1971 and 2014 AMC Gremlins
This question is going to take a bit more thought and creativity than yesterday’s. First off, Jeeps don’t count, for obvious reasons. What we’re looking for are current or recent cars that somehow manage to convey the spirit and look of AMC’s cars back in the day. And if you can make them look even more like AMCs with Photoshop, or update old AMCs to look somewhat contemporary, all the better. Have fun…
Like this? They would have just kept building the Eagle, selling most of them to fleets.
More in the spirit (sorry) of the question, they would look something like the recent Mitsubishi Galant. The cars would be somewhat along the lines of what was out there 10 years ago, only not quite as good looking or well done as most.
> The cars would be somewhat along the lines of what was out there 10 years ago, only not quite as good looking or well done as most.
I was going to say almost the same thing. 😛
Oh wait – silly me, what was I thinking?
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/question/curbside-question-does-your-new-car-remind-you-of-an-old-car-or-what-would-your-driveway-look-like-in-1973/
The Eagle was a brilliant concept. If AMC had something other than the aging Hornet platform to build it on, they could have been Subaru. And today, the Avis parking lot in Vail, Colo., would be full of Eagles instead of Outbacks.
But in a good year Subaru sells fewer than half a million cars in the U.S. Would that have been enough to keep AMC going? I don’t think so.
Jeep is promising a million in sales worldwide next year, but without Renault’s dollars (francs?) and engineers, there would have been no XJ Cherokee or ZJ Grand Cherokee. What would have happened to Jeep if they only had CJ-7s and Grand Wagoneers to peddle? It wouldn’t have been pretty.
I’m not a Jeep person, but I’m glad that the Jeep brand survived. And, looking back, it was inevitable that AMC had to die in order for Jeep to live. In a still-consolidating auto industry, Jeep’s survival depends on the resources of a of a big, multi-national, multi-brand automaker like today’s Fiat-Chrysler (or Renault-Nissan).
Maybe a 2014 Eagle would look like this?
+1
One. AMC was a Chrysler Product when it was buried. Two. The Gremlin was recently reborn in the Chrysler Crossfire.
I always thought the WRX looked like something AMC would have produced.
I know that some one will argue, but the CRZ isn’t very Gremlin-ey, the Volvo C30 however, in my eye, is as close to a current Gremlin as you can get.
I can see the resemblance from the back. The Volvo also has the wide body look that AMC used on their compacts.
I’m not sure what the exteriors would look like but I’ve got a good idea what would be inside. There would be a lot of familiar off the shelf parts from other manufacturers like the generic three dial hvac controls from an early 2000’s Mazda, Subaru or low level Toyota. They would probably also have the same steering wheel that was in everything from a Chevy Cruze, Toyota Corolla and all the way up to a Corvette. They probably wouldn’t have a touch screen for radio/entertainment unless they were able to buy someone else’s system (besides modern-day Rambler buyers find those sort of things frivolous). I’d like to think that the ultra-thick pile carpet from a Limited trim level Eagle or Concord was still available and maybe AMC would have bucked the trend of only grey and black interiors–think 1980’s orange Eagle Limited or Grand Wagoneer leather–but there would also be a lot of hard, cheap looking plastic inside too.
Even though the AMC Premier was wildly successful (hey the whole premise is a fantasy so just go along with it please) the bean counters didn’t allow the second generation so many unique pieces not shared with other cars the the interior was tamed down quite a bit.
If Renault still owned them now, AMC cars would look like Nissans, pure and simple.
Well, if Renault had kept them, they’d just look like Nissans. Renault would have probably phased the AMC brand out, though. (Edit: Andre beat me to it.)
If we skip over that part of AMC’s demise, though, a “modern” AMC would probably most closely resemble a cross between a Subaru and a Mazda.
but y did renault leave america?
I suspect a modern AMC would look a lot like a modern Renault or Nissan since that was the direction their cars were moving in when Chrysler bought them. By the 80s AMC had given up on designing their own stuff and were relying on Renault to provide their cars like the Alliance/Encore and the Premier.
Best guess is that a modern AMC would be a variant of either a Renault Laguna or a Nissan Altima in the mid size and a Sentra/Versa or Megane for the small car plus an Espace or Quest minivan.
How about this 2014 AMC Pacer? I feel like a Juke is funky enough to serve as the basis. Not to mention Nissan’s alliance with Renault, much like AMC in the 1980s.
Brilliant !
Exactly!
Yes!
Brendan, you sir are a genius! 🙂
Do you mean AMC Eagle Pacer?
never liked the Juke….till now!
great job
I think 2014 AMCs would look a lot like the current Nissan lineup. Murano, Murano Cross Cabriolet, Cube, etc.
I would LIKE to think that it would play out like this:
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0804_amc_concept_cars/viewall.html
Mmm, I’m liking those…
I was about to post this as well. I LOVE these versions of the cars….even the ‘new’ Gremlin looks totally bad ass
Forget about Renault and all that “reality” stuff. In my imagination they are still building Javelin/AMXs!
Ooo nice, I’ll buy one – where do I sign?
I always thought the Jeep Compass has something of a Gremlin window line and, pre-facelift, the Pacer’s relationship between headlights and turn signals.
Here’s the 2014 Ambassador. AMC dropped the Marlin a few years back and just kind of replaced it with the Ambassador coupe. Also, here’s the 2014 AMX looking good as ever
Oh, and the Pacer
Here’s the 2004-2008 AMC Marlin:
Chrysler on line one, they want their Crossfire back
AMC Jeep CJ4 hardtop.
…”Jeeps don’t count”…Sorry, too late.
Then I call it the AMC Eagle Spartan.
Looks like an old jacked-up VW Rabbit
Hey !…a lowered Lada Niva !
More like a steroidal Yugo, methinks.
The Lada Niva (since 1977) is a very tough and capable 4×4. And its heating system is powerful enough to face the severest Siberian winters.
The Yugo, well, even $ 399 is too much.
Very recently Ford took over AMC Trucks do Brasil.
Wow, that is a visual mess! It looks like it just finished starring in a Transformers film…!
This one is about 35 years old. It’s a Transcontinental, not a Transformer.
See how clean, timeless and modern this old beast still looks ?
(although I must say that Ford used a French Berliet cab)
I do like the Transcontinental – when I turned 10 in 1984 I got a large-scale Matchbox Transcontinental bridge-building truck. It was unlike any of the Ford trucks on New Zealand roads at the time! Even then, at 10, the cab design stood out to me, and I remember researching all the truck books in the local library to find out about it. It was the first time I realised that truck manufacturers shared cabs, and was the first time I’d heard of Berliet. I’d forgotten all about that until you posted that pic Johannes – I’m going to have to go find my Transcontinental box now!
A Dutch guy made this great website about the Transcontinental, it’s in English: http://www.fordtranscontinental.nl/
I remember very well how impressed I was when I saw it for the first time,
never saw such a tall truck before. The Berliet cab sat high on the chassis, otherwise the big 14 liter Cummins engine wouldn’t fit. (The Berliet trucks with the same cab were much lower.)
Here you can see how tall it was, it’s parked next to 2 Kenworth K100 COEs. (and those were big trucks !)
Scott, I think I found your big Ford.
Yes, that’s the one Johannes! I feel it deserves a CC of its own; I’ll get mine out of its box and do a write-up for an upcoming feature week. 🙂
Being somewhat serious, I guess it would depend if Renault had kept their investment in AMC or spun them off like Daimler and Cerebus.
I agree with everyone else that if there were still part of Renault, it would largely be French , with some Nissan , Twingo=gremlin Megane=hornet, etc.
If they had been spun off, I could see them still basing everything off the Allaince and permier platform with just updated styling (some of the more ‘exotic’ Chinese stuff comes to mind) Jeepster = encore turned in a Mini CUV. After that, I think I’ll need to get my asbestos suit on 😮
You cannot take JEEP out of the equation here.
AMC would be offering what Subaru offers today.
It would be a FWD/AWD compact wagon and CUV. There would be a luxury version of it, an entry level version, and a complete JEEP line up of pick-ups and SUVs.
Renault would have never entered the picture in my scenario.
Every time I see a prior gen Subaru Outback Impreza, I think it looks like an interpretation of the Pacer.
You would think that AMC would have had at least ONE person looking at that Pacer.
Nah, they’re rejecting it from their clique because its parents dressed it funny… 😉
Agree with the several that said Nissan. With Renault ownership, or if Renault had never come calling and AMC survived on their own, they would look like Nissans: resonably handsome sedans, and some truely wierd niche models.
I think if you combine the Pacer and the Eagle wagon you can come up with the Porsche Panamera.
The 2004-13 Nissan Armada looks like a late 50s Rambler wagon on steroids. And the Kia Soul looks like a cross between the early 60s Rambler American and the Gremlin on the side.
You are spot on about the Armada having the roof line of a Rambler wagon. I thought that the first time I saw it but when I tried to point it out to people none of them knew what a Rambler wagon looked like.
Agreed re the Armada, and let’s not forget the current Nissan Wingroad wagon either!