401 in a 71 sc/Hornet

[arcticsledzr]

Found a 71 sc that has a401 in it.It has the sticker on the fire wall,says this 401 auto equipped etc.etc.The guy that has it says its a factory 401.He says the guy that had it before him says it was a 401.I said the guy told him that to get him to buy it and that there were but a few sc/360s but I had never heard of a 401 sc car.Does anybody know?Did amc do a few things with 401 Hornets or am I right,that anyone could have gotten a 401 firewall sticker and added it to the car before they painted it,then painted around it to try and fool the normal ford,g.m.,and mopar guy into thinking its special?

[warneramc]

what is the vin? That will tell the whole story.... A1(M or C or A)xxxZxxxxxxx If it has a "Z" instead of a "P" or "N" then it could be legit. I have never heard of one with a 401. Even if it is original but the vin says P or N instead of Z then it really doesn't matter. You could never prove it was an original "401".

[donsjave]

I too have never heard of a 401 Hornet before, in fact I am willing to bet that someone got scammed. To be sure that the car has whatever engine in it, take a look under the engine (either side) and check for the casting numbers. They are located under the motor mounts and will tell you if the engine is a 304, 360, 401, etc. The numbers are about 2 inches high and they denote what engine it is. To the best of my knowledge, AMC never factory installed the 401 in the Hornet. There were some dealers/racers that specially built the Hornets for racing purposes only, but that is extreme rarity and I am not sure what they did with the vin(could of left it alone).

[ChevelleSSLS6]

dealer modified cars (yenko and berger and baldwin camaros) usually have some paperwork stating that is so, and if the car has some then I'd call it something special, if it was a factory 401 then it's really special but I ve never heard of a 401 hornet. Sure would be fun though. :D

[donsjave]

Yep, sure would be fun alright. I presently am restoring an 73 Hornet Hatchback (first year of the hatchback) with the X package on it. As sitting right now, it has a 304 in it with the manual 3 speed on the floor. Someday in the next couple of years I want to install the 401 with the four speed. Boy what a screamer it would be and blow same year Mustangs and Camaro's off the road (or the least fool them).