1971 AMC Hornet SC/360
Publishing a buyer’s guide about this unassuming little performance car is largely academic. Why? Kenosha built fewer than 800 Hornet SC/360s and according to the SC/360 Registry (planethoustonamx.com), 130 of these cars are known to exist. When they do change hands, it’s often privately among their devotees at one of their online meeting houses like the S/C Hornet Facebook group.
Still, it’s fun to shine a spotlight on this scrappy little independent. Its looks are sort of nerdy, but cute, and as a low-production one-year-only effort, the Hornet SC/360 makes an unusual conversation piece at a show. Plus, thanks to its favorable big-V-8-to-small-car ratio, it can be a capable quarter-miler if that show happens to be held at a drag strip. (Like our own Hemmings Muscle Machines Musclepalooza, September 1 in West Lebanon, New York.)
AMC introduced the compact Hornet for the 1970 model year as a replacement for its Rambler line. The ’71 Hornet SC/360 was created when AMC was riding high on the accomplishments of the Penske Javelins in Trans-Am racing (AMC won the championship in ’71).
