Problem Child’s Latest – Let Them Eat Cheese
Hot Rod Art – Custom AMC Hornet
Art from ProblemChildKustoms.com
Let them eat cheese…
…or at least the dust left behind this monster.
When the AMC Hornets were new, the ads read with slogans like “If you think it looks good, wait’ll you feel it perform!”, “It’s not our strong guarantee that makes our Hornet a tough little car”, and “It’s beautiful when you fill it up”… Taking those sales pitches waaaaayyyy out of context bred the bright yellow beast above.
For this AMC Hornet, right out of the box, I wanted to play up the automaker’s legacy, by using some references to Wisconsin, naturally, and then just say “screw convention”, and mess around with a largely forgotten car… Thus, we have an AMC, some Green Bay colors, and, uh, well… that’s about it, aside from the crappy “cheese” line at the start.
Moving along, I’ve had this sick road racing-inspired Hornet “buzzing” in my head for about two years, and have played with the drawing on and off over that time span. I had watched “The Man With the Golden Gun” some time back, and it re-kindled a love affair with all things AMC (even if it would have been better had they used Alice Cooper’s song of the same name… but that’s another story for another time). When the master, Steve Stanford played with some AMC concepts last year, it re-kindled my interest in the idea, and after seeing just how dedicated the AMC guys are, I finally got all of the sketches into one place.
The concept: A ’74 AMC Hornet built with a nod to the Mulholland road-race crowd of the ’70’s. A tube chassis with a 9-inch center section IRS and Corvette-based front suspension allows the car to sit right on the ground, and the full ‘cage helps everyone inside feel safe as the world rushes by in a blur.
Speaking of “rushing by”, motivational power would be via a twin turbo 360, backed by a six speed… no LS-motors or otherwise… this baby would be an AMC through-and-through.
Body-wise, a late-model Challenger hood would donate its center, while retaining the stock Hornet hood peak and emblem recess, as it looks almost natural that way. The factory parking lamps would hit the swap meet as air inlets were installed to feed the mighty engine. While we’re up front, let’s drill out the heavy front bumper, add some driving lights, and then lightly tuck it to the body, and rework the fenders for a flush-fit look. A chin spoiler and splitters further play up the idea, and help to cut through the night air.
Side-exit exhaust just looked so damn cool, and sitting as low as this thing does, it made sense, too. Out back, I’m seeing a pair of ’89 Mustang LX tail lights (nothing personal, just never liked the stock units), and a notched rear bumper to show off the rear belly pan.
Just wanted to share one of the little “side” projects that always seem to be floating around the Studio, and show a little love to the hard-core AMC crowd. Hope you dig it…
From Pikesan: Any other proud AMC owners out there? Let’s hear from you! Leave a comment. You don’t have to be a member to comment.
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Awesome! I’m a big AMC fan! I hope you do the project for real! Really glad you want to stay with the 360..even stock that motor in that car kicked butt!
PS – Karma is a bitch…Chrysler plowed AMc’s factory and well you know what’s going on with Chrysler now!
I remember totally falling for the Hot Rod Mag april fools joke and the “AMC Comeback”. I was bummed when I found out it was bogus. The concepts looked awesome! I really dig the Hive Buzzing Hornet concept.
The Hornet is absolutely awesome! And I intend to use many of your ideas on my coupe. I’d been trying to envision something like the ’70 Challenger hood scoops in my mind, but your illustration is even nicer than I imagined…and the swiss cheese front bumper is way cool, and I have the front air dam in the garage. Am toying with using 14″ Motor Wheel Spyders I have, along with a conservative paint scheme, likely a dark emerald green, so it”ll be sort of a sleeper. I’d also like to change taillights but am not too thrilled with the Mustang lights either. But are you gonna share a rear angle view of the Hornet?
Thanks guys! Glad you dig the little Hornet… Just one of those ideas that had been “buzzing” around my brain for far too long.
@ Bruce: Very cool indeed! Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
The Motor Wheel Spiders will definitely have that ’70’s flair!! (always liked those wheels, as they look very industrial, and almost futuristic!)
I just haven’t had the time to hash out a rear view, as this was a side project, and paying jobs always come first… But I’d be more than willing to sit with you and hash out a few ideas, and make you a great deal on a rendering…
(I’m thinking a tail light with that AMC feel, keeping the “ovalled-rectangle” feel, and some minor panel work to keep the theme all buttoned-up over that rear bumper/pan area)
Thanks for looking in, and many thanks for the kind comments! Now get out there and build it!
This is awesome! I have a 73′ in green and I had gotten to the point where I was thinking about contracting a drawing like this because they just don’t exist, but I am very happily wrong. Great work, this is close to what I’d like to do to my car.
Big thumbs up from a AMC owner and fan!
Please let Brian Stupski, the mad genius behind Problemchildkustoms.com know! Feedback like this will keep in sharing these kinds of “just for fun” drawings and sketches.
Hey, Downeast_AMC, don’t let it stop you from contracting a rendering anyway!!
Glad you enjoyed the piece… it’s a fun car with a TON of untapped potential… They’re so funky to begin with, and REALLY take to the aggressive look. Made my day to read your comment, and always great to hear about another AMC coming together!
Can’t wait to see what you come up with on yours, and HUGE thanks again to Craig and the gang here at MRIM for lettin’ me play!
My father used to race Hornets back in the ’70’s for the factory team in late model dirt track racing. I have recently purchased a ’72 Hornet and plan on restoring it to a vintage road racing car. It is a little bit of a struggle as this type of car is hard to get parts for and hard to get someone to work on developing it into a real race car. Getting a new 360 tricked out and put in it will be easy, the tough part is figuring out the suspension so that the car will handle well around the track. I currently have a Factory Five Cobra and it handles like a dream so I want to get that same kind of performance out of this Hornet.
Thanks for your comment Charlie! I want to see your new Hornet and your Cobra in your garage here at MyRideisMe.com!
I’m currently building a Jeep 4.0L motor to drop in something like this. It’s AMC’s last engine design and it shares a lot of common specs with the old 258. The head also flows like crazy…the intake side is equivalent to an LT-1.
Cool rendering. Gives me a few ideas.
Go ahead and get on it, looks great in the sketch. If any of your readers want a “bee” there are plenty of them and other AMC’s out there that need good homes.
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/amc_classifieds/AMC_Classified_ads.htm
There was a rare 71 SC/360 that recently sold for $1400 for instance, can’t get more bang for Hornet buck than that! Also, the SC/360 Registry has surpassed 100 vehicles known to exist:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/sc360/sc_registry.htm
My own 71 SC/360 is ‘slightly modified’ also:
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/Photo_Gallery_AMC/71_SC360_Hornet.jpg
The best thing about your concept is it would be inspirational to those people who might want a timeless body style of 73-77 Hornet, or 78-80 Concord hatchback. Just a neat body with tons of potential. Good luck and if I can be of any help of assistance, let me know.
Eddie Stakes
Brian does it again! Where do you keep getting those great ideas.I have a lot of your artwork decorating my den (aka Man Cave) right now. Keep up the great work & Pikesan…..keep running those pics.
I have a road race hornet that I have been racing for 4 years. suspension is not a big problem as it is similar to a mustang.. Also lots of parts out there if you look.
I would love to see your concept become real!
First Car was a ’73 Hornet HB, and later , a ’77 Hornet/AMX powered by a 401. We toyed around with the idea of a Removable Targa roof section (as HornetAMX’s had the Targa Band).
Interesting choice of taillights, I bought one of those Smoke tinted Plexiglass tail light covers ( Hey, it was the early ’90’s) originally for a Fox bodied Mustang thinking along the same line, until that one night I got this Bogus Ticket, Get this, the Cop said “He could see my Brake lights from to far away” WTF? I guess I had to keep those old school Glass Blue dots just for that.
HotRod Magazine had a Bitchin’ take on the Hornet HB with a concept drawing back in the late ’80’s. I still have a Photocopy. I didn’t like their choice of a Snorkle Hoodscoop but they incorporated the Roof Spoiler from the early Javelin.