The AMC SC 360 Had High Hopes

Remember the days when all muscle cars were tagged by the government for having high emissions? This truly affected the way many manufactures were able to produce these cars. The goal of the government was geared towards a healthier and greener environment. So what AMC did was come up with a hybrid pony car. This concept served them well since their sales rocketed compared with the Ford, Chrysler and Chevrolet models that were manufactured before it.

Also read: Leland West Tips for Evaluating Classic Car Insurance Companies

American Motors Corporation otherwise known as the AMC came up with the muscle car "light" - the 1971 AMC Hornet SC 360. It was good timing for the Hornet to be introduced since it was another alternative to the high-costing models produced by Chevy and Pontiac.

The 1971 AMC Hornet SC was designed as a tamer version of the so-called bulldogs of the road and it was tagged as a low profile muscle car. Even though it still had the classic 360-cid V8, there were little revisions on how the 2.8L performed. First and foremost, the Hornet sported a 2-door sedan appearance as compared with the bigger 4 doors. Lightweight and trendy, this kind of muscle car was more fuel efficient and it didn't need to guzzle that much fuel and burn it as fast as other models like the GTO and Mustang.

This muscle car was made to reflect the changing times. However, the problem was that while it had respectable and power, 0 to 60 in 6.7 seconds, this model of course had trouble capturing the imagination of American consumers. It was simply too much to ask for the Hornet to beat out the likes of the Chevelle and the Mustang.

AMC had high hopes for this car and were hoping to rollout at least ten thousand of these cars, but they only sold about a 1/10th of this number. Thus the SC 360 was essentially killed off in 1972 as AMC shifted to a more quality focused agenda, hoping to lure in more consumers.

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