Re: Gremlin G-II prototype

[farna@xxxxxxx]

The only time I've seen a pic or anyting of that car is in the "American Motors Family Album". The Gremlin was still a good seller in the mid 70s, so I doubt an earlier introduction of the Spirit would have really helped. The Hornet hatchback was more a contemporary to the MII and H bodies than the Gremlin. 

In hindsight, the development money spent on the Pacer and Mat Coupe would have been better used to bring the Spirit in earlier, and that might have been done had the money been available. But at the time the Pacer was going to be the next generation mid-size AMC, replacing the Matador. It would have been cutting edge with the rotary engine and modern design (for the time). AMC couldn't have anticipated the gas crunches or GM dropping their rotary program though. They needed a cutting edge car to last them into the next decade, and they would have had it except for those two things. 

By the way, someone mentioned that apex seals was why GM dropped the rotary. That's not true! It is true that apex seals were an early problem, but Teflon seals solved that. The rotary was dropped because they couldn't get it to pass scheduled emissions changes. They got it to pass 74 regs, but were having difficulty getting it to pass proposed 75-77 regs. Thye asked congress for a 10 year freeze in emissions regulations, at least for that engine, and congress wouldn't budge. With no answer short of a lot of smog equipment choking it down (they could do that with existing engines), they dropped it. A rotary is more compact and lighter for a specific output, but burns as much fuel as a standard piston engine for that same output. In order to take advantage of the smaller size/lighter weight, a car has to be designed around the engine -- like AMC did with the Pacer. GM didn't want to invest in the engine and a new car when they might have to stop production in five years or so!
 . So they wrote a billion or so off in taxes, stranding AMC with a new car partially tooled up and almost ready to go. 

On December 13, 2005 Rhett Butler wrote:

> I've been scouring the internet trying to find more info and pictures on the
> 1974 Gremlin G-II concept. For as long as I've known about it (years now),
> I've been intrigued by it, and have wondered whether AMC would have had a
> better shot at surviving the mid-'70s if they'd introduced the car to the
> market in '74 (Maybe as the Rogue II), instead of waiting until 1979 to
> bring out the Spirit.
> 
> It would have been a great competitor to the Mustang II and '75 GM H-bodies
> (Skyhawk, Monza, Starfire, '76 Sunbird).
> 
> Anyone have more information that simply what arcticboy.com has? Is the
> prototye still in existence?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Rhett


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