Editing AMC Gremlin (section)

===Origin and design===
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| caption2 = The design of the Gremlin was inspired by the [[AMC AMX-GT]] concept car.
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The idea for the Gremlin began in 1966 when design chief at American Motors, [[Dick Teague]], and stylist Bob Nixon discussed the possibility of a shortened version of AMC's compact car.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://ateupwithmotor.com/compact-and-economy-cars/53-amc-gremlin.html |last=Severson |first=Aaron |title=Do Not Feed After Midnight: The AMC Gremlin |publisher=Portraits of Automotive History: ate up with motor |date=October 13, 2007 |access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref> On an airline flight, Teague's solution, which he said he sketched on an [[air sickness bag]],<ref name="hine">{{cite book |last=Hine |first=Thomas |title=The Great Funk: Falling Apart and Coming Together (on a Shag Rug) in the Seventies |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2007 |url= https://archive.org/details/greatfunkfalling0000hine |url-access=registration |quote=AMC Gremlin. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatfunkfalling0000hine/page/41 41]–42 |isbn=978-0-374-14839-3 |access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref> was to truncate the tail of a [[AMC Javelin|Javelin]]. Bob Nixon joined AMC as a 23-year-old and did the first formal design sketches in 1967 for the car that was to be the Gremlin.<ref name="Cranswick-157">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=r9j7MWLE_jMC&q=AMC+Gremlin+Hindenburg&pg=PA157 |title=The Cars of American Motors: An Illustrated History |first=Marc |last=Cranswick |page=157 |publisher=McFarland |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7864-8570-3 |access-date=April 10, 2015}}</ref>

Ford and General Motors were to launch new subcompact cars for 1971, but AMC did not have the financial resources to compete with an entirely new design.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1970-1978-amc-gremlin.htm |title=1970-1978 AMC Gremlin |website=How Stuff Works |author=((Auto Editors of ''Consumer Guide'')) |date=October 17, 2007 |access-date=June 27, 2014 |archive-date=June 12, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110612143557/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1970-1978-amc-gremlin.htm }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Vance |first=Bill |title=Gremlin was a cut-down, larger car |newspaper=National Post |date=May 9, 2008 |url= http://www.driving.ca/news/story.html?id=024bb3e4-9915-4c8c-b39d-79e45fca82cb |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130602031345/http://www.driving.ca/news/story.html?id=024bb3e4-9915-4c8c-b39d-79e45fca82cb |archive-date=June 2, 2013 |access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref> Teague's idea of using the [[pony car]] Javelin resulted in the [[AMC AMX-GT|AMX-GT]] concept, first shown at the [[New York International Auto Show]] in April 1968.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Koos |first=Alfred |title=Gremlin Aberrations |magazine=American Motoring |publisher=American Motors Owners Association (AMO) |volume=16 |issue=2 }}</ref> This version did not go into production, but the [[AMC AMX|AMX]] name was used from 1968 through 1970 on a shortened, two-seat sports car built from the Javelin.

[[File:Gremlin-Pinto-Vega in 2010.JPG|thumb|1971 AMC Gremlin X, 1972 [[Ford Pinto]] Runabout, and 1973 [[Chevrolet Vega]] GT]]
[[File:1978 AMC Gremlin X blue KA-in.jpg|thumb|1978 Gremlin X]]

Instead, Bob Nixon, AMC's future Chief of Design, designed the new subcompact based on the automaker's [[AMC Hornet|Hornet]] model, a [[compact car]]. The design reduced the [[wheelbase]] from {{convert|108|to|96|in|mm|0}} and the overall length from {{convert|179|to|161|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}, making the Gremlin two inches (50&nbsp;mm) longer than the Volkswagen Beetle and shorter than the Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega.

Capitalizing on AMC's advantage as a small car producer, the Gremlin was introduced on April 1, 1970. The April 6, 1970, cover of ''Newsweek'' magazine featured a red Gremlin for its article, "Detroit Fights Back: The Gremlin". The car was available as a "base" two-passenger version with no rear seat and a fixed rear window, at a [[suggested retail price]] of $1,879, and as a four-seat [[hatchback]] with an opening rear window, at $1,959 (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1959|1970}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars{{inflation-fn|US}}).<ref name="Flory 2004 712">{{cite book |last=Flory |first=J. Kelly |title=American Cars, 1960–1972: Every Model, Year by Year|url= https://archive.org/details/americancarsever00flor_944 |url-access=limited |publisher=McFarland |year=2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americancarsever00flor_944/page/n717 712] |isbn=978-0-7864-1273-0 }}</ref>

From the front of the car to the [[B-pillar]]s, the Gremlin was essentially the same as the AMC Hornet. Although it was only fractionally longer than the contemporary Volkswagen Beetle, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' said the length of its hood over the front-mounted engine made "the difference seem considerably more", adding that the car "resembles a sawed-off station wagon, with a long, low hood and swept-up rear, and is faintly reminiscent of the original [[Studebaker Avanti]]."<ref name=time>{{cite magazine |title=Autos: Shifting Down for the '70s |magazine=Time |date=February 23, 1970 |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876653,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081210235305/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,876653,00.html |archive-date= December 10, 2008 |access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref> As with the Volkswagen, the Gremlin's styling set it apart from other cars.<ref name=culture>{{cite book |last=Hinckley |first=James |title=The Big Book of Car Culture: The Armchair Guide to Automotive Americana |publisher=MotorBooks/MBI |year=2005 |page=120 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NorSiqCb9mMC&q=AMC+Gremlin+%22bold+and+innovative+approach%22&pg=PA120 |isbn=978-0-7603-1965-9 |access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref> ''Time'' said, "like some other cars of less than standard size, the back seat is designed for small children only."<ref name=time/> The Gremlin's wider stance gave it "a stable, quiet and relatively comfortable ride—for the two front passengers", for whom, by small-car standards, there was more than average interior width, seat room, and legroom.<ref name="interior"/> The six cubic feet of luggage space behind the back seat was less than in the rear-engined Volkswagen Beetle, but with the seat folded the cargo area tripled to {{convert|18|cuft|L|1}}.<ref name="interior"/>

The upright design of the tail, which enlarged interior space, was [[aerodynamic]]ally efficient. Later, European and Japanese manufacturers similarly created different body styles on one compact car chassis by extending or curtailing the trunk (e.g. Volkswagen's [[Volkswagen Jetta|Jetta]] and [[Volkswagen Golf|Golf]] models).