Small on the outside, really small on the inside.
Time plays tricks on our collective memory, especially when it comes to cars. For whatever reason, the Edsel, which was a monumental sales flop, is understood by too many folks to have been poorly built and unreliable. A “lemon,” it’s often called. Truth was (truth is) that the Edsel came to market a little too expensive during a significant economic cool down. The market for mid-priced cars literally disappeared just as the Edsel appeared in showrooms.
1976 AMC Gremlin
History
More recently, the American Motors (AMC) Gremlin has somehow earned a bum rap for being cheap and unreliable. And while the Gremlin, which was literally an AMC Hornet compact sedan with its rear portion sawed off, it was actually very reliable.
Price
The Gremlin, which was also sold in Mexico via a distribution company called VAM, was brought to market in 1970, and initially priced at just $1879—that’s about $15,000 today. We’ll talk a little more about the price in a moment.
While the car was indeed cheap—it was shod with hard-plastic cabin elements, and almost no standard equipment—it was actually, reportedly, very reliable. In 1970, the editors of Popular Science magazine drove a Gremlin 10,000 miles “…without a single problem.” In 1973, Consumer Reports named the Gremlin it’s top-rated economy car for long-term reliability.
1976 AMC Gremlin Ad
All that said, there was one serious designed in defect the Gremlin was cursed with, and this editor can attest to this personally: The Gremlin’s rear seat was completely useless.
Yet, the ad seem here seems to imply, well actually does imply, that AMC’s cheapest offering actually boasted meaningful rear-seat and cargo-area space. That’s a lie.
The Gremlin, as we noted early, was based on AMC’s Hornet compact car. As such, there was a reasonable amount of front-row space. But in back, thanks to the Gremlin’s “Kammback” design, head and legroom were severely limited as was cargo space.
Crammed in Back
Fun fact: Sometime in, oh, 1982, my friend Gordon stuffed me into the back seat of his Gremlin—this so a (hot) girl could ride shotgun up front. The trip was short—From Meadows Bowl to Pin Pan Alley (arcade) but it was also awful. I was forced to sit sideways, and, thanks to the car’s lack of side glass, I could not see out. By the time we arrived at our destination, I was suffering from both therapist-grade claustrophobia, and severe spinal curvature. Gordon sucked.
Now, now look at this ad. That kid looks happy, and the dog looks comfortable. I assure neither was the case. I am calling this ad out right now: stuffing a third person in the back of a Gremlin, even a very small person, should be illegal.
Bare Bones
Fun bonus fact: What little cargo space there was in the Gremlin, could only be access by a small, pop-up glass opening. The Gremlin did not have a hatch in the normal sense. Plus, had you ordered the $1879 edition of the little AMC discussed earlier, you would have gotten neither the opening glass hatch, nor a back seat. Really, no back seat.
This means that loading and unloading cargo meant passing it back between the seats, another fun way to pull a muscle while spending time with a Gremlin.
All told, AMC moved an impressive 671,000 Gremlins between 1970 and 1978, impressive for the nation’s then number-four automaker. A refresh of the Gremlin dubbed Spirit was introduced for 1979, but never sold as well as the Gremlin.
Not a Bad Car, Really
As noted earlier, the Gremlin was not a bad car, but it was kind of bad at being a car. But it looked reasonably cool, could be had with a V8 (really) and had a real reputation for reliability. While no car shopper today would ever accept the Gremlin’s flaws in a new car, things were different in the Seventies. I mean, people accepted 8-Track tapes as portable, and The Love Boat as quality family entertainment.
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1976 AMC Gremlin Pictures
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Photo Feature: AMC 1972 Gremlin X
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