The AMC Hornet for the most part bucked the trend of “damn, that’s weird” styling that AMC had become known for. It was a decent little car, and with the factory V8 it could move well enough. Sorry about being vague, but most Hornets I’ve seen in my life were either puking blue smoke out of the back, sinking into someone’s yard, or were gutted, caged and raced. Any AMC product that has managed to make it nearly forty years without a restoration yet look like it’s Day One good deserves a moment’s notice, such as this 1977 Hornet X Sportabout. Predicting the styling that would evolve for the Concord and Eagle wagons, the Hornet Sportabout was simple and basic, a good size (about the size of a mid-1990s Subaru Legacy) and had little gingerbread about it…it was meant to be a standard car, and that was it. This 304/automatic powered example was for sale at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky and while the price would’ve made you choke, we suddenly have an urge to hunt down a more realistically priced version for a daily driver or parts hauler.
Hornets are cool as a cucumber! Drop in a 401 and have a blast. I’ve been wanting to build a JDM style Hornet inspired by the early GT-R. Turbo 4.0 six, manual transmission and mini lite wheels + silver paint and fender mounted mirrors would complete the look.
Oh, WANT!