We're Head Over Heels for this, Low-Mile 1970 AMC Gremlin!

Imagine strolling through row upon row of muscle cars, street machines, and classic 4x4s at a vintage hot rod show, and sandwiched between all the hard-hitting iron is the stock-as-a-rock 1970 AMC Gremlin pictured here. It sure seems an unlikely environ to spot a well-preserved domestic economy car, but these are the circumstances your author found himself in last spring at an indoor car show in Spokane, Washington. The Gremlin’s surprising presence just had to signal something out of the ordinary, and a closer look revealed anything but a run-of-the-mill AMC. Rather, the car featured here is one of the earliest of first-year Gremlins, is unrestored, and sports just over 6,000 original miles. Additionally, it’s owned by the son of Vince Geraci, a period American Motors designer who was intimately involved in the creation of the company’s trendsetting little subcompact.

Current owner Jeff Geraci picks up the story. “My dad was hired by American Motors as a designer in 1959 after spending several years at various divisions of Chrysler. At AMC, he worked on the Marlin, Ambassador, and other efforts, including the Gremlin, which went on sale to the public on April 1, 1970. Shortly thereafter he became the director of interior design, and helped develop the special edition Levi’s Gremlin, Pierre Cardin Javelin, and others. I remember dad working on the Levi’s program in the early Seventies and coming back from the San Francisco Levi’s headquarters with a bunch of denim-themed samples they were evaluating for the new interior. My mom ended up washing them for different lengths of time to get varying shades of blue to look over, then my dad and Lois Zollicker–the interior trim and color manager–reviewed everything and decided on the color to shoot for in the final material.”

A few years down the road, Vince rose was to lead the entire AMC design department, and then continued his career with Chrysler when that company bought AMC in 1987.

Vince’s efforts at AMC made him something of a luminary with enthusiasts of the make, and Vince has enjoyed participating in classic AMC shows and reunions over the years. It was through these activities that he met Brian and Wendy Moyer, who were Gremlin enthusiasts of the first order. Among the many Gremlins the couple owned is the very car featured here, which they possessed for 26 years. The Moyers also owned a wonderful 1973 Levi’s edition Gremlin that Brian openly talked about wanting to see in Vince Geraci’s garage someday. When Brian unexpectedly died in 2021, Wendy decided to move on from some of the cars and contacted the Geraci family regarding the Levi’s car. At some point in the conversation, Wendy mentioned she would be selling the low-mile ’70 too, and Vince and Jeff ended up making a deal with Wendy for both cars.

We’re not entirely clear how the Moyers discovered the ’70 back in 1995, but they bought it from the original owner’s family with only a bit less than the 6,366 miles it currently displays. Original paperwork shows the car was bought by Marian Peterson from Northside Rambler in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 16, 1970, and delivered on April 30. Jeff was told that a death in the family a short time later led to the car being put away for many years.

Beyond the meager number of miles on the odometer, Jeff’s ’70 is notable for a couple reasons. One, it has to be one of the earliest Gremlins in existence, as it was delivered just 30 days after the model was made available to the public. Two, it is a virtual time capsule in terms of originality.

“Brian and Wendy went to great lengths to keep this car as original as possible, and that’s my passion as well,” Jeff says. “I’m just the current custodian of the car and I am in preservation mode. I make sure to drive it at least every three months to ensure everything gets exercised, and I’ll take it to a show now and then.”

Jeff adds that for safety and functionality’s sake, he replaced the brake system’s wheel cylinders and the sending unit in the fuel tank. Similar maintenance was no doubt done by the Moyers, too. The current tires are recent replacements as well, but Jeff has the wheel/tire/full wheelcover combo that came on the car. He chose to keep the original B78-14 tires on the original wheels, which is a move that seems to make sense considering the rubber is more than 50 years old. The tires hold air, and who knows if they would continue to do so if subjected to a dismount/remount sequence? Jeff chose a slightly different look when it came to his street rolling stock – at least as compared to the factory originals for this car. The combination as pictured features the base model dog-dish hubcaps on 14-inch painted steel rims, with modern radial tires.

Turning to Gremlin history on a macro scale, it’s important to recognize the car for what AMC claimed it was when it debuted–“The smallest production car made in America.” In joining the subcompact market dominated by imports, AMC had turned to the new Hornet that came out in the fall of 1969 and proceeded to lop off a foot of wheelbase (108 inches versus 96 inches) and 18 inches of overall length (179 versus 161 inches). Consequently, the front half of a Gremlin is virtually identical to a Hornet, while the back was completely new, featuring styling courtesy of Bob Nixon and his AMC small-car design studio. In this regard, the Gremlin was a sort of mini two-door station wagon, save for the fact that access to the rear cargo space was considerably limited.

For 1970, Gremlins came in two flavors. The basic version priced at a paltry $1,879 was a two-passenger model that came without a rear seat and had a fixed rear window. In this arrangement, the only access to the rear cargo area was though the doors – though the lack of a rear seat made it seem almost roomy. The second and most popular version is that represented Jeff’s car, priced from $1,959; his went out the door for $2,483.45 before tax and license. This second version was of course a four-seater, with a standard fold-down rear seat, and a glass hatch that opened the upper half of the back of the car. The added convenience of having rear cargo access would seem worth the $80 higher price all by itself. As another perspective on the cost of rear access and a rear seat, we noted that the AM radio option in Jeff’s car was $61.60.

Gremlin’s economy features were heralded by AMC advertising from the start, both in terms of purchase price and fuel mileage, claiming that Gremlin pulled down the “best mileage of any car made in America.” Once you realize the Gremlin beat the Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega to market by half a year, the claim is hardly surprising. With no direct domestic rival, AMC aimed its earliest ads squarely at the Volkswagen Beetle, touting the Gremlin as just 2.5 inches longer than the “Bug,” but 10 inches wider and 765 pounds heavier, resulting in a more comfortable and substantial feel. Likewise, the Gremlin pummeled the Beetle in terms of horsepower, with the Gremlin standard straight-six being more than twice as powerful while returning up to 25 miles per gallon.

Speaking of horsepower, the grunt for this early Gremlin comes from the standard 199-cu.in. straight-six rated for 128 hp. It’s an interesting choice, if for no other reason that the Pinto and Vega were launched solely with four-cylinder engines. Later in the year, an optional 232-cu.in. six became available in the Gremlin, and by 1972, a customer could even opt for a 304-cu.in. V-8.

There’s no doubt the Gremlin was a major commercial and financial success for American Motors, despite being quickly dwarfed by Pinto and Vega production numbers. The Ford and Chevy subcompacts would eventually sell 2 million to 3 million units each, while total Gremlin production from 1970-’78 was just over 670,000. Still, those nearly three-quarters of a million cars represent an all-time best seller for a single design AMC. And we might note that we’re unaware of any reputational baggage for the Gremlin, compared to Pinto and Vega. Instead, the Gremlin is a noteworthy and playful entry at the dawn of domestic subcompacts.

Maybe Jeff said it best when we asked him what he likes most about his Gremlin. “Everyone has a Gremlin story that they can relate with a smile. They had a Gremlin, or they knew someone with a Gremlin, or they had a memorable experience that involved a Gremlin – something like that. It seems people remember some of its contemporaries with a strong element of disdain. Let’s face it, by today’s standards, none of those cars were particularly good. But for its place in time, the Gremlin is pretty compelling.”

We can assure you that we were all smiles while photographing Jeff’s remarkable ’70, as there’s just something about it beyond those crazy low miles.

AMC designer Vince Geraci

AMC designer Vince Geraci

We had the pleasure of interviewing Vince Geraci as we put this story together, and he was able to share some in-depth details of the initial Gremlin design history. In the late 1960s, Vince was the lead designer for AMC’s “senior” car studio (think large cars like the Ambassador), while Bob Nixon was the small-car studio head. Dick Teague was the head of the entire AMC design department. Nixon and his designers accomplished the bulk of the Gremlin project after the concept was allegedly sketched out on an airsickness bag by Teague. Among many elements of the project, Nixon and his staff crafted a half-scale clay model of the car before being assigned to a now-forgotten new project. It was at this stage that the Gremlin was moved to Vince’s studio, where he and his cadre of design staff created a full-size clay model and finished the project by designing the grille, taillamps, trim, and other smaller details. It’s clear that the Gremlin is one of Vince Geraci’s favorite projects in a career full of interesting designs.