The AMC Gremlin is a 2-door Sedan (automobile) / sedan / 2-door hatchback from American Motors Corporation, built from 1970 to 1983, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. Under the bonnet: 1984 cc Volkswagen. Bob Nixon / Dick Teague drew it.
Where it came from
The AMC Gremlin, also called American Motors Gremlin, is a subcompact car introduced in 1970, manufactured and marketed in a single, two-door body style (1970–1978) by American Motors Corporation (AMC), as well as in Mexico (1974–1983) by AMC's Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) subsidiary. Using a shortened Hornet platform and bodywork with a pronounced kammback-like tail, the Gremlin was classified as an economy car and competed with the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto, introduced that same year, as well as imported vehicles including the Volkswagen Beetle and Toyota Corolla.
The small domestic automaker marketed the Gremlin as "the first American-built import." The Gremlin reached a total production of 671,475 over a single generation. It was superseded for the 1979 model year by a restyled and revised variant, the AMC Spirit, which continued to be produced through 1983. This was long after the retirement of the Ford Pinto, which suffered from stories about exploding gas tanks, as well as the Chevrolet Vega with its rusting bodies, durability problems, and aluminum engine.
Under the skin
Power comes from 1984 cc Volkswagen; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 2633 lb. It shifts through a 3- or 4-speed Borg-Warner Manual transmission / manual / 3-speed manual w/ Laycock de Normanville Overdrive (mechanics) / overdrive / 3-speed Borg-Warner automatic (1970–1971) / 3-. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 96 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: its successor was the AMC Spirit; assembly was at Kenosha, Wisconsin (Kenosha Engine. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Suzuki Jimny, the Chevrolet Impala, the Range Rover Range Rover — show what else the money bought that year.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the AMC Gremlin has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.