1954 Cadillac
Being a huge James Bond fan encouraged Nigel Jeffrey to buy his first American classic - this rare 1974 AMC Hornet X Levi's edition that then needed a complete restoration.
Most of us can likely trace our interest in American cars back to certain TV shows or movies we’ve watched. For Nigel Jeffery it was the 1974 James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun. The film features Bond (Roger Moore) in a chase while behind the wheel of a 1974 AMC Hornet X and includes a stunning river jump, during which the car turns a complete 360-degree spin to land back on its wheels. “I’m a James Bond fan,” admits Nigel. “I was brought up watching the films, always liking the Aston Martins and Lotuses. Although I didn’t know what it was, I thought the Hornet looked a nice little car and it would be great to own one. Around 2015, I was after a first classic that would suit all the family. I was looking at a Jaguar XJS, though ended up buying a Porsche 944 convertible.
“By then I’d researched Hornets and the following October spotted this one on eBay. It was the first Hornet I’d ever seen for sale, brought over by a guy who imports Mustangs. The Levi’s interior was a mess, but all the brass jeans’ buttons were still in place; the seats had split although the dashboard looked okay. The body was straight and, despite various dents, all the trim was in place. At that time it didn’t run, but the seller had it going when I went back for a second look. The car was originally light blue but had been repainted dark blue.
“I bought the Hornet planning to restore it myself, then lost my storage and had to keep the Porsche at home, meaning there was nowhere for the Hornet. It ended up being taken on by some American car restorers in Powys, Wales, who’ve since retired. They found a couple of rust spots once they’d stripped the body back to bare metal, but nothing serious − it was mainly around the door hinges and below the front screen. There was a dent in the boot lid and some work to the lower edges of the doors. They also put in a new battery tray. I wanted the outside to be Bond, but the inside original, so they painted it AMC Trans-Am Red − I understand having red with the blue interior was possible from the factory.” New Levi’s interior material was found in Birmingham – it’s spun nylon and was never actually denim jeans material, since AMC found that wouldn’t conform to safety standards.
Valves and gaskets
“When the engine was stripped down it had some leaks,” remembers Nigel, “mainly due to needing new gaskets. They put in new valves and noted the block had recently been re-honed. One of the pulleys needed replacing too. They fitted a new manifold with a four-barrel Edelbrock and removed all the emissions equipment – which I was careful to hang on to in case I ever want to go back to factory stock. I also kept the original wheels and the spare since, to look like the Bond movie car, those were replaced with Cragars from Raceways American Wheels (07834 625372/ www.raceways.co.uk).
“The Hornet is a genuine X – as was used in the film – so, of course I wanted the correct stripes. A signwriter in the UK said they’d be expensive to paint on, but then I found the correct stripe kit from Phoenix Graphix in Arizona (www. phoenixgraphix.com). Around then, the London Film Museum held a James Bond exhibition that included a Hornet so I asked special permission to measure the stripes. They wouldn’t let me touch the car, but I got close enough to gather what info I needed. But when we came to fit our stripes they didn’t look right, the spacing of the black line in the centre was incorrect. I contacted Phoenix and they immediately sent out another set of stripes for no charge. Those ones were perfect. The Levi’s decals came from eBay.
“We reused the bumpers since they were pretty good. The black rubber sections have crazed, but I preferred to leave them in place rather than risk ruining them. I wanted the car to look right, but I also wanted to drive it. The Hornet came with optional factory air conditioning, which I kept because I have A/C on my work van and now can’t live without it. A guy in Norfolk rebuilt the system; apparently he usually works on combine harvesters… The main change I’d wanted was switching to a four-speed manual gearbox, but my restorers advised that even if we could find an original gearbox and all the mounts, foot pedals etc., it would still be a lot of work to convert, so in the end, I had the automatic rebuilt.”
Fabulous Hudson
Hudson introduced its first Hornet badge in 1951. When American Motors was formed through the merger of Nash Motors with Hudson, the company continued producing Nash-based Hornets under the Hudson marque from 1955 to 1957. The rights to the Hornet name were retained, although unused until 1969. For 1970 a new compact economy sedan called Hornet replaced the Rambler American.
When the hatchback Hornet appeared, Car & Driver magazine called it “the styling coup of 1973”. A Levi’s interior option debuted on June 20, 1973, including blue ‘denim’ bucket seats, special door trim, sun visors, extra insulation and blue headlining. There were also ‘denim’ litter pockets in the doors and badges on the front wings. The ’74 Hornet arrived with the rest of the range on September 15, 1973, boasting “23 cubic feet of luggage space – all the suitcases and golf clubs you’ll need for a two-week vacation”.
“The Rallye ‘X’ Package”, continued the brochure, “adds tachometer, oil and ammeter gauges, manual disc brakes, variable ratio power steering, floor-mounted shifter for manual or auto and more.” The “more” evidently consisted of a leather-wrapped sports steering wheel, front sway bar on six-cylinder cars and black instrument panel cluster. The 304cu in V8 came with a three-speed manual on the floor, or o Torque Command automatic with a shifter that could be flo oor- or column-mounted. With the two-barrel carb it had 150bhp 1 at 4200rpm.
AMC finished 1974 with an all-time production high of 509,496 – partially thanks to extending the model year from June 1974 until November to take advantage of more relaxed emissions laws. This ‘two-door hatch five-passenger’ is one of 55,158 built for 1974; the base price was $2849 for the six and $2987 for the V8. The previous owner of our featured example, according to the paperwork, was a Lawrence Dano of Mountain View, Oakland, California, who evidently owned the car for almost three years before selling it in 2016. Its VIN begins ‘275’, meaning the Hornet was built in Kenosha, Wisconsin, since AMCs with a serial number of 700,001 and above were constructed in Ontario.
“The restorers had the Hornet for about a year and I received it back during February 2018,” remembers Nigel. “It sat here for a couple of months during winter, then I discovered it was only firing on seven cylinders. By then, the restorer had shut, so I had a local garage check the engine. They couldn’t find anything obvious and suggested perhaps it was the rings. I knew it ran fine when I got it back so we tried all the obvious things like HT leads and distributor. We even did a compression test and found the faulty cylinder had the best compression! Finally, I put a tiny camera in through the air breather screw in the manifold and discovered it was blocked with casting sand. I cleared it with a screwdriver and it’s run fine ever since. Recently, I took it to be set up on a rolling road and got another 20bhp, making 149bhp at the wheels at 4500rpm, so that was money well spent.
“There’s a few creaks and groans typical of any old car and it took me a while to get used to left-hand drive. It feels basic compared to the modern vehicles I usually drive and, despite the disc brakes on the front, takes some effort to stop. I wanted to get a conversion to power brakes, but couldn’t find one that fitted. The first show I took it to was Wings & Wheels at Bicester where it won best in class. Some people recognise it as a Bond car, but it’s also been described as “an overgrown Capri”, or the car from Starsky and Hutch. I’ve spent way more than the Hornet is worth, but it wasn’t done for profit. I just wanted to own the car I first loved all those years ago.” ★