Warning: Don’t feed it after midnight and don’t get it wet. Okay, not really, but we are talking about a Gremlin here. Not the kind from the awesome 1984 movie “Gremlins” and not even proverbial gremlins that cause problems you can’t figure out. Nope; I’m talking about the AMC Gremlin, and while it was an economy car by 1970s standards, it was pretty damn cool, to say the least. Produced in just one generation from 1970 to 1978, the car didn’t exactly have a long life by today’s standards, but it did feature a number of various engines that included a four-banger from Audi and a couple, rather mean V-8 engines. If there were category for “classic hot hatches,” this car would be the poster child.
Known in its day as the “the first American-built import, the Gremlin was tasked with competing against models like the Chevy Vega, Ford Pinto, Volkswagen Beetle, and even the Toyota Corona. Over eight years of production, more than 670,000 examples were built before it was finally replaced by the AMC Spirit. At the time, AMC didn’t have the funds to design and all new car to compete with the new subcompacts from Ford in General Motors that would come out in 1971, so Bob Nixon, who eventually became AMC’s Chief of Design, designed a new car based on the AMC Hornet – AMC’s compact car at the time. The Gremlin and its weird, flat-back design debuted on April 1, 1970, and the rest is history.
So, now that you know about the history of the Gremlin, let’s take a look at this 1977 model that is set to go under the hammer at the Mecum Auction during Monterey Car Week, August 2016.
Continue reading for our full review on the AMC Gremlin.
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