About as pragmatic a car as there ever was, AMC came up with some interesting designs, but some of them were, well, different… The Hornet was anything but fancy at a time when fancy cars were all the rage. This 1972 AMC Hornet SST sedan is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $5,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
The 1970s were odd. They went from a recent moon landing to disco, with a heavy dose of white shoes, white belts, leisure suits, and big, cheesy mustaches (which are in again) between. AMC had its share of designer interiors, but the Hornet just went about its business for the most part. You could count on it to get you to work, to school, to the store, through the blizzard, and to the cabin.
The company never did offer a convertible in most of its models, but I’ve always wondered what a Hornet convertible may have looked like. I really like regular cars like this, ones that used to be everywhere, but now we think everything from this era was a 1 of 38 Hemi-powered convertible or 428-powered something or whatever the other muscle car buzzwords are. Watch a national auction on TV and see how many four-door Hornets you see with rusty, black steel rims and faded paint. Not many.
When I first saw this interior photo, I thought the emergency brake pedal was the clutch pedal. I was actually bummed to find out this car has a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic rather than a three-on-the-tree manual. This is about as simple of a dash as you can get, and it looks perfect. You can see the ripped driver’s seat, but the rest of the seat looks great, and the back seat looks like new. The trunk looks nice, although even the spare tire’s rim is rusty. There is some rust on the rocker panels to deal with.
The engine looks well-used despite the seller listing the actual miles as 28,000. Wisconsin winters are hard on a vehicle, whether it’s driven in the snow or not; there’s just a lot of moisture in the air. This is AMC’s 232-cu.in. OHV inline-six with 100 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque, backed by the automatic. The seller says it’s ready to drive and everything works great, but it needs tires and a battery. Are any of you into simple cars like this Hornet?
Hornet best left hardtop SG.
Here’s another Wisconsin ❄️ 🧀 grocery getter 🛍 for Howard to consider. 👍
I really want the drop top version!!! Oh wait….. Nevermind Scotty made it look too much like a real factory brochure again lol. This would be neat to just run around town in and take to a Cars and Coffee and what not.
Scotty, I wonder what a 2 door hatchback would look like. I betcha that it would look pretty cool and should have a funky name.
And wouldn’t cost that much in re-tooling.
What do you think?
LOL!
Like this, PRA4SNW?
https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjEx/z/U98AAOSwvDBijFg7/$_57.JPG?set_id=8800005007
Scotty – LOL! I was alluding to the Gremlin.
I did not realize there was an actual Hornet hatch.
The design of the AMC Hornet has aged well. The recent AMC documentary has sparked my interest in anything AMC!
Mine too!!
I owned three Ambassadors over the years and can vouch that AMCs easily win you over. It’s a shame the company isn’t here with us today.
It’s what AMC did best. Nothing fancy, no pretense. Until Ford beat them at their own game with the Maverick. I think this is when AMC realized anything they could do Detroit could do better, or at least with a larger economy of scale. I think this is why they tried to leapfrog the Big 3 with stuff like the Matador coupe, Pacer, and Eagle.
These were just basic transportation back in the day.
They did their job,but were very unexciting to drive.
Is it me or are these original cars coming out of the Badger seemingly in record numbers? Oshkosh B’gosh, and seems a lot of these cars are coming from the Fox Valley, from Fonjewlac[sic], to Grrrrreen Bay, and probably some of the oldest settlements in Wisconsin, along the Fox River. It’s entirely possible cars like this still exist, I’ve seen some here, but the cars here have already been found, sorry, as people pass, and this is possible these folks in their 80s, bought these new, and never driven in inclement weather, and ta-da, grammy grams Hornet sees the light of day again. It’s a great find and $5grand, need I say it? Should have been gone long ago! Go and buy your $70K Bronco, dumaxx.
Who needs a Bronco, Howard.? Get a pair of wheels and tires and put some chains on (do they still make them?) and put a couple tubes of traction sand in the front of the trunk. Voila, you have your cheeseland winter beater.
Cables ❄️ now Kim
It even has a radio delete! My Grandpa bought a 1973 2 door in late 1972 when was born on his birthday 08/23/72 and kept untill he passed in 2002 and it had about 45,000 miles. I was a hatchback in plum color with a 232 in line 6 floor auto with A/C.
Side by side comparison, I enjoyed hard cornering in a ’77 Hornet 4-door sedan more than in a ’72 Nova 2-door. Granted, the Hornet had the optional Radial tire package which included some beefy sway bars (for a factory sedan). On the other hand, the Nova was better at drifting with the tail hanging out. Why in the world would someone drive these cars that way? Well I was a teenage driver from ’79 thru ’82. Both were 6-cylinder, the AMC was a 232 which breathed better at high rpm. The AMC was an automatic, and the Chevy was a 3-tree manual. I am not a fan of automatics, but the 232 with the automatic was alright.
It’s in nice shape I will give it that but the I believe the odometer has rolled at once to much grime in the engine bay and missing paint on the valve cover to only be 28k
Hornets were very well designed by Dick Teague, think Packard. The SST was the high end model. Gold is a great color. I loved the 1970’s. I would go back if I could. One more thing, this is more likely a 128,000 mile car. The interior looks OK after it was cleaned, but the engine bay tells the truth.
Troy, I agree, the radiator cap is almost rusted through! But these cars rusted early and badly. So even if the odo rolled over, this is a well preserved car. I like it!
I think the SST stands for
“Super simple transportation”
😂
uhhhh,,, the lack of serious wear on the brake pedal pad doesn’t say it’s been around the barn once. And, to me, the under hood peek simply shows close to 50 years’ accumulation of grime and the factory “spray the valve covers without primer” paint flaking off.
Nice, honest design, well executed and maintained.
Now $4,000.00- come and get it!
I keep going back to the pictures. The simple clean lines and the color just sucks me in. I’m so tempted, but don’t really need another vehicle right now. I had been looking for one of these a couple of years ago. I really like this front end style over the later years.
nice clean original piece priced fairly
PRA4SNW and Scotty Gilbertson,
Yes, I prefer the hatchback 2 door version, (I’ve actually worked on a couple.) But really prefer the front end design of the 1972 and older cars and hate the TRUMPER BUMPERS.