Photo from the Cohort by Blue387.
(post updated 5/20/2024) Just a couple of images today for this surviving old AMC product. It’s none other than a 1975 Hornet sedan found in NYC, and its nice condition suggests that it has found a good nesting place in that city. Quite a feat actually. I’m not that familiar with NYC, but I would think it isn’t the friendliest place for hornets… or old AMC cars.
Funnily enough, we ran a QOTD on the Hornet a couple of weeks ago, part of a companion piece to Don Andreina’s entry on AMC’s Australian production history. That QOTD post dealt with some nitpicking regarding the Hornet’s styling, which is an inevitable subject when AMC products done under the unsteady hand of VP of Design Dick Teague come to the fore.
Yet, the Hornet was one of Teague’s best efforts and a favorite of mine from childhood. At least styling-wise. After all, the car showcases Teague’s penchant for clean and flowing lines. Preferences that would place AMC somewhat at odds with the ornate direction the rest of Detroit was taking in the early ’70s.
So yes, against the stuffy and ornate neoclassicism that had taken over the industry, little 5-year-old me couldn’t help but find the Hornet oddly defiant and appealing. Even by ’75, when the car had adopted some minor Brougham bits.
Of course, the Hornet would fully succumb to Brougham-fever when it reincarnated as the Concord in ’78. But then again, by the mid-70s new winds were coming from Europe and even Detroit would eventually turn to rational design by the decade’s end. What goes around comes around, goes the saying.
But regardless of what little 5-year-old I might say, the Brougham Concord did shoot up sales by a good margin when it arrived in ’78. So, well done little Hornet Concord. You gave AMC enough life to find a suitor, and a French one at that.
There’s already a CC post on the Hornet, with a comprehensive and great take on the model by JPC. So feel free to check that out to get the car’s back story. In the meantime, let’s bid adieu to this surviving Hornet, and hope that its nesting place will provide it years of protection.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1970 AMC Hornet – Today Is The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life
Wow – what a great find!
And looking closely, it appears that this car has the optional “Seville custom” upholstery that (I think) was only available in 1975. From this limited angle, it appears the interior is in as good shape as the exterior.
Excellent spotting, and research. AMC seemed to make so many self own blunders. IMO, this interior being an example. European-inspired design, was a significant marketing direction for Detroit small cars by 1975. This interior looks straight out of 1970.
Absolutely no hint of seat bolstering. Even if it was a only a visual cue. It hinted at modernity, and sportiness. A dated fabric pattern. Granada seats, and door panels, looked far better than this. The AMC door panel here, looks absolutely dreadful. As does the fabric design. AMC, you really blew it so obviously at times! Helps explain why, many people came away with a loser image for their products.
‘Seville Custom’? The concurrent Cadillac Seville was far more contemporary and attractive, than this dumpy interior. No wonder, it was only available for one model year.
I was less than 10 years old at the time, and I had a solid image that nerds or social misfits, drove AMC products. I was not alone, in this perception. Amazing, that AMC did not see this of themselves.
“I was less than 10 years old at the time, and I had a solid image that nerds or social misfits, drove AMC products.”
What! Pardon me…
Little kids always look for authentic answers. My friends and I wondered, why nobody bought AMC cars. We looked at the Gremlin and Pacer, and knew that non-conformist people, were the ones that would buy these things. Without using complex words.
AMC really struggled to be seen as genuinely cool among young people.
IMO, AMC’s biggest marketing obstacle they badly njeeded to overcome, was achieving wide acceptance as a valid mainstream automotive choice with the general public. Far too many people, never remotely considered AMC products. Thus, they had no experience with them. Only secondhand word-of-mouth knowledge, from friends or colleagues.
I never recall seeing AMC products available for rent in Canada. And I believe this was the case, in the United States as well. If it required AMC to set up their own rental company franchises in major North American city downtowns, they needed to do it.They needed to expose their lineup to as many people as possible. Even if they only ran the rental agency for several years, they needed to have more people considering their automobiles, for their next purchase. Too many people simply did not consider their cars, trusting them for a moment, when evaluating the market.
Far too many Hornets (and Pacers and Gremlins) also had these dog dish hub caps. And a strong stripper.econo-image, in the case of the Hornet and Gremlin. In spite of the pioneering designer packages, they did offer. Like the Gucci Sportabout. How many people, ever encountered a Cardin Javelin, or Casini Matador?
As I’ve said before, AMC was very late to heavily promoting luxury compacts. When they were the hottest thing. Several years late, with the Concord, compared to the Big Three. Cost them dearly.
Actually, AMC did well during the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74 and the recession that followed. They were ready to address the spike in demand for smaller cars and were running multiple shifts at their plants to meet demand. It was also the reason why the Ford Granada was a huge hit, as were the Aspen and Volare before word got out about their quality problems. Right cars, right size, right time.
The problem was the same thing that benefited AMC then worked against them after the economic pressures eased. GM was downsizing but they were coming out with fresh product every year. AMC hadn’t introduced anything truly new since the Pacer and that was never more than a niche product. Their bread and butter cars were the Hornet and Gremlin and those dated back to 1970. The Concord and Spirit were efforts at sprucing up the same old thing and their inner obsolescence was quickly exposed.
Thank God for Jeep. AMC’s best move by far was buying it in 1970.
Later, before Renault began buying in, AMC realized that Jeep was key to their survival. So instead of a Concord/Spirit replacement, you get the XJ Cherokee and the YJ Wrangler. Renault provided the Alliance and the Premier, which evolved into the Chrysler LH cars when they acquired AMC.
And today, what’s been keeping Chrysler and Dodge alive? Jeep.
Throughout the 1970s, AMC car lines remained a limited product, here in Canada. Hornets and Gremlins, their top sellers, were relatively rare. AMC dealerships were usually consistently small, and limited in number. Yes, Jeep was vital. As even Jeep struggled, during the later 1979 gas crisis.
What incentive was there to risk buying AMC cars, with no past experiences? Unless, the price (for example), was much lower than mainstream Big Three cars. AMC needed to expose their cars to more people. So many people never even considered them for a moment, at car buying time.
The Pacer was a big hit when it was introduced. AMC actually invested in increasing Pacer production in response to demand. Roy Chapin says he thinks the public lost interest because it didn’t live up to its promises, especially fuel economy. It looked different, but it wasn’t.
I don’t know about Canada, but to many folks in the US these were still Ramblers. A brand that despite some early exclusivity as a quality small car, had devolved into the budget choice. Too bad, because the Hornet could have been as successful as the Granada, half a decade sooner. Which might have given AMC enough funds to update into something like the Fox-body Fairmont. With an updated Javelin or AMX version. And then by the 2000’s, an retro-styled Javelin or AMX, with a convertible that would be an huge hit with European tourists as a rental in California. Alternative history ….
“The AMC door panel here, looks absolutely dreadful. As does the fabric design.” Well compared to toDAZE all pervasive wall to wall blACK interiors that green looks rather inviting, IMhO!
OTOH, the support given by AMC seats, like the rest of U.S. car industry then, was appallingly poor. My ’88 Camaro IROC-Z still suffered from that problem: NO support.
That does not enhance one’s driving enjoyment. 🙁 DFO
Perhaps due to the proximity to Kenosha, AMC products enjoyed widespread acceptance in the northern suburbs of Chicago in the early to mid-Seventies. Even so, I remember most Hornets (and Gremlins) as being very basic, equipped with dog dish hubcaps, and atrocious vinyl bench seats. Even then, AMC was regarded as a budget choice and were often second cars for busy suburban families, with the “good” car being a large GM product. The introduction of the Ford Granada and dramatically restyled GM X-bodies in 1975 and the Aspen/Volare twins in 1976 rendered what had been a marginally competitive Hornet utterly irrelevant.
Just to defy the stereotypes, the Hornet I knew best belonged to a college friend of mine who grew up in privileged circumstances on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The Hornet spent much of its life in a parking garage, used primarily to shuttle various family members to the summer house or on occasional shopping trips to the suburbs on weekends. It survived my friend’s college years and lasted nearly 20 years before being replaced by a Chrysler minivan. This Hornet sedan appears to be in excellent condition and surely does not live in Manhattan, unless it spent the last 45 years doing similar light duty work for a local family of means.
The Hornet was a mainstay of the Air Force general purpose sedan fleet. Directed by President Carter, we had to switch to economy cars. Even some of the colonels (Wing and Group commander) had to squeeze into this car, versus their former Ford Galaxies. Some would see service as a LE patrol sedan on base, only to be torn up and soon salvaged. We were rescued by the massive fleet buy of “police package” Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen vehicles.
Other branches of service had Hornet staff cars during that era too – here’s a picture of a US Navy Hornet. This picture was likely taken in Italy, due to the AFI (Armed Forces Italy) license plate… oh, and the Fiat next to it.
I can imagine the higher-ranking officers and such weren’t too thrilled with these.
The Military Police cars at CFB Rockcliffe in Ottawa, were full black-painted Hornets. As the staff cars were the 1971 design Dodge Coronet four doors and wagons.
The Hornet police cars were a regular source of entertainment, jokes, and amusement, for base kids and teens. And I imagine civilian adults visiting the base, weren’t impressed. As Ottawa Police had LTDs and Impalas.
I’m consistently surprised at the number of cars from the Nixon thru Carter administrations street parked in NYC or unironically kept in use by older drivers and in good shape. It’s not hard to keep a car rust-free here as long as you don’t drive through slush constantly. Most folks do alternate side parking and use their cars for in-town errands. the flip side: if you beat on a car in nyc with a commute or are a tradesperson with a truck, my god do things get tough quickly. But the less a car gets moved here – especially in manhattan – the more it kind of stays in stasis.
If you want to understand how impressive Dick Teague’s design for the Hornet was, consider the same basic body still looked reasonably up to date on Eagles well into the 1980s, whereas the Ford Maverick sedan introduced the same year as the Hornet was hopelessly mired in late-’60s Coke-bottle aesthetics that looked positively ancient by 1976. The Hornet’s interior was a letdown though – very plain and featureless. The Concord’s interior was an improvement – I sat in someone’s D/L in 1978 and was surprised at how luxurious and modern it looked and felt – lots of velour, realistic woodgrain, and thick carpeting; seemed better in real life than in photos where it still looked a bit dated.
The Big Three had greater budgets, to pursue trendier styling, for higher sales. Styling, that might become obsolete sooner. With that trendy styling, they could derive much greater immediate profits than AMC, in the short-term. Safer, for AMC to pursue more conservative styling, that could age better, with fewer product cycles needed. The compact market, would have embraced the Granada replacing the Maverick much sooner. Granada would have sold very well, as soon as 1973. Less pressure for Ford to play the conservative long game in styling, like AMC.
I always found the bulbous flared wheel arches on the Hornet, appeared unusual. And like a happy accident, those flared wheel arches proved ideal for the Eagle, allowing larger wheel openings, for greater tire size, and wheel travel. Plus, the look already appeared very natural, when applied on the Eagle.
I never liked the overdone wheel opening flares either, though it’s those weird door handles that were used on everything AMC made for their last two decades that bother me more. The clean 1970 grille was better than the more cluttered 1975 version, though I like the shorter fronts on the Concord and Eagle better than either.
The 2000 Audi A6 Allroad wagon looked remarkably like a 1980 Eagle wagon in sport trim.
I agree, the paddle door handles were faddish, and tied to early 1970s design trends. They aged the Concord and Eagle.
I think Teague, less so than Exner, had a strong personal creative streak. And he applied design elements, that were less commercial and marketable, but strongly appealed to him.
When I see an older car in such nice condition, in the city I call home, experience tells me it’s likely to be “new to the neighborhood”–some arriving student brought Grandma’s cherry Valiant or Falcon to the party, two months after receiving it as a high school graduation gift. And I wince, because it’s only a matter of time before that lovingly kept, perhaps low mileage veteran succumbs to the inevitable hard knocks that a city car, parked on the street, is sure to experience. All those years of faithful service and careful maintenance and daily garaging, repaid with dings and dents, perhaps even a tow-away for a bad parking move, and worse. Sigh . . .
In college (2nd half of the ‘70s) I had a ‘73 Hornet hatchback. Loved that car so much that when it was totaled by a drunk driver I found another one to replace it.
Best styled small American sedan of its era – great proportions, simple, but sophisticated surfacing, neat detailing without too much chrome and good stance that doesen’t need huge wheels to work.
I’m a fan of this example of Teague’s work!
Again as a little kid, I remember all the television AMC Buyer Protection Plan commercials around 1973. And as a child, I used to think, why are they promoting this extra protection? Are their cars that bad? That unreliable, they need to take this step.
While, we hardly knew anyone that owned current AMC products, to set the record straight.
I like these and the Concords it was a good design because it didn’t look totally uncompetitive a decade later.
What would have happened if AMC had come out with an Americanized Renault-based car (instead of essentially a Renault rebadge) in 1983-84? Something like the Premier but Concord sized?
Also does Subaru remain the spiritual successor to AMC in the current market?
I took this picture, it was in Chinatown on Elizabeth Street between Canal and Bayard Streets. I took care to avoid taking pictures of people walking by.
Hi George, your photo did not upload. You will need to ensure your file is in JPEG format, and less than approximately 1,800 pixels wide and tall, to upload reliably.
I’ve posted the other pictures to the Cohort on Flickr
I remember Hornets as a staple of mid 70s government fleets but not so popular with regular users. My grandfather did have a white Hornet two as his last car but he was a Nash man since the 1930s. I thought our Volvo was much nicer.
This is actually my car. I don’t normally park downtown, but was working there for a few weeks. It is my daily driver. In my 40s and having owned a few vehicles in Manhattan, I’ve learned that it is easy to keep them in prestine condition with daily maintenance and safe driving. I never park on an avenue, always side streets. Yes I do drive it in the winter, but always followed by a car wash to remove road salt..