What does a Porsche 924 and an AMC Gremlin have in common? You might be surprised to learn they shared an engine, briefly. Yes, the lowly Gremlin, AMC’s truncated sedan, lived with the heart of a German sports car. To be fair, this all sounds way more impressive than it was.

The Gremlin, introduced on April Fool’s Day 1970, was America’s first subcompact car. It was a hastily redesigned Hornet by a company that was usually playing catch-up, but as an existing, modified design, there was little opportunity for weight savings and advanced engineering so it made due with the heavier — and thirstier — straight six-cylinder engine. By 1976, the whole package was getting long in the tooth.

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