Just as the Concord succeeded the Hornet as AMC’s compact in the late 1970s, the Spirit replaced the Gremlin in the subcompact space which it had been an awkward fit for. Yet both cars had their predecessor’s roots underneath (remember, it was American Motors who had razor-thin budgets). This 1981 Spirit is a low mileage survivor that should present well with a little TLC. Located in North Spokane, Washington, this product of Kenosha is available here on craigslist for $6,200. Our thanks to Matt H. for another tip from yesteryear!

The Gremlin essentially was a Hornet with a foot taken out of the middle and a sharply raked hatch added in the back. It was introduced in 1970 to do battle with the likes of the VW Beetle and the Japanese imports, but the Gremlins used the same I-6 engines as the Hornet, so they weren’t quite as thrifty on gas. While AMC built 671,000 Gremlins through 1978, only 192,000 Spirits were produced from 1979 through 1983.  The 1981 model year, the car’s second-best, saw 44,600 copies manufactured, including the seller’s machine.

Spirits could be ordered with GM’s 151 cubic-inch “Iron Duke” inline-4 which could deliver more than 30 mpg on the highway with an automatic transmission, like this example. But the 4-speed models were considerably more miserly on fuel, getting up the 40 mph on the open road. We’re told this ’81 Spirt has averaged little more than 1,000 miles per year during its time so far on Planet Earth and stayed in the garage when it wasn’t being sparingly used.

No reference is made to whether the black over white paint is original and the seller admits it could stand some detailing. What little we see of the interior looks okay except there are a couple of tears in the front seat cushions that you may want to address sooner rather than later because they will only get worse. Wearing newly new tires or nearly new wheels, the car should perform as it made to. I’ve always been an AMC fan, and these were reliable automobiles even though the company seldom climbed out of fourth place on the sales charts.