Was AMC seriously considering a late-70s Gremlin wagon?

Dan Strohl (2022) has posted a photograph of what could have been a Gremlin wagon prototype. His story and comment thread offer a number of plausible ideas about what AMC had in mind, but I would like to throw out some additional thoughts.

The pictured car has front-end sheetmetal first used on the Gremlin in 1977. In addition, the wrap-around chrome front bumper appears to have been the one produced from 1977-78. That span of years would presumably have been the target date for the wagon’s introduction if it had been under serious consideration . . . and AMC engineers weren’t just randomly pulling from the corporate parts bin.

Distorted photo obscures key qualities about the car

The photograph Hemmings posted has distorted proportions. The car looks too tall and stubby — almost like a sport-utility vehicle. When I looked at the undistorted base photo (Gateway AMC St. Louis, 2022), the first thing I noticed was that the wheelbase behind the B-pillar appeared to be longer than a standard Gremlin. You can see a hint of that in the Hemmings photo because the chrome piece on the rocker panel — which presumably came from a Gremlin — doesn’t extend all the way to the rear wheel cutout.

Out of respect for copyright, you will need to go here or here to see Gremlin wagon photos

My guess is that the wheelbase was stretched around four inches, which would have given the wagon a 100-inch wheelbase.

This could be an important clue as to the purpose of the prototype. Hemmings commentator OldCarMan (2022), who described himself as a former AMC designer, stated that the 96-inch wheelbase of the Gremlin coupe was too short for a wagon because it “had less than minimal” rear-seat legroom. Note that the Pacer, which vaguely functioned as a successor to the Gremlin, had a 100-inch wheelbase.

Could AMC management have been weighing whether to give the Pacer or the Gremlin a wagon in 1977?

Or might this prototype have been a test mule for the Pacer? Then again, why wouldn’t they just use a Pacer body for a test mule because it was already on the market and had meaningful differences from the Gremlin, such as a wider track and a front subframe?

Crude styling suggests test mule for something else

An argument in favor of the prototype being a test mule is that the styling was quite crude. For example, the top of the side windows have a weird zig-zag quality because they are taller behind the C-pillar than in front of the B-pillar. And even in the undistorted photo, the rear end is unduly boxy for the Gremlin’s otherwise fuselage-shaped body.

Also see ‘Four reasons why the AMC Gremlin was a bad idea’

In addition, horizontal taillights suggest that, like the Pacer coupe, the liftgate may not have been flush with the floor of the cargo area. Meanwhile, the Gremlin’s W-shaped rear bumper appears to have been carried over. If this was the case, the already boxy back end could have had some odd creases. The side window treatment was certainly odd, with the canted-back C-pillar and overly thick B-pillar. Rear-quarter sheetmetal doesn’t even extend the upper-body crease used from the B-pillar forward.

Strohl suggested that the wagon could have been a test mule for a downsized Jeep Cherokee. That sounds like a reasonable guess because the Cherokee that eventually reached production had a somewhat similar footprint. However, this prototype looks like a run-of-the-mill passenger car. It doesn’t even have the beefier tires and jacked-up ride height of the Gremlin-based, four-wheel-drive Eagle models that AMC would introduce in 1981.

Was wagon designed with Spirit-based Eagle in mind?

Another possibility was that the wagon was among the body styles under consideration when AMC was planning the Spirit, which replaced the Gremlin in 1979. By that point the Pacer’s crashing sales could have brought management to consider a successor of sorts for the three-door wagon body style. Even with a stretched wheelbase, a Spirit wagon would have been lighter — and more fuel-efficient — than a Pacer.

Also see ‘Six mistakes that killed the AMC Pacer — and American Motors’

Whatever AMC management was thinking, it ended up having money to significantly redesign only one body style in the late-70s. They placed their bets on the Spirit hatchback. Bean counters kept the cost down by carrying over the Gremlin’s 96-inch wheelbase and the sheetmetal ahead of the B-pillars.

The hatchback did give AMC a boost, but it was modest and temporary. Without this body style the Spirit would likely have quickly died. Production breakouts by body style are not always available, but in 1981 roughly 42,000 Spirit hatchbacks left the factory versus under 2,400 sedans.

Also see ‘AMC’s Roy D. Chapin Jr. succumbed to the illusion of bigness’

In addition, the new-for-1981 Eagle SX/4 hatchback saw volume reach 17,000 units. In contrast, under 15,000 Concord-based Eagles were produced that year. However, only one year later the tables were turned — the larger Eagles outsold the SX/4 by more than a two-to-one margin despite their higher price tags.

In retrospect, a Gremlin/Spirit wagon might have had more staying power than the hatchback — particularly once it was given the Eagle four-wheel-drive treatment. Of course, that assumes much cleaner styling than the prototype displayed.

NOTES:

Production data and product specifications were drawn from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006) and Flammang and Kowalke (1999).

Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.

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RE:SOURCES

• Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, IL.
• Flammang, James M. and Ron Kowalke; 1999. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1976-1999. Third Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
• Gateway AMC St. Louis; 2022. Image posted 7:16 p.m., July 17.
• OldCarGuy; 2022. Commentator in “What sense would a Gremlin station wagon have made?” Hemmings. Posted July 28.
• Strohl, Daniel; 2022. “What sense would a Gremlin station wagon have made?” Hemmings. Posted July 28.

BROCHURES & ADVERTISING:

• oldcarbrochures.org: AMC Gremlin (1977); AMC Eagle (1982, 1983); AMC Pacer (1977); AMC Spirit (1979)