Welcome to the Series Number Shuffle! By the time the Gremlin rolled around, most numbers from 0-9 had been used. Only 40 and 60 were available, and AMC chose the smaller number for the new small car -- the Gremlin. Since the Spirit replaced the Gremlin, it retained the Series 40 designation when it appeared. The two numbers (40 and 60) had previously been used for the Nash Statesman/Hudson Wasp (Series 40) and Ambassador/Hornet six cylinder models (Series 60). AMC always waited quite a few years before recycling series numbers to avoid confusion with previous models.