If there’s a better color for a 1974 AMC Hornet Sportabout wagon, I can’t think of one. Even with two greens, three blues, yellow, copper, gold, and even plum, Sienna Orange has to be the ultimate color to make your Hornet wagon stand out even more than it would otherwise – if that’s even possible. The seller has this gorgeous time machine listed here on eBay in Orlando, Florida, and they’re asking $17,995, and I’m tempted to make this one mine. I won’t, but I’m tempted.
Seriously, if you’re going to have an AMC Hornet wagon, get the nicest one you can find, and this is it. Can you even imagine pulling into a gas station with this car, stepping out, and filling the gas tank, while looking almost as sharp as the car does? Then you remember you left your Diner’s Club card in your other skin-tight polyester clown outfit back at home.
I believe our own Russ may have written up this car a couple of months ago here? It sure looks the same, now that I do a search, which I usually do before starting. My apologies, Russ!
AMC offered the Hornet to its practical customers from 1969 for the 1970 model year until the end of 1977, at which point this model changed gears a bit and became the more fancy AMC Concord. The Hornet was available in a two-door sedan, two-door hatchback, four-door sedan, and the Sportabout wagon. My favorite by far is the two-door notchback, but what if they had made a convertible? The seller has outdone 99% of other sellers by providing 90+ photos of this gorgeous car, including the rear cargo area, which looks perfect.
Please click on the eBay link and look at all of the photos at the bottom of the seller’s listing. With this being a base model car (not a D/L), this car doesn’t have some of the fancier bits as others do, but I think the overall condition makes up for that. The interior presents as well as the exterior does, with base cloth and vinyl seats, both front and rear, and both seating areas would make anyone proud. This car has 73,557 miles, so it isn’t a low-mile Hornet, but it sure looks like it is.
This car keeps on giving and giving, look at that surgically clean engine and engine compartment! This is AMC’s 232-cu.in. OHV inline-six with 100 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque. It’s sent through a Chrysler-sourced TorqueFlite three-speed automatic to the rear wheels, and it isn’t surprising to hear the seller say how well it runs and operates and how many thumbs up they get while driving this gem. In a perfect world, this one would be held back until I could hit the buy-it-now button, but 2025 hasn’t exactly been a perfect world, at least for me. Maybe one of you wouldn’t mind making an offer on this orange jewel of a Sportabout?
It’s in great shape, but for $18k i think I’ll keep looking. The valve cover and air cleaner look like Ford colors.
The correct AMC color for valve cover &air cleaner is black, not Ford blue.
In 1974 the valve cover might have been a greenish blue, but the memory could be playing tricks once again.
Metallic green/blue valve cover
The grille’s the wrong color(s) too, it should be an all-over dark gray. A nitpick, yes, but the seller is asking top dollar and then some.
One of my roommates in college had one just like this same color and all. We traded commuting back and forth to classes between his Hornet and my 72 Beetle. That year Ohio had record breaking cold with temperatures never getting above zero for like 2 weeks straight. Both our cars always started but boy was I happy to ride in his Hornet with a real heater!
Yeah , I had a 1973 Beetle. The heater was controlled by a lever with no fan speed. Essentially, hardly a heater
Yeah, a Datsun 280ZX for $4grand, a nice MGB for $7500,,,or a ( trying to keep composure) “Kenosha Ruster” for ,,,what now,,,$18 grand,,,good heavens,, well, it certainly qualifies as a “time capsule”, and being redundant, grandma surely passed on. Make no mistake, however, granny had no idea what “Armor All” was, so somebody really put the gunk to an already clean car. Once again, this site is a harbinger of things to come. 1 bid( the sellers buddy?) tells a stark story, many are in denial about. The hobby is circling the toilet bowl, and fast, and just think, we can sit at our kitchen tables, tune in here and watch the madness,,,fold.
To quote P, P, & M,,”When will they ever learn”?
Yeah, music keeps me sane in this bakooky world,,
This isn’t an auction, the seller has it listed for a set price, which he probably won’t get.
Steve R
Maybe the single bid speaks more to the realization that nobody is gonna pay 18K for a ’74 AMC Hornet Wagon, even if it is a “Sportabout”. Well, I guess at least one guy is gonna spend that much….
No AC, no reclining seats. As nice as it looks, and I’ve owned several Sportabouts including a V-8 Gucci Sportabout, this is wishful thinking on the part of the seller.
I’m a long-time AMC guy, more than five decades, but to me this is a $10K car at best. I’ll be curious to see what the final price will be.
The car market has come down. I agree, it won’t sell at that price. I’m also seeing a lot of cars lately coming up 4 sale overly price.
I’m with you – for 18 large I want AC and a well optioned car along with the bigger 258 6cyl – or even better – the 304. If it had the 304 they might be closer to $15k car but not how it sits now.
It’s a beauty, even the engine bay all the era’s emission setup is still present. I see manual brakes, drums on all four’s. Would be great to pull up to the local car meet with this.
I’ve owned Hornets in the past, including a 1975 Sportabout so am very familiar with their good and bad points.
This one looks great, but is pretty much poverty-spec with the only apparent options automatic transmission and AM radio. It may not even have power steering. (Hard to tell from the engine photos whether the pump is there or not.) As others have said the price is way out of line. Probably worth about half the asking price, if that.
Way too much for me. Don’t think I’ll even make an offer. Would probably just make him mad.
These Sportabouts and the hatchback were the pretty sisters of the Hornet line.
“Sporty”, as in Sport Utility Vehicle.
Too bad they didn’t buy a 360 4 speed Hornet to preserve. Too much money for me.
Not sure that was an option after ’71.
Painted Black, smoked out glass, 360 or 401 nicely messaged, 3.55 posi, 727 auto performance built and Keystone classic rims w/raised white letter tires would call for the current price!
If you want 200+ hp in a black on black 2-box, the new car dealerships are over that way.
This has the ’75-’77 front end styling. Probably an early ’75, built in ’74.
Great looking car, but too rich – 10k should own it.
This one of the cleanest AMC’s of the 1970’s that I have seen but price is hgih and no A/C.
I think this guy could keep the Armor All company in business just by himself gezzzzzz!
That being said, beautiful condition for sure but $18 large for a 74′ Hornet is reaching the limits of reality in my opinion. Though as we currently live in a world of $43k Volkswagen Rabbits and $21k Chevy Chevettes, who’s to say?
If those are asking prices, just like with this car, they don’t set value. This isn’t an $18,000 car unless/until someone pays that amount, right now it just a car someone with an asking $18,000 asking price. Even an outlier sale price, if it isn’t repeated, doesn’t mean much. Repeatedly sales within a price range sets price. I see this all the time at swapmeets and other venues where sellers throw out “it’s worth” then site an eBay listing for cars people will refer to Barrett-Jackson or Mecum. The problem is there is no context, no one knows the specifics of that car, nor do they care. The same auction could have sold half a dozen similar cars for half the price, but they will quote the one outlier that sold on a Friday evening with all of the high dollar cars and claim that’s the market price. Naysayers will do the same thing when predicting the collapse of the market, they will focus on cars they know nothing about other than it didn’t sell or sold for very little.
Steve R
These were just a couple of SOLD prices for online auctions I’ve seen. Perhaps an outlier, but I’ve just noticed how crazy vintage car prices have been getting over the years. Both in crazy asking prices and actual sold prices.
I agree Paul. At least here in Florida, there is no such thing as a 5K decent classic driver car. 5K here will get you a rusted pile of junk.
I do watch Junkyard Digs on youtube, and evidently in rural Iowa or South Dakota, you can pick up a very nice ’69 Mark lll for $2500, or a nice ’68 Deville for 3K.
Then you can drive it around all summer, which lasts 3 weeks.
Well I won’t comment on the price. I will just say my folks had a 79 concord wagon. Kept it till the,early 90s. Darn good car. Lot of good memories of it and this is its older brother. I pretty clearly remember the 6 cylinder in it being blue. But maybe paler.
The space-saving, inflatable, spare tire had to have been a real novelty in 1974.
Brings back memories of my dad’s 74, same color but a D/L model with air conditioning and fake wood grain side paneling – the economy family truckster of my youth! As mentioned earlier, this has a ’75 grill. And, yes, 18k is a tad aggressive for this wagon.
That’s not a 74. See the convertible, that’s a 74 grille. BTW that convertible sits high, too much ground clearance.
it’s pretty cool.
I miss AMC.
What a cute wagon! But take that 1 out of the price and maybe!
Being a Ford guy, I’d put some oversized AMC ralley wheels. And a Coyote with a 6 speed auto.4 wheel disk brakes, with an updated interior.
lub dat AMC grill, the motor (altho prefer the 258).
We all spot the ford ‘Lt Blu” (not drk “Corporate Blu”).
Never understood the ‘FB’ ina wagon cept being ‘of the
era’ (wagon=utility, all the space needed not a loss due to
fashion).
The real car was the nxt gen w/4 WD. The Pacer wagon (only
not ‘sedan’ & pre-hood bump, this same 258 motor) another winner
for me as well.
I follow this car on eBay and they sent me an offer to buy it for $15495 so there’s room to deal.
I got one too. I think there will be more, and lower offers to come, after all, the market is collapsing.
Steve R
I had a red 74 with the wood grain paneling on each side. Very spiffy looking car.
Sorry, the Hornet is one of those cars that doesn’t look good as a convertible.
Had one with std 3-speed on column. Had spent some of it’s lije in Germany. No power, A/C or other extras. Straight Paid like $300 for it, replaced a tie rod and tuned it. Found a set of junkyard doors to replace the rusty ones and drove the crap out of it for about 70K miles. Sold it for $200 to a happy guy who drove it away. For show? Don’t know. But as a beater you can’t beat ’em.
It’s nice but not the one I would have. It’s way over priced as well. When I think of this model, I want the SST with wood grain. That was the looker!
I’ve seen better examples (typical 258 engine and A/C) on C****’*list at around 1/3 of the price (there seems to be a lot of Hornet Wagons in Oklahoma and Tennessee).
Years ago, my wife had a Concord D/L coupe with which I was very impressed. It was a VERY NICE RIDING CAR. We were about 2 years too early to get Howell Fuel Injection’s GM 2-Barrel TBI conversion. If I had access to the TBI kit, the Concord would still be in our fleet today, with a built stroker 4.0 Litre, using an ancient Edelbrock SP-2P, 6C-2V Intake Manifold, Edelbrock Performer Cylinder Head, a Crane Hydraulic RV Camshaft, a Cloyes True Roller Timing set, a Howell 2-Barrel TBI throttle body kit, with the ECU also controlling the ignition timing on a GM HEI, a set of Ancient Clifford Research 6 into 2 long tube Jeep CJ Headers and a wide ratio, mechanical lock-up torque converter and a police spec A-999 transmission with a shift kit. I still have most of these parts (Except the TBI kit, the (recent) Performer head and the HEI) and I’m waiting for the “right” car.
The grille is not correct for a 74 , it looks like it was off of a 77 Hornet ,that may be a hard thing to source as so few of these cars were saved
The rear view mirrors are way off on the doors too .
The seats are not vinyl and cloth ,but two tone vinyl.