Re: <Gremlintime> Hi, new member Rebecca...beware of...RUST!

[Gremlingts@xxxx]

 Welcome to our little Gremlin online community, Rebecca! I'll intro 
myself to ya - I'm Jerry Casper, married to GremlnGirl, live in northern 
Virginia, own 8 Gremlins currently ( and 18 AMCs total ), love these cars and 
many others. That said, I do have some experience on areas to look for in 
these cars. Rust can be a big problem, and in strange but critical areas, so 
you need to learn to look for them, and look UNDER the car as well, I'll bet 
99% of car buyers never even peek underneath the car to look really well at 
it to look for damage from accidents, rust, etc. VERY important. Sites under 
a Gremlin to look at include the rocker panels ( the sheetmetal directly 
under the doors ), both outside view and underneath view. The inner rockers 
can show jagged rust lines from rust eating away at it, so carry a bright 
flashlight to look at these areas VERY CRITICALLY if you want a solid car and 
not a major project. Floorboards also rust out, so look for carpet poking 
thru holes in the floors ( front floors most prone ), or flaking metal. Up 
front, look at the frame behind the bumpers and running under the engine, 
this area can rust out, and your bumper can literally fall off if bad enough 
( although it'd have to be pretty bad to do it ), but these are unibody cars, 
and the frames are more sheet metal than thick steel, so this is a critical 
area to check.
Rear wheel well lips rust, too, so look for bondo repairs. Around the rear 
tail lights and rear hatch ( upper hinge area on roof CAN rust out, too! Also 
around the lower lip where water collects ). 
Even the front windshield pillars can rust out, you can find rust spots 
forming on half way up the front windshield support pillars if it's really 
bad.
Front fenders can rust out on TOP, near the rear, there's an inner 
fender brace that catches moisture, so look carefully about 12 inches from 
the windshield on the top of the fenders, see if any bubbling of paint is 
apparent.
Open both doors, and look at the front hinge areas, these can rust out 
and cause the doors to sag, this is a HARD repair to do if the car body is 
rotted in this area. But it's important to look for. Also check the area 
around the big pin that the door latch locks onto ( the rear door opening 
pillar), this sheetmetal can rust out, or the pin can be pulled out, there 
was a later factory fix of a big plate over this area to reinforce it. I have 
several Gremlins with a big plate with many screws around the door locking 
pin. Check for wear on top of the pin, to see if the door is dragging. See if 
the door lines up, or does it require lifting to raise the door to close. The 
door hinges may need fixing ( minor , somewhat ).
Now that I've scared the bejebbers out of you ( not sure what a Bejebber 
IS , really ), don't let a little rust scare you off. These cars are getting 
old, heck, a '70 is 32 years old now, and unless you live in southern 
California or Arizona or some other dry climate area, ALL Gremlins will show 
some rust. All mine do, and I didn't let it stop me from buying them, even if 
it HAS some rustout in some areas. It's just knowing how bad is too bad that 
is critical. You don't say what area of the country you live in, so not sure 
how critical it is for you to check, but if you live where there is lots of 
snow and salt use, then check it carefully!
Ok, here's a short Critical check list to look for stuff, and importance 
of each.

=== Critical importance : 1 is minor, 5 average, 10 MAJOR ====

- Inner/out rocker panels - 10 - this is a MAJOR structural component, 
believe it or not, and if you have major holes on the inner side that you can 
put your fist into, could cause structural integrity problems! Most holes 
near rear wheel area. One big hole acceptable, but if entire length of inner 
rocker is ate up with rust, BEWARE!
- Door hinge area - 8 - This area can be fixed, but it will be 
expensive and require custom metal work, so if it's really bad, BEWARE! This 
problem can cause door sag, not just worn hinge pins, so if the doors don't 
swing open cleanly, check out this area ( check it out anyway! ).
- Front subframe, bumper to firewall - 5 +/- - This can be crucial, 
especially if you're involved in an accident. If the rust is mainly up front 
near the bumper, it can be lived with ( structural rust, not the brown 
surface rust ALL cars have to some extent ). Look at it back where the frame 
is attached /welded to the firewall, if there is ANY rust in THIS area, it's 
an 11 ! Usually doesn't happen there, but it's near the floorboard rust-prone 
area, so should be checked anyway. Very FEW people do check. I'm guilty, I 
doubt I looked at this on ANY of the 8 Gremlins I bought ( then again, some I 
just bought for parts, too ). IF the rest of the car looks good, this area is 
probably ok, too. 
- Rear quarters/wheel well openings - 3 - Not a major problem, just 
cosmetic. But some states don't allow rustthru for inspection ( Maryland is 
one of them ), and metal to repair this area is practically non-existent, so 
special repairs will be needed. I drive mine with this area rusted, so it's 
not a crucial item to me. Looks bad, but... LOL
- Hatch opening - 5 - Look for rust holes on lower lip area across the 
back, can leak inside the car if it has leaked or rusted thru. Hard to fix 
area, too.
- Gas tank/filler opening - 5 - can be a problem area, look for crusty 
rust under gas cap ( take it off, look inside tube opening with flashlight, 
NOT a match or lighter ) A well-maintained Gremlin will have a little rust, 
but if it's sat a long time, could be seriously flaky rust here. Gas tanks 
can rust out, too, so if you see lots of rust here, hmm...
- Floorboards - qualified 7 - This is an EASY area to repair, generally 
speaking, and therefor requires careful analysis. If the rockers arent' 
rusted out, and no other major rust, then it's minor. If other areas are 
badly rusted, then it can be major problem. ANY State safety inspection will 
reject this outright as unsafe, even if it is easy to fix. So that's why I 
qualify it as a high number. But it can be repaired easily and restores 
structural integrity, so if that's all that's wrong, then I wouldnt' reject 
the car for it.
- body sheetmetal - 4 - This covers all other sheetmetal. Fenders can 
be replace or removed to be fixed. Other areas like windshield pillars can't. 
If you can live with minor rust, then it's ok. :) With old cars, you 
generally have to, unless you're rich. Look for major holes in fenders, 
bubbling paint around water-prone areas ( wheel openings, rubber gasket 
areas, etc ). Rust isn't cheap to repair, bodywork costs money, so if you 
want a nice car to begin with, it'll be tough if there's lots to fix. But as 
these cars are getting harder to find, it must be lived with. 


Well, I think that covers the major areas, Rebecca. Hope you have found a 
rare gem, '70 Gremlins are almost non-existent these days, and saving one of 
them is a cool thing! If you find one with a non-opening rear hatch, THESE 
are really rare, and super-cool to me, as they're the first 2-person Gremlins 
put out, and not many at that. Oh, and check for the 2 Gremlin guys on the 
front fenders, these emblems alone are worth bucks these days, if they're 
missing, figure $40-50 to replace both. 
Other neat things to look for that are rare :
-locking gas cap
-pop-out rear side vent glass ( not sure if '70 had that option, though)
-Am/Fm radio

Well, keep us informed of what happens to your mission, Reb. Hope the car 
turns out to be a good one! 

Jerry Casper, owner of:

'71 Gremlin w/rare canvas sunroof (dented but not very rusty )
'72 Gremlin w/rare canvas sunroof ( not dented but rusty )
'74 Gremlin , plain,junkyard save ( some rust, missing grill )
'74 Gremlin, plain, green, some rust ( rebuilt motor not running, but was a 
free car!!! )
'74 Gremlin, gold, plain ( high mileage, but was garage kept!) running 
currently, only Gremlin on the road.
'76 Gremlin, primer ( rusty parts/project car )
'78 GT ( BADLY rusted parts/project car )
'78 GT, Sun orange ( my first Gremlin, runs sometimes, still not on the road 
yet, my baby, maybe this year...)

http://www.geocities.com/caspercars/Gremlin.html