AMC Hornet Coupe for Sale
From 1970 to 1977, American Motors Corporation (AMC) manufactured and sold the automobile AMC Hornet in a single generation. It succeeded the compact Rambler model and was assembled and sold in overseas markets through licensure arrangements with the following:
- Australian Motor Industries (AMI)
- South Africa’s Toyota S.A. Ltd.
- Vehiculos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM)
The Hornet’s reign ended eighteen years after in 1988, but not before outliving its competitors in the same platform of compact cars. Its legacy was passed on by living in future AMC models including the Gremlin, Concord, Spirit, and the Eagle.
History
AMC was borne out of the 1954 merger of Hudson Motor Company and Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. The very first Hornet was a Hudson Hornet produced in 1951 by the company with the same name. From 1955 to 1957, AMC made and sold Hornets bearing this brand and then under its own name from 1970 to 1977. Chrysler inherited the rights after it bought AMC in 1987. The vixen show cars and AMC’s cavalier were the bases for the style of AMC’s Hornet. Along with Ford’s Maverick, it served as the answer to imported cars by local car manufacturers. It proved to be a bestseller. It was marketed as an economical car, small but big enough for a family. But it had a long hood inspired by the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. It had a design in 1973 symbolic of Levis Jeans that was a success and sold for years. But its most remembered “designer” trim package was one done by Aldo Gucci. In 1970, AMC Hornets were produced in two and four-door sedans. In 1971, Sportabout was born. It was a wagon with four doors and a single-hatch design. There was also the two-door muscle car SC360 but it did not become as popular as the Sportabout, which in its first year outsold all Hornet models collectively. In 1973, there was a new model in the form of a two-door hatchback. 1975 saw a new model in the Pacer which mostly retained the Hornet except for the change in the grille that now came infused with grating that was vertical. 1977 saw the phasing out of the AMC Hornet and its transformation into the AMC Concorde and innovation-inspired AMC Eagle.
Citation
Many motorsports events saw the campaigning of the AMC Hornet through corporate support. But the most popular showcase of the automobile was in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, where it used a hatchback model for an aerial jump scene.