound system that has a MIDI interface with all of the various lights on and in the car. It should end up being totally electric, though I wouldn't be opposed to a gas-powered range extender or something like that. Lithium Polymer batteries would be neat, too.

Unfortunately, before any of that happens, there is a good deal of body work that has to be done, as you will see when I get some pictures up here. Most of the fenders are rusting out where water has pooled up inside the body panels and eaten the car from the inside. These will take a lot of skill, and money, to fix. The brake system needs some serious attention, and before the electric conversion happens, the 4.2-liter I-6 engine needs to be either rebuilt or replaced. Anybody getting rid of a 4-liter from a Jeep?

Anyway, this section of the site will chronicle my progress in this area. Is it a noble pursuit? Probably not. A contribution to society? Most people wouldn't think so. A worth-while project? Maybe. But a programmer like me, who spends most of his time working with "objects" in a totally symbolic, ethereal way, just needs something real to get his hands on once in a while. The Gremlin project should fill that need. For a very long time.