Hard to believe, but it’s been full 40 April Fools days since the introduction of an auto landmark of sorts—the AMC Gremlin.
Ah, the Gremlin! American Motors introduced its “different” compact on April 1, 1970. It quickly became a staple of stand-up comedy (“Hey Buddy, where’s the rest of your car?”) and a perverse beacon of hope to folks not sure what to do with their lives during the disco era (Gosh, I know I can do better than this. That’s it! I’ll become a car designer!”)
One of American Motors’ advertising lines when it introduced the Gremlin was “If you had to compete with GM, Ford, and Chrysler, what would you do?” Well, AMC’s answer was something less than expected. It wasn’t just that the car appeared to have had its rear end chopped off. It was that bias cut. Somehow that slashing slant from roof to rear bumper made the car appear incomplete rather than unique. It was a lesson in the vagaries of what makes a car a hit or a miss. The total profile was not that different from what was becoming an increasingly common hatchback look. But that difference was everything in eye appeal.
And the name! Why would you name a car after a World War II slang term for “an imaginary gnome or goblin” that causes things to go wrong in an aircraft? Gremlin was a byword for mechanical trouble.
AMC managed to sell 671,475 Gremlins between 1970 and 1978 and any survivors are, of course, “collector’s items,” like… oh, say, Beanie Babies. The rarest are the two-seaters—only 3,017 were built—and those special editions with genuine Levi’s blue jean upholstery. I know, it’s April Fool’s Day. But I’m not making any of this up.