1976 AMC Sportabout

AMC Sportabout 1976 Description

1976 Hornet-Sportabout for sale

This car on offer is a time-machine; its overall condition is very close to when it sat in the Sigman Rambler, American Motors Georgia showroom in 1976. This is a car without disappointments, refurbished to a high standard, never rusty, always garaged; I was told the car was never driven in the rain by the original owners Grandson. I don’t know if that’s true but the car certainly looks like it is. Mechanically a buyer could immediately drive it home, across the country with no worries. This is a car for tour, show, cruising or everyday driving.

This car is an Automatic with power steering and very good brakes. Other options are the chrome roof rack (perfect) and a radio. The very clean engine compartment shows the care that this car has received since new.The interior seats and carpets are very good to excellent as is the headliner and dashboard. American Motors pioneered the trend to seat belts and this car has excellent restraints. All dashboard gauges work as designed.

I became the third owner in its 40 year life when I purchased the car in October of 2014.At that time it had 65,000 miles on it, or about 1,667 miles a year; it now has 69K. The two previous owners were family and the car was 100% garage kept since new. About 2007 or so the extended family of the elderly original owner had the car sympathetically restored to like-new condition as a tribute to their Grandfather? The car was an easy restoration of a lovingly maintained, rust free automobile with excellent original paint and chrome work.

As the car sits today it is powered by AMCs bulletproof OHV straight six engine of 232 cubic inches, (3.7 liters). This historic engine is a 7-main bearing power-plant that has moved Jeeps and AMC products for decades. The car isn’t a drag racer but very easily keeps up with traffic and can cruise all day at 70+MPH. At speed the car tracks straight and the brakes quietly bring it to a stop without pulling. The Sportabout battery, antifreeze and air-cleaner are a year old

The engine compartment is very neat having been completely professionally detailed in 2007. The mechanical components like ignition, fuel, steering, brakes and transmission are all easily sourced at NAPA; they were very widely used in many, many vehicles for years.

The car uses no oil between changes as you might expect of an engine refurbished about 5,000 miles ago; it returns 21 plus MPG in average driving. I observed 23MPG driving the 500+ miles north on the interstate after purchasing it. The engine is complimented by a 3-speed automatic transmission and is a rear wheel drive car. On the road the car has no rattles or squeaks and handles well. A very thorough inspection on a lift shows new shocks, ball-joints and zero evidence of any road salt rust in its past. The radial tires have about 5K miles on them.

At the 2007 restoration the brakes, rubber door seals, belts, radiator and hoses were replaced. The exterior paint is original except for the passenger front fender which had a small dent from parking in the garage and had to be repainted during the refurbishment; the paint color match is flawless. All of the chrome window trim is excellent without dings or rust. The chromed roof rack is perfect and there is no plastic filler or paint bubbling anywhere on this car. All glass is A1.

The car’s interior is a black/grey hounds-tooth original pattern that shows as new; the carpets are new. All door panels are excellent. Overall the interior will not disappoint even the most discriminating observer.

Inside the hatchback door the rear seats fold for a flat floor. There is a locked compartment under the rear deck and once again there is no evidence of rust occurring at any time at the bottom of this storage bin which is the bottom of the car. This is a car that with an half hour or so of detailing could win its first place AACA award; it is that good.

Whenever I consider purchasing an antique car I always get to the “what is wrong with the car” question and alas as in all things in life perfection remains an elusive goal, especially 40+ years after leaving its Kenosha assembly plant. On this car the little lever that adjusts the outside mirror from the inside driver side has gone missing and in the right light there is a barely visible dent dimple in the rear bumper. The back of the rear seat is rugged and shows wear. So there it is, a very campy well preserved middle-aged car for touring or show.

The hottest segment of the automobile scene right now is the small, car-based Sport Utility Vehicles commonly called Crossover-Utility-Vehicles (CUV).But as often stated, these modern day “crossover” vehicles have taken the place of the old fashioned family sedan. You can call it an evolution process in the vehicular galaxy of classification but whatever it may be, the all-American station wagon has evolved and adopted new names like Crossover Utility Vehicle or CUV. The CUVs and SUVs have morphed into a combination of both car and truck and by losing the “trucki-ness” of pickups and have become very popular.

In 1971 little American Motors searched for a market niche that wasn’t already occupied by the larger car companies and thought up the Sportabout. It was a car based utilitarian vehicle that was much smaller than the huge wagons usually offered in the seventies. The Sportabout wasn’t a stripped, cheapened anything, it came as a fully loaded, sporty vehicle for its time and had interiors designed by Gucci. The little Sportabout 40 years ago was the forerunner to today’s CUVs like the Subaru Forester; it’s size and power specifications are very close even down to the rear-wheel drive. In 2016 it’s a really nice collector car that’s modestly priced.

1976 AMC Hornet Factory Sportabout Specifications

·Engine, 232 CIDStraight Six

oSeven (7) main bearing engine

oFull Flow Lubrication –Oil pressure from 13 to 75 PSI

o8:0 to 1 compression Ratio uses regular gas

oHardened Exhaust Valve seats w/ flash chromed valve stems

oHydraulic Lifters

oCrank is Nodular Iron

·Drivetrain, Car is rear wheel drive

·Alternator, GM-Delco 37 Amp is Standard

oSeparate Voltage Regulator also Delco

·Ignition, Electronic Ignition with separate coil

oMotorcraft Ford unit common to Ford Ranger

·Distributer – GM Delco-#3227331, Drive gear off oil pump probably Delco

·Carburetor, 1-barrel GM-Rochester with an electric choke

oHas an Idle-stop dashpot Solenoid

oIn Carb.paper Filter

·Fuse box by parking brake

·Emissions,Car has an air-pump but no catalytic converter in 76

·Starter,

oSeparate Starter Solenoid

oOn 232 engine starter on driver side

oIn-line resistor of 15 Ohms

·Radiator is 11 gallon with a factory 195 degree thermostat & 12 to 15PSI cap

·Steeringis all GM-Saginaw with GM power steering.

·Brake shoesare 9 x 2 ½ front and 9 x 2 rear

oDual master cyl.With 1 inch bore

oAutomatic adjusters

oWheel cyls. Are 1- 1/8inch front and 1 inch rear bores

·Suspension is Coil Spring all around

·Oil Filter—FRAM Ph-25

·Fenders, Front Fenders Bolt on.

·Roof Rack was an option

·Cargo- 50.4 Square feet of cargo space with seats down

·Bumpers front and rear are the same

·Spark Plugs (Champion N12Y gapped to .035 inch

·Transmission is Chrysler Torque flight three (3) speed

o17 Pint Capacity

·Gas Tank is a 22 gallon unit.

I have more pictures that I can email if you contact me. any questions plz call 585-506-6506. thanks. mike

AMC Hornet Sportabout/Concord/Eagle wagon (1971-1988)Laugh if you must, but there's no cheaper entrée into old-car ownership and the world of hip vintage wagons than one of these reliable and strangely handsome AMC warhorses. Think of the Sportabout as an American BMW 3-series wagon that doesn't like to rev and barely handles. But it goes and it still doesn't cost very much, while influential styling from the pen of AMC whiz Dick Teague has aged nicely

Second is the fact that it's a wagon, and one of the first American wagons to use a full upwards-hinging hatch vs. the traditional 2-piece hatch window with fold-down tailgate. Tailgates are nice to sit on, but hatches let you get closer to the load floor when shoving stuff into the depths of the cargo bay. Wagons are always cooler than 4-door sedans anyways. The butterscotch and toffee color scheme makes this one even more appealing for its "period correctness." Get drunk and pass out in the back - when you wake up you will think you went back in time to the mid-70s and will start looking around for your roach clip and checking for burns in the naugahyde.