AMC Hornet

The AMC Hornet is a compact automobile which was manufactured and marketed by the American

Motors Corporation (AMC) in a single generation from model years 1970 through 1977. The Hornet replaced the compact Rambler American marking the end of the Ramblermarque in the American and Canadian markets. Hornets were also marketed in foreign markets, as well as assembled under license agreements with AMC that included Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM), Australian Motor Industries (AMI), and by Toyota S.A. Ltd. in South Africa. The new Hornet became an important vehicle and platform for AMC. It served the company in one form or another for eighteen years, until the 1988 model year. It would outlast all other compact platforms from the competition that included the Chevrolet Nova, Ford Maverick, and Plymouth Valiant. The Hornet was also the basis for AMC's Gremlin, Concord, Spirit, and the innovative all-wheel drive AMC Eagle.

The AMC Hornet served as an experimental platform for alternative fuel and other automotive technologies. Hornets were campaigned in various motorsports events with some corporate support. A hatchback version was also featured as part of a special aerial jump in The Man with the Golden Gun, a James Bond film released in 1974. The Hornet name plate goes back to the mid-1950s.[3] The name originated from the merger of Hudson Motor Company and Nash-Kelvinator Corporation in 1954. Hudson introduced the first Hudson Hornet in 1951. The automaker formed a stock car racing team centered on the car, and the "Fabulous Hudson Hornet" soon became famous for its wins and stock-car title sweeps between 1951 and 1954. American Motors, the resulting corporation formed by the merger of Nash Motors and Hudson, continued to produce Nash-based Hornets, which were sold under the Hudson marque from 1955 to 1957. The automaker retained rights to the name while it was dormant from 1958 to 1969. The rights to the "Hornet" nameplate then passed to Chrysler with that company's acquisition of AMC in 1987.