Rare Rides: The Very Rare 1977 AMC Hornet AMX, Levi's Edition
Today’s Rare Ride is one of just 100 Hornet hatchbacks turned into the AMX for 1977 to feature a Levi’s interior.
I hope you’re prepared for lots of trim.
The Hornet was an important car for AMC, a company known for its compact vehicles. It was a replacement in 1970 for the very long-lived Rambler American that had been on sale since 1958. To signify its newness, the Hornet name replaced Rambler American entirely in the US and Canada. Hornet was a throwback to the Hudson Hornet, made by one of two companies (alongside Nash) that merged to form American Motors. In other markets, the Rambler American name persisted on the new car. With quite an international presence, the Hornet was manufactured under its various guises in the US, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Costa Rica, and Australia.
The Hornet was doubly important because its new “junior cars” platform served as the basis for many AMC vehicles all the way through 1988. After the Hornet’s run was over, it was replaced by the Concord – a dressed-up Hornet. Long-time AMC head designer Dick Teague penned the Hornet’s inoffensive shape.
With something for everyone, Hornet was available with two doors as a sedan, a more racy three-door hatchback, and with four doors as a sedan and wagon. Engines for the North American market were inline-six or V8 configuration and ranged in displacement from 3.3 to 5.9 liters. Other markets used only inline-six engines that were of different origin to North American models. Transmissions were all three-speed if automatic, and three- or four-speed if manual.
With its wide variety of trims and body styles, the Hornet at its base was always an economical family car. Sales were assisted by sporty styling cues that made it a bit more exciting than the typical family car offering. AMC upped the style ante in 1973 with the debut of the Levi’s package, which extended to the Gremlin (also Hornet-based) as well. The Hornet wagon even went ultra-lux with a Gucci trim to make the neighbors jealous.
In 1977, AMC introduced the single-year AMX variant of the Hornet hatchback, intended to appeal to the performance-minded buyer and recall the excitement of the extinct AMX muscle car. Available with I6 or V8, a manual transmission was even optional with six cylinders. Big bumpers and exterior trim were all color-matched, and there were extensions at the lower edge of the fenders, front and rear. Style extended to unique road wheels, additional black trim inside and out, and a faux targa bar of aluminum across the roof. In some examples, sunlight at the rear of the car was filtered through louvers.
As mentioned, just 100 of the unique AMX variants were fitted with the stylish Levi’s interior. It was the end of the line for Hornet at that point, as the car was dressed up and broughamed for 1978 into the compact luxury Concorde. Today’s white over denim AMX is presently for sale in Denver. In sort of okay condition, it has 75,000 miles and asks $3,650.
[Images: AMC]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Nobody mentioned the "Float like a butterfly, sting like a Hornet." line in the magazine ad? Lifted from Muhammad Ali, who should have licensed that line. For the record, it's "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see!"
I had an 81 Concord I bought in 91 for $1100. Drove it for several years. It was reliable, cheap transportation gussied up with a bit of bling. It was definitely nicer than the 72 Gremlin I had bought for $175 back in 83. A bit cramped for my 6'2" frame, but back then I was used to folding myself into an origami shape to fit into most cars. Note that the AMC Concord didn't have an e at the end. Concorde with an e was Chrysler's clone of the Dodge Intrepid a decade or so later.