When I saw the eBay ad for a low-mileage AMC Gremlin with a jaw-dropping price of $60,000, I knew I had to have a closer look. Sure, this 1972 AMC Gremlin X here on eBay has less than 10,000 original miles, but $60K? Whether it’s justified or not, the best part of this auction is learning that this is one of a handful of Gremlins breathed upon by the Randall AMC dealership of Mesa, Arizona. Although never recognized as an official package by AMC, Randall swapped in a 401 motor in place of the stock 304 in new Gremlins to give owners the feeling of driving off the lot in a factory-authorized hot rod. Mike Randall, one of the original brains behind the idea of a performance-oriented Gremlin, says today they only built 20 cars for the street and one for the strip, making this example a surefire rarity if that estimate is correct. But despite the performance tweaks and scarcity, it is worth $60K? Special thanks to Jim S for this tip!
Interesting car love the power wrong color wrong price it’s a Gremlin ???
Even though Randall did this, it’s not recognized. So there’s no proof that someone didn’t do this in the 70’s. 60k no, 6k sure.
Randall who?? new one to me.like Gremlins but way overpriced…sorry
I agree with all. Killer street car, but without documentation there’s no way to say who did it. 10k max to me.
Love Gremlins but I have to agree way over priced even with the added HP it’s still a Gremlin. Yes 10K Max.
Did I miss something here? Are we talking about a Mark Donohue AMX? No, a Gremlin? Oh, then the 0 after the 6 must be the mistake…
Really, nice find, great condition for the year, not sure where he thinks $60k is appropriate – lots of cars out there with “low number, dealer adds” done on them, doesn’t place them on top of price scale (can you say California Special Mustangs)… I’d be interested, for $6k, even though it’s a Gremlin. If I had Trumps dollars, would hit the buy it now on this one however.
Is it possible the price is a typo?
NOPE !!! He’s already stated don’t even try low balling him as he knows what it’s worth, well prove it with documentation then or a certified appraisal.
This thing is freakin cool. He says he has “copy original title from the Randall dealership with the $3,200 price and the corresponding VIN number”. What was a stock Gremlin priced at? 60k is too much but if it was proven to be real it would be 30k car. Maybe more.
Is this a thing, where the purchase price is printed on the TITLE? Do some states do this? Oregon does not, and I have never personally bought a car from the dealership and received a title from the dealership. It always came from the DMV to me, once it was transferred over.
Maryland requires the vin on the paper work for the sale of a new (or used) car. Maybe he is confusing this with the title.
I think the original Gremlins were priced starting at 2195.00 stripped so 3200.00 would have been a pretty good mark up for a hot engine and appearance upgrades.
Yes, Howard. My father tried to get Hubby to sell his Porsche 356 SC to get a brand new Gremlin back in the day, then advertised at $1999. He didn’t jump at the suggestion–something my father never understood. He did, however, keep the 356, a car we still have 40 some years later.
Who’s laughing now?
I had the one and only drag xr-401 gremlin if you ever road in it 60 large would seem to little nowadays
I once owned Amos Johnson’s IMSA Gremlin, probably as “famous” as Gremlins get, and it sold for less than half what he wants for this one!
Randall American in Mesa was famous for doing engine swaps. I got to drive in 78, a 76 Pacer that had a 401 in it. I was transporting it across town after my boss bought it at an auction. Ugly car, but I did a burn out at every light I could. Had so much power when most cars would not chirp the tires. THe Gremlin isnt worth 60K but would be fun to play with.
Looks like a fun car.No show car or documentation. Im thinking there’s to many 0s on that price tag. But its nice to dream big I gue$$.
the picture on this page, it looks pretty good, but if you go to the ebay site,and enlarge the pic, you can see the imperfections/ the white with the gold accents looks to be pretty unique . even if it doesn’t need body work, it could stand a repaint. would keep it the same, I don’t recall seeing a white Gremmy $60K though??? even if I had the money, I wouldn’t pay that much . It would be sure to attract attention on cruise nights!!
I live in Arizona, and I think Arizona does put the MSRP on the title. Your plate fee are based on the price and go down a little each year.
As far as the car I think 60K is crazy. The car does look good.
Back when I worked at Auto Trader ( before the internet) I called on Randall, very nice people.
I’ve never heard of this Randall guy but you mean he would have picked a car with a luggage rack on top of it to make into one of his “special Hot Rods”? Funny… That’s just Funny. LOL
It’s probably one of the cars but what establishes the value this seller thinks its worth? Have others from the same stable sold for anywhere near this cost?
I drove one of these brand new. It was a real handful with that 401 and short wheelbase…inexperienced drivers beware!! I would love to have it but even a real AMC fan would be institutionalized if he paid 25-30. Ain’t happening.
I traded for a 72 gremlin X back in the mid 70 s it was a factory purple w gold stripes car with a 304 & a blown clutch & 3 spd trans I put a t- 10 amc trans in it out of a hornet & had alot of fun with it until I got the chance to trade for a 401 out of my brothers 73 amx it had been rebuilt with trw pistons a general kinetics roller cam& lifters a edelbrock crossram with 2 afb carbs a vertex mag a milodon geardrive for the cam hooker headers& alum roller rockers needless to say it was pretty wild it had a factory 355 limited slip rear end with the factory torq links or traction bars out back still have the car but sold the eng a long time back!
The white/gold color exterior scheme is thrown off by the blue tailight panel; would have been better if it had been matching gold; maybe the stripes were an addition to a regular Gremlin? @ JW454: I agree, a luggage rack?!? Not on ANY car, let alone hot rod that I would spend money on!! :-)
Mopar man the white/blue threw me off also it looks totally out of place AMC did have the red white and blue paint schemes for the Rebel, and I think the Javelin . every now and then you will find an oddball combo of options, like p/w without p/l . it is nice to see a Gremlin that is in decent shape.. but the asking price is way too much
I was thinking that a Gremlin was basically an economy version of the AMX. That thought just hit me.
From what I could find, the Gremlin was dirt cheap, 2k or so. One with a 3200.00 price would have to have all the modifications. Tracing back to the original owner may be possible to as there doesn’t seem to be many.
Here is another 401 Gremlin:
http://longisland.craigslist.org/cto/5082180611.html
That is a nice looking Gremlin X and has a much more realistic asking price. The only thing that disturbs me with that one is if it’s only 5 hours away from being a show car why not finish it then sell it that way because it will sell much quicker as a finished car.
I prefer the purple one also.
Ha ha!
The price is INSANE!
http://www.nadaguides.com/Classic-Cars/1972/American-Motors/Gremlin/2-Door-Sedan/Values
Price guide is useless. If that piece of paper he has can reasonable prove it is one of the 20 or so Randle cars than this car is worth 30-40k. Maybe I’m the only idiot that thinks so however!
If the purple one is worth $15k (assuming it can be bought for that), deduct the cost of getting this one up to the purple one’s appearance, then add the “Randall Factor” ( which is nothing like, say, a “Yenko Factor”), and you have the market value which I’d say is about a third of the asking price. IMHO, of course.
I live in Florida on the East Coast. Mike Randall was a Maverick. I don’t think these cars were produced until 1974. If you google the Randall Gremlin you will find some great articles on what the Randall dealership did. His father was unaware of what he was doing with these cars. He would build you any AMC car with what ever option you wanted. An auto writer for a performance Mag, ” Steve Collison” wrote an article that it was the fastest car he ever drove from an out of the box dealer car. He drove the car from Arizona to California. The alternator kept quitting on him and he had to get a new battery every so often to get the car to Ca.
I know a personal friend who owns one. His son was going to college in Az and found the car for sale locally in AZ. Bought the car back to Fl. The car was sold with headers and the only way they could fit the engine in the car took some manual labor. They had to take a hand sledge to the firewall to get the headers to clear the fire wall. That is one of the tell tale signs that it was done at the dealership.
You can see a shipment of at least 20, 401’s that AMC shipped to Randall for these conversions. AMC never questioned what he was doing. The Feds actually shut him down because they could not pass the emissions standards. He actually built some Pacers and other AMC’s but there is no known records of what he did do. In a way it was actually a skunks project. Who knows what they are worth?
The market will bare whatever the traffic will bear. To a true AMC fan this is the equivalent of a COPO Camaro, A Yenko, a Nickey, Baldwin Motion, car. I have had the pleasure of seeing one in person. It is a shame that the person who owns it has removed some of the original parts. He still kept them but they were a bear to drive on the street. But I agree with some of you readers. If you are not familiar with the cars and never even knew they existed the interest is slight.
It is a piece of Americana. Mike Randall was actually able to find one of his original Gremlin X ‘S and is currently restoring it. Hope this is s great source to all who doubted its existence. So9metimes truth is greater than fiction
This car is priced completely out of reality! Just throw a ridiculous price out there and see if it sticks. That’s all this guy is doing…….I’d buy the purple one in a heart beat. Super cool color/interior and a reasonable asking price!
I don’t understand the comments that AMC didn’t ‘officially recognize’ the 401 XR package. The factory supplied the 401 crate engines specifically for this purpose, allowed them to be ordered and sold by any AMC dealer, and offered the full factory warranty. They did the same thing a few years later when Randall American was putting 401s in Pacers. What more is required to be ‘officially recognized’?