1977 Hornet AMX: the name returns as an appearance package

This record's own overview states that after two years without an AMX, AMC applied the name to the Hornet hatchback for 1977 as a $799 appearance-and-handling package, with buyers choosing between the 258 six and the 304 two-barrel V8. Old Cars Weekly is the source for that $799 package price, while JavelinAMX.com's own entry for the period simply confirms the same 258-or-304 engine choice without adding a third option.^1,2

Production for the year is disputed in a way this record's own conflicts section states outright: Wikipedia, citing a 2018 Hemmings Motor News article, gives 5,207 Hornet AMXs, split 3,196 sixes and 2,011 V8s, while Old Cars Weekly states plainly that AMC never documented exact production figures for the Hornet AMX at all. This record carries the 5,207 figure as reported with its full attribution chain rather than as a settled count, alongside its own caveat that the underlying Hemmings article itself was not read directly by this record's research. A separate context row records 11,545 total Hornet two-door hatchbacks built for 1977 across all trims, a figure this record's own production note describes explicitly as a host-body ceiling rather than an AMX-specific count, since no source confirms how many of those 11,545 hatchbacks actually received the AMX package.^3,1

Beyond the $799 package price itself, this record documents two further approximate figures from an owner's-car pricing account: a Hornet AMX with the standard 258 six carried an approximate manufacturer's suggested retail price of about $4,300, with the 304 V8 adding roughly $160 more when substituted for the six. Both figures are recorded in this record as approximations rather than exact factory prices, since neither was drawn from a factory price list or order guide in the sources consulted for the year.¹

The 258 six is documented at 98 hp on a rating basis this record notes as unstated beyond falling in the SAE net era, while the 304 two-barrel V8 carries no horsepower or torque rating at all in any source found for 1977. The AMX package itself is described in this record as covering spoilers and graphics per JavelinAMX.com's own brief entry, with no further breakdown of the package's individual contents found in either source consulted for the year.^2,1

Four exterior colors are documented for the 1977 Hornet AMX: Sunshine Yellow, Alpine White, Lime Green and Firecracker Red, the last of which Old Cars Weekly describes as the most popular choice among the four without giving any actual count to support that ranking. No interior color or trim option is documented anywhere in this record for the year, a gap that sits alongside the missing 304 rating and the unsettled production total already described above.^1,4

Specification detail is limited to what Old Cars Weekly's own featured-car article records: a 108-inch wheelbase and 186-inch overall length for the Hornet hatchback body, plus DR78x14 tires as fitted to that specific featured car rather than as a confirmed universal standard-equipment specification for every 1977 Hornet AMX. No identification detail, such as a VIN position or trim-tag code specific to the AMX package, was found in an accessible source for the year, leaving the featured car's own DR78x14 tires and the two dimensions above as the sum total of this record's specification and identification coverage for 1977.¹