Happy Birthday AMC Gremlin!

[matt1971]

Hi. Matt here. Today is April 1st 2014. The AMC Gremlin was introduced on April 1st 1970 44 years ago as a 1970 1/2 midyear entry. It debuted 6 months ahead of the Chevy Vega and the Ford Pinto. I used to own a 1974 AMC Gremlin. It was trans am red with a black interior and a white stripe. it had a 258 I-6 motor with a column shift automatic transmission.

[IowaEagle]

I bought a '70 Gremlin  in '70.  The Pentagon found out and shipped by 20 year old butt overseas.

[matt1971]

Doug, please explain. I don't understand. with goodness, -Matt.

[vangremlin]

I've had 3 Gremlins in my lifetime, plus the beefed up descendant of the Gremlin, the Kammback.  There were two Gremlins in my family.

A couple interesting things about some of the first year Gremlins, features that were to either save money or improve fuel economy, were the fixed back window and lack of a back seat!

[DownwardFlame]

Thats kinda ironic isn't it? I mean the gremlin being introduced on April fools day...

[Amc1320]

One has to wonder the marketing strategy of naming a car Gremlin in the first place, and releasing it on April fools day to boot. Ive been in marketing ll of my life and I would have voted no on both accounts

But still they did sell a ton of them for the first several years. They were the right car for the times, small and fuel efficient and AMC's 6's are pretty bullet proof so they could take a lot of abuse and survive much better than their competition.

A brand new Gremlin was like $1800 back then, that's comparable to a 10K car in todays dollars, can you even buy a brand new car for 10K today? If there is one I doubt it will still be around 40 years later.

I have a gremlin me and my Dad are restoring, hope to get it done this summer, its a fun little car to drive and certainly is a conversation piece wherever you go!

I have also noticed that gremlin prices have really gone up on Ebay and such, they are the HOT AMC for collectors nowadays it seems