"Jonee" (Jonee)
09/15/2014 at 14:56 • Filed to: Ghost Cars, AMC Gremlin
15
9|
"Jonee" (Jonee)
09/15/2014 at 14:56 • Filed to: Ghost Cars, AMC Gremlin | 15
| 9 |
About 10 or so years ago I daily drove a beat up yellow AMC Gremlin. That's not it in the picture, but it looked a lot like that. Dented, worn fat tires in back, spray painted racing stripes. It was a very tired car hanging on for my benefit. The suspension was so beat, it always felt like you were driving on a washboard dirt road. For a time the left blinker was stuck on. It had a cherry bomb muffler that made such a racket, I was always setting off car alarms. I loved this Gremlin. Of course the gas gauge didn't work and since the speedo/odometer was also shot, figuring out how much fuel was left was a guessing game. Hiking back to it with a full can of gas was a ritual. The Gremlin was full of gremlins in other words.
So, one night I'm out with a buddy when the engine sputters to a stop about 2 blocks from the Arco station I was aiming for. No biggie. I pull into a side street and coast to a stop. I'm on flat ground, but the street stretches up a hill in front of us. Since it's night and the hazards also don't work, I leave the key in the on position so the blinker will keep flashing giving off some kind of warning to let people know there's a disabled Gremlin and they should steer clear because this Gremlin has a mind of its own. No parking brake, of course, so I leave it parked in first like one does with a manual shift car. I leave my friend in the passenger seat and go get a gallon of gas. That part goes smoothly.
On my way back, I'm about a block away watching the flashing red beacon when all of a sudden, the car starts to move. "What the fuck?" I think, "did Marcos get the car started?" That's impossible since it's out of gas. But, sure enough, it's headed up that hill. I start to run. Is it being stolen? Do car thieves carry their own gas for these situations? Is my friend Marcos being kidnapped? It suddenly veers left and jumps a curb. Now I'm in panic mode as it's heading straight for a small apartment building. I start to sprint, gas splooshing around in the can making it awkward to run. There's a deep rumble and the Gremlin appears to stop. My heart is sinking because it looks like it did indeed hit that building. Is Marcos hurt? The car I'm sure is toast.
When I get there, poor Marcos comes stumbling out of the car, dazed and confused, but totally unharmed. When I walk around to the front of the car, I remember that they don't make them like they used to. There is now a front end of a Gremlin sized hole in the side of the building. The car's nose has penetrated the wall with little damage to the AMC. Heck the lights are still on illuminating a garage that's the bottom floor of the building. I ask my friend what the hell he did. Nothing, he tells me. It just took off on its own. "But it's out of gas!" I exclaim. He just shrugs. The building's residents have now come out to see who set a bomb off which is apparently what an AMC Gremlin crashing through your apartment building sounds like. They all think I must be drunk, but I show them the gas can. I was at the Arco station. No one was driving. If anything, the car is drunk.
Someone offers to call a tow truck, but the car looks fine. Barely a scratch, in fact, not that you'd notice since it's all scratches and dents. I get a few of them to help push it out of its resting place, dump the gas in and it starts right up. Everyone's astonished. They didn't want to let me go, of course, but it's late and everyone wants to go to bed, so I convince them to let me give them my info. and I promise to come back the next day to work this out with whoever owns the place. Somehow, they let me get away.
I do return and meet the landlord. He doesn't believe the car with no gas driving itself into his building story, but he's still understanding. "Hey, we all do dumb stuff sometimes," he tells me. Well, the car did dumb stuff all by itself, but I'll accept responsibility. It costs me 800 bucks to fix that wall and a fire alarm that was hanging right where the Gremlin planted itself.
Why did a car that had run out of fuel launch itself up a hill, over a curb and into a building? Had it had enough and saw an opportunity to end it all? Did it hate my friend Marcos? Did it hate that building? Was it trying to escape and live a life free from human control? We'll never know. I have my theory on what happened mechanically, but the emotional motivation is what still has me spooked. I've always been good to my cars. I love them with all my heart. But, maybe this one didn't love me back.
MHunter905
> Jonee
09/15/2014 at 15:03 |
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Ha! This was one of the best/funniest things I have read on OPPO. Great story about your Gremlin!
V8 Rustler
> Jonee
09/15/2014 at 15:11 |
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Some kind of short circuit activated the starter motor and that made it go uphill? But with that the battery would be dead by the time it crashed.
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Jonee
> V8 Rustler
09/15/2014 at 16:50 |
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Yeah, I imagine the starter kicked in and since it was in gear, it moved. It took about 20 seconds, so the battery was ok. What was weird was it didn't lurch forward like when you start a car in gear. It just took off smoothly like it was now an electric car.
Coty
> Jonee
03/14/2015 at 14:08 |
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It's perfect. I want it.
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Jonee
> Coty
03/14/2015 at 14:23 |
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I agree. Gremlins should never be clean and straight. Funny enough, a yellow Gremlin passed me here in L.A. yesterday. It kind of blew my mind as I hadn't seen one other than my own in forever.
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Coty
> Jonee
03/14/2015 at 14:27 |
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I had a chance to buy a 401 swapped Gremlin for $1000, but I didn't get to see it, kind of just heard about it through a rumor, but my friend is going to take pictures. I spent the $1000 already but I have a car to sell and I'll sell if cheap to get the money for that if I like it.
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Jonee
> Coty
03/14/2015 at 14:40 |
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That's awesome. A V8 Gremlin is one of the all-time great sleepers. I hope it works out.
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Coty
> Jonee
03/14/2015 at 15:00 |
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Probably won't but we'll see. I don't really need more cars, but it would be fun. Oh, it's a stick, too.
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greenagain
> Jonee
11/17/2015 at 16:05 |
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The ignition cylinders would wear out. I could start my Gremlin without a key, just by giving the thing a twist. Maybe Marcos did it.