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Topic starter
21/05/2026 12:08 am
Today's car is a 1974 AMC Hornet Hatchback Levis Edition. This car has the denim blue interior, which is in better condition than the exterior, although not great. You can see the Levis sticker on the front fender. The Hornet's license registration expired in 2003, and it's been sitting in this exact spot since then. I've watched this car slowly deteriorate over the last 30 years. Around 2008 I was contemplating rescuing it. At that time the surface rust was minimal and the tires held air. I had a nice set of AMC Magnum 500 wheels in my inventory that would have looked great on it. However, that never came to fruition. A few years later I was surprised to see the Hornet featured on the Curbside Classics' web site posted on January 26, 2014. The first three pictures are mine taken a couple of months ago. The last three are from the Curbside Classics' website posted in 2014. I posted a link below.
'v
Curbside Capsule: 1974 (?) AMC Hornet- Future Curbside Classic - Curbside Classic
21/05/2026 5:33 am
You're finding some great examples of derelict deterioration Pete - love the series.
21/05/2026 7:40 am
Regardless of whether you like the car or not it seems a terrible shame both visually and wastefully to just let a decent car rot in its spot year after year. I just don't get it. Many years ago I knew a guy that actually was a car lover who had an orange '65 Mustang GT coupe he had been given by his father. He just left the car to sit in his side yard for years, deteriorating in the wet west coast climate; it had been a very decent car. It bugged the heck out of me so one day I asked him why he didn't protect it. By his strange answer he advised me that so many people had asked after it....he loved seeing their reaction when he refused to sell it. It eventually went to parts many years later. Go figure!
This post was modified 2 weeks ago by Jack Dodds
21/05/2026 7:47 am
It's sad to see any classic just left to deteriorate. Sell it to someone who'll do something with it.😟
21/05/2026 8:17 pm
It had a lot of potential...sad to see rust taking its toll. Pete, great series, keep them coming.
John Bono
North Jersey
John Napoli and Tony Perrone reacted
Topic starter
21/05/2026 10:09 pm
Thank you John! Unfortunately, there's no shortage of material in my and the surrounding neighborhood. When I've inquired about some of these cars the usual response is "I'm going to fix it up for my _____ (fill in the blank)"
22/05/2026 8:35 am
Thanks Pete for the great idea of your "around the neighborhood"...most entertaining. For years a guy who lives about a mile from me had a 1950 DeSoto Coupe sitting in his driveway. Like many here, I stopped to ask if he would sell the car and his reply was that he planned to restore it. Naturally that didn't happen and over the last twenty years I watched the car go from restorable to rusted out junk.