The changeable Gremlin
01/09/2015
Do you remember the movie "Gremlins" (Gremlins - little monsters) by Joe Dante? It was about a cute little animal that turned into a horde of much less cute little monsters.
The conversions and transformations based on the AMC Gremlin ( 1970-1978) were less monster-like. We show a small selection here.
There was the highway safety vehicle, which provided invaluable services in the event of accidents. Called "Highway Rescue System One", the Hurst Performance car was equipped with all the necessary medical and technical aids for road accidents while retaining the mobility of the compact car to help reduce the consequences of road accidents.
Or the hybrid version, which was entered in the 1970 "Clean Air Car Race" by the Worchester Polytechnic Institute and won the "hybrid drive" category. The conventional in-line six-cylinder reciprocating engine charged the lead batteries in the rear of the car via a generator. The car required around 11 liters of (unleaded) petrol per hour, which was not bad considering the average speeds of around 100 km/h in racing mode.
And then there was the "Yoyageur", which was shown at the Montreal Motor Show in 1972 and was intended to solve a problem of the "normal" Gremlin, namely the lack of a tailgate. The Voyageur solved this problem with an extendable floor. The entire rear could be pulled out 46 cm like a drawer. Fittingly, this car was also called the "Gren-Bin", a combination of the words Gremlin and Bin (canister/container). The Voyageur was intended as a leisure vehicle with easy loading for versatile use, but remained a one-off.
