Yes, as the creators of the infamous Gremlin, the asymmetric Pacer, and the tape-stripe-tastic Spirit AMX, the American Motors Corporation will forever be remembered for making the worst American hatchbacks in history. But they're so ugly and quirky that they've actually moved full-circle and become lovable over the years. Well — at least the Gremlin and Pacer have. The world might need some more time to really appreciate the glory that is the louvered-rear, "rally-tuned" special that was the Spirit AMX. This 1980 model was the last car from AMC to wear the once-respected AMX badge. Underhood was a 4.2-liter inline six, which wasn't as bad as the hamster-powered four-banger in a Chevette, but not exactly a pavement-melter either. Be that as it may, have you ever seen a malaise-era compact look so badass? Didn't think so.

Images copyright: Mark Arnold / Jalopnik.com

When you see an American rear-drive car with a big fiberglass hood scoop, brightly-colored racing stripes, and rear tires so wide they protrude past the big plastic fender flares, you usually assume the presence of a V8 under the hood. How boring! But put a souped-up inline six in that same car and you've got something a bit different. Say, for example, this 1979 AMC Spirit, which can be purchased for the lure-to-Hell cheap price of just $2,800. It's already got some go-fast goodies on the engine (which is of unspecified displacement, though at least it's been bored 0.030" over). You might keep the intake and headers and drop in the good ol' 258 crank/rod combo into a common-as-dirt 4.0 Jeep block, giving you a ring-gear-shattering 280 cubes of inline torque! Thanks to the Jeep freaks, a bewildering array of camshaft options may be found, keeping you up late at night trying to puzzle out just the right combo for your Spirit. We don't know what kind of transmission is in this lil' red devil, but it goes without saying that you need a 4-speed for it, so you'll need to start shopping if the car comes with a slushbox.

Cool as the Spirit is, those Camaro owners won't be able to figure out what the hell it was that just smoked them at the dragstrip with just six cylinders. For AMC name recognition, you can't beat the Gremlin- why, even folks who wouldn't even recognize an AMX can slap an instant ID on the odd-looking shorty Hornet hatchback from deep in the heart of the Malaise Era. We've managed to find a genuine 1974 AMC Gremlin X for just 100 bucks more than the Spirit, which means it's your lucky day! Yes, for only 2,900 clams, or bones, you can head out to Kansas City and claim your own purple Gremlin X. Purple! Put on your darkest shades and take a peek at that two-tone interior- you know you must have this car! You get a 360 engine as part of the deal, but you'll be selling that off to buy some speed parts for the crazy inliner you'll be whomping together for this thing. It's been sitting for a while, so the brakes don't work, the carb gaskets are bad, and so on and so on. Oh, and there's rust. But don't picture yourself endlessly replacing rusty sheetmetal with impossible-to-find patch panels. Picture yourself rampaging around town in the baddest six-cylinder Gremlin X ever to burn 110 octane!

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It's hard to find a car freak who doesn't have a soft spot for the Datsun 510, with its independent rear suspension and sap-enhancement-friendly engine, so the appeal of a '71 510 wagon for only $650 can't be denied. The serious 510 obsesso-purists might sneer at a wagon, but we know better; station wagons, like, totally rule! This car doesn't run (no hints as to the cause, of course) and it's cursed with an automatic transmission, but both those problems are easily remedied. Just be sure to ask the seller about back registration before you sign on the line that is dotted!

A nice reliable Datsun- preferably updated with SR20DET power- would be fun and all, but let's say you need to be different. How about a car boasting a healthy serving of Kenosha Quirkiness, with a quasi-famous pedigree to boot? Here's a '77 AMC Gremlin that the seller claims was featured on the History Channel's Full Throttle series. It's a six-banger car, but it comes with a neat-o 4-barrel intake and custom-made header. Just because the seller likes the cut of your jib, this fine piece of AMC history has a price tag of a mere $600! Smog compliance might be a problem if you keep it in California, though.

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Consider yourself warned: Stay away from Arcticboy's AMC website! You will be sucked into a vortex of AMCness from which escape is impossible, and you will emerge hours or days later, blinking as though in unaccustomed daylight and unable to tolerate a life sorely lacking in Hornets, Matadors, or Gremlins. And even if you do have an AMC, you probably don't have the incredible Penthouse Sleeper option, which added a sort of TR7-garage-shaped tent to the roof of one's Hornet or Gremlin. By comparison, the Aztek's wretched tent looks like something a carny crank dealer would rig up behind the Tilt-A-Whirl. – Murilee Martin

Arcticboy's Strange AMC Collection [arcticboy.com]

Related:
American Motors on Television [internal]

Bucket seats... 6-cylinder engine... a wide hatch... back in '77, the choice was clear: Gremlin ber Pinto! But what about the Bobcat? – Murilee Martin

Related:
Crazed Gremlin! [internal]

While the AMC Gremlin in stock form beat Ford Pinto with two extra cylinders under the hood, no one beats Wisconsin's own Brian Ambrosini when it comes to wheelstanding Gremlin mayhem. Mr. Ambrosini reminds us that while turbochargers are bitchen, sometimes there is no replacement for displacement. A little nitrous oxide evidently doesn't hurt either. – Mike Bumbeck

Related:
Turbo Gremlin!; Turbo Pinto! [Internal]

Back in late 1970, Clarence Milstead purchased a 1971 AMC Gremlin. As time went on, he began tinkering with the six-cylinder Kammback hatch until the fateful day he saw an XR4Ti in a junkyard, yanked its turbocharger and plumbed it in, using a carburetor bonnet scavenged from a Mitsubishi-built Chrylser Hemi 4-cylinder. What fully awesome cars used the Hemi 4? That's right kids, the Conquest and its Starions! As time's gone on Milstead's continued to widdle with the Gremmie, converting the front drums to discs and dropping the final-drive ratio to 3.55. We'd be proud to drive this car. We'd be even prouder to say we built it ourselves. – Davey G. Johnson

My 1971 Turbo Gremlin [Gremlin X]

Related:
Turbo Pinto! [Internal]

There may be no vehicle more classical Northern Contra Costa/Southern Solano than this, even if it is actually from Kenosha. It reminds us of an old Aaron Cometbus-penned Cleveland Bound Death Sentence anthem that goes, "What about the nights drinking down at Passout/Tasha found a hundred dollars laying on the sidewalk/Split three ways/Enough for two bags of speed and five hundred copies of my motherfuckin' fanzine." Which, when sung by Paddy Costello of Dillinger Four makes so much sense that you'll wanna whack yourself over the head with the cylinder head from an AMC 401, smoke crystal and make out under the stars 'til the cows come home. [Thanks to Bob for the tip.]

RumbleGremmie

Related:
More El Caminos [Internal]

We were born in 1975, which meant that as a small child AMC's then- current lineup seemed interesting and futuristic to us. We also remember thinking Porsche 914s were strange-looking, yet kind of cool. Now generally remembered as the nadir of automotive design (along with the Vega, Pinto and Aspen/Volar twins), we still have a lingering affection for the '70s AMC products. Except for the Matador. Not even James Bond could make the Matador cool.

Pacers, Gremins and Matadors! [retroCRUSH]

Related:
In Praise of the Gremlin [Internal]