AMC

In April 1970, the AMC Gremlin was introduced. It was classified as an economy car and competed with the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto, as well as imported cars including the Volkswagen Beetle and Toyota Corolla. The idea for the Gremlin began in 1966 when design chief Dick Teague and stylist Bob Nixon discussed the possibility of a shortened version of AMC's compact pony car. On an airline flight, Teague's solution, which he said he sketched on an air sickness bag, was to truncate the tail of a Javelin. This resulted in the AMX-GT concept car, first shown at the New York International Auto Show in April 1968. The design of the Gremlin was inspired by this concept car, although eventually it was based on the Hornet platform. From the front of the car to the B-pillars, the Gremlin was essentially the same as the Hornet, but at the back it had a pronounced kammback tail. Its quirky design resulted in a certain cult-like following and today the Gremlin is considered an icon of 1970s car design.