It’s sad that Kenosha, Wisconsin – former home of American Motors Corporation – doesn’t have a mind-blowing AMC museum or really much of anything marking the history of this once great company that was headquartered there for decades. This 1973 AMC Hornet is posted here on craigslist in Tigard, Oregon, just southwest of Portland, one of the great cities of America and the seller is asking $5,300. Thanks to one of the great people of America, Pat L., for sending in this tip! Here’s the original listing.
Let’s see a show of hands for those of you who have been to Kenosha. I was hoping to see more hands than that, I know Howard has been there. It’s a nice little town and I’ve been there a couple of times. I was surprised, though, that even at the great Kenosha History Museum there wasn’t one AMC vehicle on display, at least as of a couple of years ago when I was there. Maybe it’s changed since then but how cool would it be to have a couple of dozen examples of AMC vehicles that were built right there in town? Enough of that, back to this nice-looking Hornet.
American Motors made the Hornet from 1969 through 1977 at which point they gave it a posh update and renamed it the Concord. Make mine a simple two-door sedan like the yellow one for sale here. I love that notchback body style. We don’t talk about it too often here but the Hornet was based on the AMC Cavalier concept car from the mid-1960s.
The seller says that this car is a nice original one and it sure looks nice. The seat looks a little thin and worn on the driver’s side and this is it for interior photos that show anything but the odometer which reads 90,051 miles. I expected to see a manual three-on-the-tree column shifter here but this car has Chrysler-sourced TorqueFlite three-speed automatic.
The engine compartment looks amazingly clean and tidy and it houses the middle engine for this model in this era, AMC’s 258 cubic-inch inline-six with 110 horsepower and 196 lb-ft of torque. This one runs and drives well according to the seller and for this money, a lot of us may be kicking ourselves in a couple of years when this car is worth 50% more than this, given the crazy rise in vehicle prices. As always, buy the best example that you can find and this may be it in this body style. Good buy or goodbye?
I like these Hornets, and this one in Oregon looks like an excellent deal. Here’s a nice example, but at a higher price. I like the 5300 car better.
https://www.pjsautoworld.com/vehicles/871/1973-amc-hornet
That’s a beauty, Rex, I thought that it looked familiar.
https://barnfinds.com/nicest-one-left-1973-amc-hornet/
Who else would start a post with a sentimental statement like that? Nobody else, that’s who. Merits of the Hornet have been discussed over and over, it, without a doubt, was the most successful AMC car, in all it’s forms.( Sedan, Sportabout, and yes, the Gremlin) This car here is a wonderful find. Okay, may not grace the auction lanes anytime soon, but you want a dependable car, gets good mileage, and parts, if needed, are as close as the local “AutoPlace”, at a plausible price. Can’t lose here.
Now, on to Scotty’s opening statement, visiting Milwaukee or Kenosha today, there isn’t ONE shred of reminder that it once was the proud home to the nations 4th biggest car maker. Milwaukees AMC plant is now a Walmart, and the last of the AMC warehouses in Kenosha have been torn down years ago. Nothing of the manufacturing remains. Every 4 years, AMC nuts put on a “Reunion” show at Kenoshas lakefront, it’s a fun time, but when it’s over,,,,well, it’s over, and most people there couldn’t tell you a Rambler from a,,well, anything. Kenosha went through a real rough period, like all defunked automotive cities go through, but recently, has become home of the GIANT Amazon facility, and has since turned itself around,,,just no mention of AMC. Thanks Scotty, kind of makes me miss the Badger everytime these come up. Great find.
Oh, just one more thing,,,there actually is a museum that features many AMC and Ramblers, it’s the “Wisconsin Automotive Museum” in Hartford, Wis. about 20 minutes NW of Milwaukee. While they have a plethora of vehicles, they specifically cater to those made in Wisconsin. Kissel of course, but AMC, Nash,,big on Nash, FWD, ohn Deere, WestBend/Chrysler and OMC and Mercury outboards, some Harley, but that’s more for the H-D museum in Milwaukee, another great stop, btw, even a “SnoRunner” hanging from the ceiling. If traveling through the Badger for some unforgiving reason, make sure you stop in Hartford, you shan’t be disappointed.
https://wisconsinautomuseum.com/showroom-gallery/
Howard, you can’t talk about Kenosha without mentioning MARS Cheese Castle. Great cheese, good food and a nice bar with cheese and crackers. Ya hey der! U Line is newer major employer in Kenosha
Hi Sam, don’t forget “Bobby Nelson Cheese” too, recently closed, “Mitt or Mittout”,,,
Hi Howard A, Also the statement: “just southwest of Portland, one of the great cities of America” shows that the author hasn’t been there in years or even watched the national news. Enough said. I had a Hornet much like this one, but with a hatchback. What a great car. It was dead winter and very cold out when I opened the hatchback up to get something. It was heavy with ice and when I closed it, it slammed shut too hard. That big back window just exploded into a thousand pieces. :-( Terry J
You’re way too kind, Howard. Thanks much. I was surprised that the museum in Kenosha had the Gormully & Jefferey history of how that company evolved into Rambler but nothing on American Motors.
Unlike Southbend. They still rever the buildings, ground, forest and the name badge.
When I was a kid in 1987 the neighbor across the street had a Ford Escort and a matching Mercury Lynx for his wife. One day he came home with a brand new 87 Chevy Corsica and an 87 Mercury Sable. I was the nosy neighborhood kid that had to know all about those cars while he washed and waxed them every weekend. The Sable in particular was a nice looking car in its champagne color. One day the Sable is gone and it’s replaced with a burnt orange Hornet exactly like this one. When I asked why he did that he replied “oh I just like this Hornet better”. Of course me at 7 years old not understanding what two car payments does to a household budget replied “but it’s the ugliest car I’ve ever seen”!
Anyway this Hornet looks pretty good to me now and Imagine what could have been if AMC built the Cavelier concept that Scotty snuck in there? Could have been a game changer for AMC and Chevy would have had to come up with a different name for its J-body sedan.
Thanks for the comment. I thought the Corsica arrived for M.Y. 1988.
@ Charles: Wikipedia says 87 to 96.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Corsica
Still though, if it had been 88 that MY would have begun in Sept or Oct 87.
(I got fooled by this myself as a 12 year old, when my friend said his dad was going to buy a new 70 Chevy next year. He said that in 1968. I thought he was full of it, lol).
The first ones went to rental fleets in 87 for real world testing.
In this market, a great buy. Driver quality Pintos and Vegas are asking over 10k. In fact, priced low enough to be somewhat suspicious.
I always worry about a CL ad. I would only buy off of CL if the car was very close to me.
That was always the intention of Craigslist, it was never intended to sell coast to coast. I have bought and sold cars locally on Craigslist without any issues.
I’m not really commenting on whether or not Craigslist is prone to scams. I just think this particular price is suspicious given the car market right now.
Id fit a 6BT 6 speed manual and drive it daily .. .
Just a note,
My recollection is AMC was headquartered in Southfield, MI just north Of Detroit, it had a tall building with its name at the top
The factory was in Kenosha. The executive offices were in Southfield.
4.0 HO Jeep good swap for these.
But the us equivalent to The VAM (Mexican AMC) 282, a 4.0 stroked with a 258’s crank and short compression height pistons is even better, with a higher flowing cylinder head, the big bore and long stroke. Especially in the later, 2.53:1 final drive ratio Concord. These can really be made to run hard, but with the stock camshaft, they’ll get better mileage than the 232-1bbl. Carbureted engine In the Concord D/L Coupe my wife drove (because the engine will have enough power and not lug, so you won’t have to use more throttle) when we were dating 38 years ago.
That 258 is a great engine and the 4.0’s daddy.
When I bought my new AMC Concord in 1978 I liked the idea that my 258 CI engine was the same one they put in Jeeps. Unfortunately, this was the 1970’s when quality control was not that great. As a result, when my car was delivered the salesman turned on the engine and I hear a slight knocking. I questioned this sound so he tried to divert my attention by turning up the radio volume! I reached in and turned off the radio and told him it sounded like a sick engine. He replied that every once in awhile some bad gasoline is used and this is most likely the reason for the knocking, so he will have the service dept. take care of that and I can pick up the car in a few days. A person with more common sense than I would have simply told him to keep my $50 down payment, and then run! I went back to work and told the story to my coworkers. My boss, who was a car guy, told me that I fell in love with the velour upholstery and it would have been cheaper for me just to buy velour sofa than a car with a bad engine. The next week I got a call from the salesman who told me that they brought in the regional service manager who diagnosed that the knocking was caused by the factory putting in piston bearings that belonged in the 232 engine. So I eventually got the car. Within 2 years a mechanic noticed that one of my valves was stuck. In spite of that, I drove that car for 14 years with 132,000 miles. Dark green paint with sand tan vinyl roof and interior. Looking back, I should have bought the Concord fastback instead of the 2 Dr sedan. I think I paid $5,200, tax included. I later met my salesman when he moved over to a Chevy dealership because he said AMC’s just were not selling. He told me when I bought my Concord they were trying to move units so they only made $50 on the sale of my car. Hard to know what to believe from that guy.
Even Car & Driver finally wrote about AMC’s lousy quality control in their article on their test Concord, Steve.
They even admitted going easy on the underdog but finally said enough, they couldn’t keep dusting over it to keep from hurting anyone’s feelings.
Cosmetically keep it just like it is, except fit the stock wheels with the widest rubber it would accommodate. Swap the power plant for a LS3.
Sleeper.
If you haven’t spent enough time in Kenosha to know that the History Museum located on the Kenosha Harbor has a rotating section designated for Jeffery/Nash/AMC/etc. you shouldn’t comment on it.
Ouch, sorry for drawing such negativity out of you, Paul – and on Easter, no less. As I mentioned, I’ve only been there twice and the curator even mentioned to me that she wished that they had AMC vehicles on permanent display. I’m guessing by your comment that you’re either from there or have some ties to the city to defend the museum so valiantly. And, for the record, I never said that it wasn’t a damn fine museum, just that they didn’t have any AMC vehicles on display. As a matter of fact, I referred it to as a great museum so I don’t know why you’re so negative about my comment. Thanks for the info on the rotating display and have a good day, sir.
I forgot to mention something about AMC Concords that had some mechanics puzzled. I had a leaking valve cover gasket because my mechanic failed to put the bolt in the hole closest to the firewall because there was no room to do. One mechanic even took a torch to my firewall trying to cut a hole so he put in that missing bolt. Finally I took it to a mechanic who used to work at an AMC dealership. He showed me that the engine must be raised in order to reach that bolt near the firewall. Every AMC service dept. knew that trick. He just slid a jack under the motor and I then had a valve cover with all bolts in place, At 95,000 miles the transmission began slipping. I didn’t have the money to fix it so I drove the car from Phoenix to York, PA for my new job without any problems, and as I said, the motor finally conked out at around 132,000 miles. Really got my money’s worth out of that car. The only major repair was I had to replace the power steering shaft which was leaking. The AMC dealer located the part in a junk yard. It took going thru a few different mechanics before I finally found one who could adjust the carburetor choke so I no longer had to keep it open with a screw driver at times. So not a great car, but pretty sturdy overall.
In 1973 I accompanied my then girlfriend to look at a few cars as she needed a new one. When we got to the A M C dealer they had a new Hornet hatch back sitting in the showroom. She liked the looks of it and since it was the end of the month the sales guy was anxious to have it gone. He said he’d make her a deal since it was a manual with no options other than AC. She bought it there on the spot. I drove it some and the 258 with three on the tree moved it pretty well as long as you didn’t turn on the AC.
I just Remember the hubcaps that looked like stingers that this one is missing.
Didn’t mean to sound so nasty, I apologize, we have tried to put an auto display with volunteers and donations which is what got my dander up. Unfortunately without support from the outside it is difficult as people have to loan their cars to the museum for display for months. If you get to Kenosha
check out our history museum on Simmons Island and the harbor.
My grandmother gave me her industrial green Hornet when I was in college in 1980 (they wouldn’t let me keep my yellow Manx dune buggy on campus). No options, no radio, but three spare tires! My Buddy and I drove it from Easton PA to South Beach and then all over Florida, from Disney to Key West. We lived out that humble POS! Great memories and it never let us down!
As Kenosha didn’t do it for who knows what reason, some folks in Colorado did. It’s called the “Rambler Ranch;” check it out at:
https://www.ramblerranch.com. They have artifacts from the very beginning up to the unceremonious end in 1988. Enjoy!
I see this as Fair. Too many vehicles are up for more than they really are Worth. 4500 range to a AMC fan seems about Right. Good Find.
I’ve always liked these cars. Nice size, nice design. Very attractive. I would love to have this one as a 3-season daily driver in my small town.
I remember about 25 years ago in Ottawa, seeing a turquoise Hornet wagon that looked brand new. It was a sight to see.
It’s a shame that the city of Kenosha seems to be trying to forget that AMC ever existed. Very sad.
Here’s a fun fact for anyone on this forum who is old enough to remember one of the best TV police shows ever, Hill Street Blues:
Daniel J. Travanti, who played the Hill Street precinct station commander, Capt. Francis (Frank) Furillo, was a first-generation American who grew up in Kenosha, born to Italian Immigrants. Mr. Travanti’s father was an assembly-line worker at the AMC plant.
Great story, comment, and link, gearjammer! Thank you!
That’ an interesting fun fact. I remember Hill Street Blues was the first police show that had multiple themes playing at the same time. They interwove their professional lives with the characters’ private lives to create even more drama and story line. Now every drama series does that. But they were the first.
It’s almost like the way Kenosha does not honor their AMC heritage, reflects the lack of esteem that AMC products had amongst car buyers in general.
I really enjoyed my yellow Phil Donohue edition 1973 Javelin with engine blue printed by local Napa shop to 401 c.i. Bought in mid 1990’s in mint condition and sold it in 6 weeks for twice as much as I paid for it. One of my favorite cars was my used 1982 Red Eagle S/X coupe. Terrific car in the snow because it sat high and had 4WD. I also was able to drive a Gremlin for a little while as a loaner from the dealer while they repaired the bearings on my newly factory delivered 1978 Concord. I was not fond of that Gremlin because I had never driven a car with power brakes before, and on a rainy day when I came to a stop light I hit the brakes too hard, forgetting they were power brakes, and I fish tailed. I wish I could have found one of those rebadged Nashes of the 1950’s that had the 327 C.I. V8. A friend of mine owned The Machine in red, white and blue. He would only drive it once a year in a local parade. AMC had some really great styling.
Kenosha did have the perfect site for a tourist museum akin to Auburn’s headquarters. It was Building 1A (qv) at 57th Street and 24th Avenue, the 1896 home of the Gormully and Jeffery Bicycle Company and by 1902 the home of the Rambler. In 1995, as Chrysler was demolishing its older buildings, a citizens’ plea went up to preserve Building 1A. The plant manager feigned interest at first, but soon stopped returning phone calls and Building 1A came down with the rest.
Been to Kenosha was a neat peaceful little city vibe with a feeling of a quiet comfortable community found the people to be nice and always a beer involved somehow !! They did have a AMC display at the towns historic museum I advise anyone to visit there was a remarkable experience.