It was about 1986 when a coworker at the Schwinn shop where I fixed bikes asked me if I wanted to buy his Hornet wagon. Having already been burned by a couple of poorly maintained, malaise-era jalopies (a ’77 Plymouth Arrow and a ’76 Mercury Capri), I wasn’t ready to rush into another relationship with a carbureted and smog-controlled pile of used-up junk, especially not from AMC. By the ‘80s. anybody could see AMC was rushing towards a dead end. I think I insulted Alan when I said, “No thanks, I’m saving up for a real car next time.”
All these years later, I don’t recall what changed my mind. Maybe it was the fact the Hornet had belonged to Alan’s granddad, so it was nearly a one-owner car. Maybe it was because Alan and I were coworkers and on a friendly basis, if not actual friends, so I thought he wouldn’t try to screw me. Maybe it was just seeing the car reliably get him to work every day. Whatever the reason, a few days later I handed Alan a few hundred dollars, and the AMC went home with me.
Alan’s replacement for the Hornet was a second-generation Accord hatchback in a lovely seafoam green, which was about the same shade of envy I was when I saw it. At that time, the second-gen Accord had only been out of production for a year or so, which should have placed it well out of reach of a bike mechanic, either me or Alan. Putting it further into context, in the ’80s people were still willingly paying thousands over list for Accords. An 18-year-old kid like Alan with a newish Accord was a lucky kid indeed. You were a lucky SOB, Alan!
Not a 2nd gen, but it’s close to the color of Alan’s Accord. Photo credit: Kieran White, Manchester, England
Not like me. I was stuck with a sad gray Hornet. A car that had been introduced in 1970, so its styling was, by definition, a product of the ’60s. And man, it showed, especially on the interior. The shapes, the finishes, everything seemed to have been imported straight from another time, because it was.
Not my car, but this captures the datedness of the Hornet’s interior. Photo credit: Nynexman4464
The odometer read about 13,000 miles and I assume it had been around once. With the sale Alan included invoices showing the automatic transmission had been replaced once and rebuilt once, which seemed odd, but I crossed my fingers that whatever issue there had been, was fixed. For some reason the car had been repainted, from metallic silver to that sad primer gray, the color of rural water towers, of industrial electrical panels, the color of misery. I mean, of all the colors you could choose from…why? Still, when washed, it looked pretty decent. The styled steel wheels, stripes, and rakish rear roofline gave it a sporty aspect (AMC reportedly resisted calling the 5-door Hornet a wagon, hence the Sportabout coinage). Supposedly from Alan’s grandfather’s home in Florida, the car was rust-free except for a couple of small spots developing on the front fenders.
While installing a new stereo, I accidentally broke the dash trim for the center stack, that piece that rises from the dashboard like a ghost of the 1960s. But I knew where there was a non-running Hornet parked on a vacant lot in a rough area of Cleveland. I drove down there one evening, got the attention of an old man who said it was his, paid him a few bucks, pulled out a screwdriver, and a few minutes later I had a replacement piece of dashboard trim. (Hmm, it just occurred to me that the guy may not have actually owned that car).
A 258 c.i. inline six provided power. Everything I’ve read about that engine for that era has it being ridiculously underpowered, like 100 hp or so, but I don’t remember the car being that much of a slug to drive. The Hornet had a rear defogger, which was nice, and AMC’s Weather-Eye A/C, which needed frequent recharges with R-12 to keep blowing cold. I did get an estimate to fix it properly, but it came close to what I paid for the car, so that was out of the question. A monthly can of Freon was cheap enough, though. I would like to apologize to the ozone layer, however.
The car had a couple of odd driveability anomalies. Going over potholes (or chuckholes as we called them in Cleveland) would result in stalling out. Another cause of stalling was pumping gas into the tank. About a minute after leaving the gas station, the car would stall. Every time. It happened so regularly that I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. My best guess was that cold, fresh gasoline in the tank caused some kind of thermal shock when it reached the warm carburetor. I got pretty adept at putting the trans in neutral and re-starting the engine whenever this happened, so I could continue on with no loss of momentum.
Speaking of the gas tank, it was an enormous 27 gallons. I never bothered topping it up, except on one trip, when I drove up to Canada’s Manitoulin Island. I parked the Hornet in Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula, took the MS Chi-Cheemaun across the strait to Manitoulin, the world’s largest freshwater island, where I spent 2 ½ days riding my bike around the island, then took the ferry back to the car. I filled the Hornet’s tank in Tobermory and began driving home, down through lower Ontario to Niagara, across into New York state, and through New York, Pennsylvania, and into Ohio. I remember glancing down at the gauge as I neared Cleveland and being impressed with the range I was getting. About 25 miles from home, I still had a quarter tank left!
Ten minutes later, I ran out of gas.
Evidently, the gas needle’s trip to the F end of the gauge was so shocking to it that it lost its calibration and was indicating several gallons left when really there were none. So there I was, out of gas at 3AM.
Is there anything more satisfying than unloading your gear after a successful trip?
The end came one night when, parked behind a restaurant where I had picked up some takeout, the car refused to start. After months of mostly trouble-free running, it had recently started behaving this way. “Damn this car to hell,” I muttered to myself as I cranked it. Suddenly, there was a pop from under the hood, soon followed by a plume of smoke and a telltale flicker of yellow light visible behind the grille. Good thing I’m not a spiritual person or I’d have thought my imprecation summoned Old Scratch himself.
A restaurant employee saw the fire and called the fire department. Can’t blame him, I was parked only a few feet away, after all. But once the firefighters got there, it got ugly. They unsympathetically popped holes in the hood with their axes, put their hoses to the holes, and flooded the engine compartment with copious amounts of water. They were gone minutes later, leaving me with a broken Hornet.
Here’s the part where I’m supposed to tell you I fixed the Hornet for $28 and drove it for three more years. Nah. After tallying the costs in my head – a replacement hood, new wiring, hoses, connectors and anything else made of rubber or plastic, and possibly a new carb and air cleaner depending on how much damage the fire axes did, plus weeks of down time – I never even bothered opening the hood to check the damage. I called a junkyard the next morning and sold the Hornet for $30. Revoke my car guy card, I don’t care. I didn’t love the AMC and I saw this as an opportunity, even though it left me without transportation.
I’ve been hard on the Hornet. Taken in context, it wasn’t a bad car at all. But it was a very, very sad car.
Alan had been saving for a real car too from the sound of it and got a good one, that age Honda was pretty good, the bodies evaporated like most cars of that era but they kept going ok
AMC was using galvanized body panels, making them much more rust resistant than other cars of the era.
https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-tough-americans-american-motors-for-1980/
H’mm. Now ya mention it; don’t recall seeing many “rusted out, AMC’s”.
The Hornet seemed like a better looking and far more interesting car than the rust bucket Accord.
The AMC Hornet brought back memories of the cars my driving school was using in 1977 when I was 16. They were 4 dr versions, power steering but with manual brakes ( power brakes probably could send a new learning driver and the instructor through the windshield during their training). Recall a chain and sprocket connecting the main steering wheel to the passenger side instructor’s wheel.
Cool! I took driver’s ed right about the same time as you (the spring semester of the 1976 – 1977 school year IIRC) and my high school’s driver’s ed program got rid of a fleet of these Hornets (there was a Gremlin too!) just as I started…so I only had to lug one around the “range” a few times before getting upgraded to much more luxe Oldsmobiles.
I think our Hornets may have had power brakes. We didn’t have the 2nd steering wheel, but we did have a passenger side brake pedal. That was for the driver’s ed teacher to stomp on when he wanted to make a particular point about something (he felt was “stupid”) that we young drivers did.
We had full size “GM’s”. Two “Oldsmobiles”, a “Chevy”, a “Pontiac”. All were “77-8” , vintage.
I’d say that for a few hundred bucks the Hornet was actually pretty good to you. I had the 258 in a couple of AMCs and found it peppy when tuned properly and de-smogged. I had the carburetor float stick once and gas poured all over the hot exhaust manifold but it did not catch fire. Very lucky for me.
However, you were probably wise to not open the hood after the fire.
Yes ;
These were typically very sluggish cars, the C.O.L.A. bought a fleet of them and one boss had one to slowly putter everywhere in, it wasn’t bad and in fact was very reliable yet “sad” pretty much hits the spot .
-Nate
(who likes shiny non metallic gray colored vehicles)
I drove one for a few days. A girl owned it and I worked at a car shop.
The carburetor had fallen apart, necessitating removal as the screws were put in from the bottom. Cost: nada. Ran perfectly after that.
The front crossmember was touching the oil pan but the mounts seemed OK, as though someone had run over something quite substantial.
As far as I know it’s still out there somewhere providing loyal service to someone.
Perhaps you hit why I never fell in love with anything from AMC. Although one of these might have brought me as close as was possible. With a 304 V8, I mean.
It’s funny, in my cheap student wheels days, neither my Scamp nor my friend’s Dusters struck me as sad cars. A girlfriend’s AMC Pacer – now there was a sad car.
This summer, I will tour Manitoulin Island by bicycle and also see where they are with the replacement of the almost 110 years old swing bridge bridge. Probably nothing has been done which will allow to still see the centenaire old bridge.
I’m not taking any risks, I’m leaving Gatineau with my rav4, I already have enough messy chain and jockey wheel maintenance to do for that during the trip. ..https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/industry-news/design-build/province-replacing-manitoulin-island-swing-bridge-7520533
Sweet story of youth.
Mark, you mention a 1977 Arrow and a 1976 Capri having preceded the Hornet. We haven’t yet heard about those, but I’d say that whenever it was that you were driving these cars, you have done a pretty deep dive into malaise mobiles…and your experience here is pretty much typical of those associated with what would have existed as “used cars” from that generation by the 1980s. “Sad” pretty much sums it up. Which of course is why folks (like your friend and many many other buyers) were so happy to move to something like an Accord.
Can I just say that the interior shot you provide of a Hornet’s front seat is just about the most Grandpa car interior that I can imagine. Excellent.
Not having any real experience with a Hornet aside from a few times behind the wheel in driver’s ed (see above comment), I can’t say much about them from a driving perspective…but I really do like the (we won’t call it that) wagon style. Something that ran reliably, that didn’t burst into flames, and looked like the Hornet might have been what I considered the perfect car back in the late 1970s…and actually I still would/do think that.
The fire thing though…I think I too would draw the line at that. I’m guessing that if you had decided to fix ‘er up, there’s no “possibly” about needing a new carb. Odds are, that was where the problem lay.
What comes next?
I wanted my uncles “75 Hornet”! That “258 cid, 6” really moved it well! The “a/c” was awesome!
My aunt traded it in for the “79”( I believe) “Aspen SE”.
That car rode nice but the “emissions/smog” , regalia made it soo lame.
The tranny had to be replaced ((warranty)) before the car was two years old.
It’s amazing AMC survived as long as it did independent. But replacing these with Renaults never was going to work long term in the US market.
Whats the modern analogue to this car? An early 2010s Mitsu?
AMC desperately needed to refresh the Hornet by 1975, but shot their cash wad on two lemons – the Matador Coupe and the Pacer. Neither of those two vehicles returned their investment. So even though it was AMC’s most important car, AMC had to ignore the Hornet.
Sad indeed.
My Dad had a”Jolly Green” sportabout with a 360 V8!! Became known as “the Heavy Rev(he was a minister) after he beat Tommy in his 75 Toyota Celica GT , was challenged to a race by lots of local kids, won a few! he got a few speeding tickets, hauled a trailer and family of five from Toronto to tour the east coast one summer, fun car!
Here’s the sportabout at the Rambler Ranch in Elizabeth Colorado! Great story!
Sorry, had to resize.
At 16 my 1st car was a new 74 Hornet hatchback w/ the 75 front grill. It survied my youth.. Had the 258 w/ automatic, black interior bucket seats, auto shifter on the floor was “Mellow Yellow”. Kept the car till 1978. I loved that car,
I had a red 74 similar to Dave’s with a Levi’s interior. My brother drove it in Central penna. when he worked in the coal mines. I inherited it in the mid 80’s when I moved to N.C. because my 74 audi fox was having recurring tranny issues. Contrary to some of the previous post, the car was a rust bucket. I developed my fiberglassiing skills on that car. The door mounts, floor boards & even the starter mtr. mounts rusted through. However the car never left me anywhere, even when the starter fell out in the drive way. By that time the audi became my back up car as a pair they were the most reliable transportation I ever had. The AMC’s Levi seats were great & u could fix a tear with an iron on patch! AMC was using Ford starters & wiring, the shut off glitch Mark mentioned, was caused by a defective starter solenoid. I replaced mine & the problem went away. The only reason I sold it was upgrading my pair of vehicles to a 61 studebaker lark & a 65 Ford custom. This life lesson of having multiple older vehicles is still with me as my current stable is a 2005 Mazda B3000, a 2008 rav 4 & a 2008 Mazda 5. I’ve had my share of issues with all 3, however as a group, they have been very dependable.
AMC’s had a reputation of running out of gas at a 1/4 tank indicated on the fuel gauge. Then the aluminum wiring…