The Unfortunate History of the AMC Pacer
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Great documentary! I loved the Pacer for it's unconventional looks. But hey, I ended up driving a Smart. lol
hooverwheelaway
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That was a very cool video -- well worth the time to watch! Such neat little cars, too bad they were doomed from the start. Much like the Lustron houses. Nifty piece of history, though. Thanks for sharing!
firedome
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I always loved "Road & Track" 's take:
when they tested it, their front cover blurb was:
"WE TEST THE PACER...AND WISH WE HADN'T!" LOL!!!!
when they tested it, their front cover blurb was:
"WE TEST THE PACER...AND WISH WE HADN'T!" LOL!!!!
philr
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Great video, thanks for showing it here Brent! I always admired AMC products. I just owned one, a 1987 1/2 Cherokee Limited (AMC already belonged to Chrysler but unlike my 1989 Cherokee, it still had AMC badges on it). I wish I had an early Pacer, a '68 Ambassador SST, an Eagle SX4 and a few more!
Very interesting piece on AMC. My first car was a 1963 Rambler Classic wagon. And yes, it had major rust issues and burned more oil than gas. It didn't have the power to get out of its own way. Renault was the straw that broke our local AMC dealership. The complete disaster of the Le Car, forced them to go out of business.
firedome
Well-known member
I always loved "The Motor" 's take:
when they tested it in England, their front cover blurb was:
"WE TEST THE PACER... AND WISH WE HADN'T!" LOL!!!!
My cousin had one, looked like it was from outer space, he called it the Jupiter II.
Sluggish, lousy gas mileage, lousy handling, the fit and finish was garbage...
it deserved to die!
when they tested it in England, their front cover blurb was:
"WE TEST THE PACER... AND WISH WE HADN'T!" LOL!!!!
My cousin had one, looked like it was from outer space, he called it the Jupiter II.
Sluggish, lousy gas mileage, lousy handling, the fit and finish was garbage...
it deserved to die!
firedome
Well-known member
correction above...
Checked my archives, it was The Motor, not R & T, that had the funny take on Pacer.
Checked my archives, it was The Motor, not R & T, that had the funny take on Pacer.
firedome
Well-known member
btw...
I owned 3 AMCs... an Eagle wagon, an Eagle sedan, and an '87 Grand Wagoneer. All of them were mechanically fair to OK, good 6 & V8 engines, and the trans was from Chrysler, but the trim and general fit and finish, especially of the interior, was the worst I've ever seen on an automobile... abysmal, right up there with Yugo!
I owned 3 AMCs... an Eagle wagon, an Eagle sedan, and an '87 Grand Wagoneer. All of them were mechanically fair to OK, good 6 & V8 engines, and the trans was from Chrysler, but the trim and general fit and finish, especially of the interior, was the worst I've ever seen on an automobile... abysmal, right up there with Yugo!
Test Drive
My Mom's sister had a 78 Pacer and I loved that car. You truly felt like you were in a fish bowl when riding in it. All cars at the time were square. The Pacer looked like something from a science fiction movie. It is the exact car as below in the video "test drive". My Dad's sister had a AMC Gremlin. It was white with the blue stripes. She kept that thing for about 12 years!
My Mom's sister had a 78 Pacer and I loved that car. You truly felt like you were in a fish bowl when riding in it. All cars at the time were square. The Pacer looked like something from a science fiction movie. It is the exact car as below in the video "test drive". My Dad's sister had a AMC Gremlin. It was white with the blue stripes. She kept that thing for about 12 years!
cfz2882
Well-known member
A good car ahead of its time in many ways-in high school a classmate had a pacer and had a low speed rollover accident with the only damage to the car a dent in the roof above the A pillar and grass got packed into a tire bead causing a flat.He was afraid parents would find out about the accident and take the car away for a while,but they never found out about the incident 
I always wanted a Pacer. Sadly, my 74 Gremlin X and 78 Concord D/L were not terrific. The end was my neighbor coming over to tell me he watched the whole tail lamp lens unit fall off the back of the Concord while it was parked in the driveway.
My first car was a 1977 Pacer X that was that dark forest green color. There was a white Pacer X in the video and the very next car in the video (with the hatch open) was the green color, mine was a sparkly metallic green of that shade. It had been a demo for the dealer and it was pretty well optioned out. I loved the car, great for me because I learned to drive in it. But a lemon. The electronic black box module failed several times leaving me stranded on the highway. It got traded in for a 1980 Chevy Citation.
[this post was last edited: 5/10/2015-13:13]
[this post was last edited: 5/10/2015-13:13]
dirtybuck
Well-known member
I wonder which was better? The Edsel Pacer or the AMC Pacer? Too bad they both met a tragic demise.
Or the Edsel Citation or the Chevy Citation?
Years ago when I was attending The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena one of my instructors (theory of automotive design) was explaining to the entire class that the Pacer really was a remarkable forward thinking design that was just too far ahead of its time to be appreciated. I recall asking the guy next to me, "How far ahead of its time was it? It's 1989 now and the darn things are still ugly." He started cracking up in agreement.
Meanwhile a few years earlier, among the group of twenty somethings I knew in Eagle Rock one of the guys had a Pacer, and whenever he was upset or bothered about something he would go outside and kick it to vent his frustrations.
"Hey Jason, where are you going?"
Reply, "I'm pissed off! I'm going outside to kick the Pacer!"
People laugh about that to this day. Those cars never got any respect.
Meanwhile a few years earlier, among the group of twenty somethings I knew in Eagle Rock one of the guys had a Pacer, and whenever he was upset or bothered about something he would go outside and kick it to vent his frustrations.
"Hey Jason, where are you going?"
Reply, "I'm pissed off! I'm going outside to kick the Pacer!"
People laugh about that to this day. Those cars never got any respect.
I always liked that car
loved the big windows and the fine line grill. Thought the doors were too long for garages and parking and the trim fit was pretty bad. It could have been a stellar car I think.
loved the big windows and the fine line grill. Thought the doors were too long for garages and parking and the trim fit was pretty bad. It could have been a stellar car I think.
it was ahead of its time for aerodynamics and the view from all over, nothing hidden in your sight line....looked more like a lunar moon mobile...
my Dad worked for Rambler/American Motors......even he admitted it was junk......a lot of 'out of the box thinking' that went terribly wrong...
did you know the passenger door was 6 inches longer than the driver door, it was to allow easier access into the rear seat.....today they would just trick out that panel....
my first car was a 1972 Javelin X
then a 1977 Hornet AMX
from there, as second and third cars I had several Eagles, 1982 SX/4, an 83 and 84 Wagon....and a 1988 Cherokee.....
I thought the Gremlin replica Eagle Kammback was a unique version.....
if anything, American Motor cars were simple construction, and easy to work on, not a bunch of jammed in clutter under the hood......not compared to most GM products......
the engines got a kick in horsepower once they started with Fuel Injection, but by this time, Chrysler was taking over....
my Dad worked for Rambler/American Motors......even he admitted it was junk......a lot of 'out of the box thinking' that went terribly wrong...
did you know the passenger door was 6 inches longer than the driver door, it was to allow easier access into the rear seat.....today they would just trick out that panel....
my first car was a 1972 Javelin X
then a 1977 Hornet AMX
from there, as second and third cars I had several Eagles, 1982 SX/4, an 83 and 84 Wagon....and a 1988 Cherokee.....
I thought the Gremlin replica Eagle Kammback was a unique version.....
if anything, American Motor cars were simple construction, and easy to work on, not a bunch of jammed in clutter under the hood......not compared to most GM products......
the engines got a kick in horsepower once they started with Fuel Injection, but by this time, Chrysler was taking over....
AMC the little company that could
The pacer was designed for the Wankel engine. When it could not be made to meet Federal emission standards, AMC had to shoehorn the 232/258 six under the hood. While both were solid engines, their genesis came long before EPA and emission controls. As was the case with pretty much any other make, the engines somehow met EPA standards but were dogs in terms of performance.
FWIW I always thought AMC did a credible job given their extremely limited budget. Not to mention the Kenosha factory was built originally to make mattresses of all things!
As would happen with Chrysler in the late 80's/early 90's it was the purchase of Jeep from Kaiser Corporation that really saved AMC's collective ass in the 70's. AMC could press on year after year with minimal product investment in the SUV line, earning enough money to keep things going while the car line starved from investment.
The Hornet begat the Gremlin which begat the Pacer which begat the Concord. Talk about getting mileage from a single platform! Chrysler would repeat this rather weak process with the Kcars. Only difference is, after the loans were paid back, Chrysler DID have the money to do a new midsize platform whereas AMC simply lacked the funds to do so.
I have seen AMC products with a Delco alternator, a Ford/Autolite fender mounted starter solenoid, and a York A/C compressor. Come to think of it, I don't know beyond engines what AMC actually made versus buying from other suppliers. Even Ford in the late 70's used the Frig A-6 swash plate compressor. For a while, in the early 70's they used Motorola alternators.
The pacer was designed for the Wankel engine. When it could not be made to meet Federal emission standards, AMC had to shoehorn the 232/258 six under the hood. While both were solid engines, their genesis came long before EPA and emission controls. As was the case with pretty much any other make, the engines somehow met EPA standards but were dogs in terms of performance.
FWIW I always thought AMC did a credible job given their extremely limited budget. Not to mention the Kenosha factory was built originally to make mattresses of all things!
As would happen with Chrysler in the late 80's/early 90's it was the purchase of Jeep from Kaiser Corporation that really saved AMC's collective ass in the 70's. AMC could press on year after year with minimal product investment in the SUV line, earning enough money to keep things going while the car line starved from investment.
The Hornet begat the Gremlin which begat the Pacer which begat the Concord. Talk about getting mileage from a single platform! Chrysler would repeat this rather weak process with the Kcars. Only difference is, after the loans were paid back, Chrysler DID have the money to do a new midsize platform whereas AMC simply lacked the funds to do so.
I have seen AMC products with a Delco alternator, a Ford/Autolite fender mounted starter solenoid, and a York A/C compressor. Come to think of it, I don't know beyond engines what AMC actually made versus buying from other suppliers. Even Ford in the late 70's used the Frig A-6 swash plate compressor. For a while, in the early 70's they used Motorola alternators.
