Pity American Motors. The company had set its sights on competing toe-to-toe with the Big Three, but its participation in the sporty car segment left a lot to be desired. Your gut may suggest this is not true, so let’s examine the market and see.
In 1968, AMC introduced sporty cars such as the Javelin and AMX that competed nicely with the best pony cars on the market, but AMC had nothing that competed with the likes of the Pontiac GTO. You could claim the Rebel Machine did, but that was a one-and-done model for 1970, and the 1971 Matador with the Machine Go Package was half-baked, with nothing visually to indicate it was a performance model – not to mention it’s likely fewer than 100 were built.
There also was the Hurst-derived Rambler SC/Rambler, which was a nice competitor to the Plymouth Road Runner and Chevrolet Nova SS 396, but it too was a one-hit wonder.
For 1971, AMC introduced the Hornet SC/360, a nice competitor to the Plymouth Duster 340 and even the Duster Twister. Standard was a 240-horsepower 360 and a three-speed, but add the Go Package and you’d get a four-barrel paired with an air induction system, plus the choice of a four-speed in addition to the standard three-speed or automatic. Alas, sales were poor in a year that should have embraced this sort of machine, so AMC discontinued it in the middle of the model year after 784 were built.
Join Muscle Car Campy as he tells us more about this Limelight Green metallic 1971 Hornet SC/360. As you can tell by the scoop, it features the Go Package, plus a four-speed manual, a reclining split bench seat, and several vintage parts underneath the hood.
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