also praised the car's handling and braking by summarizing: "Unbelievable. I think it's some great little car!" Car Craft magazine testers bolted on better tires, headers, and traction bars to run the 1/4 mile in 13.78 seconds at . The muscle car market segment reached the height of popularity in 1970, but the combination of rising fuel and insurance prices along with emerging emissions reductions meant the end of an era. American Motors originally planned to build as many as 10,000 of the cars, but high insurance premiums killed the SC/360 after a single year's production of just 784 examples. A total of 304 were built with the now-preferred combination of a 4-speed manual transmission and a 4-barrel carburetor. The Sportabout, on the other hand, was the most popular model by far, outselling all other Hornet models combined in its debut year. For most of its production, it was the only American-made station wagon in its size class. 1971 production: 2-door base: 19,395 4-door base: 10,403 2-door SST: 8,600 4-door SST: 10,651 Wagon SST: 73,471 SC/360: 784 1972 American Motors established a new focus on quality with the 1972 model year. The "Buyer Protection Plan", was the industry's innovative 12-month or comprehensive, bumper-to-bumper warranty. This was an industry first that included providing a loaner car as well as trip-interruption protection, all at a time when most automakers offered only a limited six-month warranty on their new cars. During that time, "long-term accountability was something that automakers on any continent attempted to avoid." The 1972 AMC Buyer Protection Plan was possible due to numerous mechanical upgrades to increase durability, as well as a focus on quality in sourcing and production. Production quality was increased as well as pre-delivery preparation by the dealer that includes "230 inspections and the road test each car ... to find any problems before the car is delivered, so the customer will not have to come back later." American Motors promoted the 1972 Hornet as "a Tough Little Car". The automaker promised to repair anything wrong with the car (except for the tires), and owners were provided with a toll-free telephone number to the company as well as a free loaner car if a warranty repair took overnight. To consolidate AMC's product offering, reduce production costs, and offer more value to consumers, the base models were dropped and all 1972 Hornets were designated as "SST" trim. The