40 Years Of The AMC Pacer - The Fishbowl That Saved The World

"Jonee" (Jonee) 04/03/2015 at 13:25 • Filed to: AMC Pacer, Dick Teague, Porsche 928, Fishbowls, History

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There are a bunch of usual suspects that come up on lists of iconic cars. The Mini, Jag's E-Type, Porsche 911, Bugatti Atlantique, etc. They're iconic because they represent the pinnacle of car design for their respective eras. Unlike "normal" cars, you never mistake them for anything else and they changed the way people thought about the automobile. The Mini made small cool. The 911 did the same for engines in the trunk. The E-Type finally brought phalluses into the mainstream. But, there's one icon that often gets overlooked and it just celebrated its 40th birthday: the AMC Pacer.

"Oh, come on," you're saying, "the Pacer? You're an idiot." Maybe, but what other car says "1970's" more than the Pacer? It looked, and still does look, like nothing else on the road. "For good reason," you may say, but I think that's not fair. It's shape and proportions are unusual, but that's a pretty car. And why it looks like it does is an interesting story.

The 1970's was a tumultuous decade for the auto industry especially in America. All of a sudden almost every aspect of car design was being influenced by regulations, oil shortages, and drastically changing consumer demands. Cars had to be cleaner, safer, thriftier. And there were a lot of conflicting signals about what was going to be wanted in the future. Japanese econoboxes were taking off. But, so were enormous luxo-barges. It was a time of transition where people were still stuck in their old habits, but knew that things had to change going forward. The thing is, we don't like sudden change. We talk about it, but really we want life to be exactly how it is today forever. Even if what's going on now sucks. Change is scary and has to happen slowly for people to be ok with it. But, life sometimes requires immediate action. And when you're not prepared, you can make bad choices that end in disaster.

The Pacer was an attempt at predicting the future. At the beginning of the 70's, no one knew how far the new regulations were going to go. Safety and emissions standards were fairly new concepts and the car companies were having trouble keeping up. They were basically retrofitting cars designed a decade earlier when there were little to no regulations. And the feeling was that things were going to get pretty draconian by the end of the decade. AMC decided that they would try and anticipate what the standards of the 1980's would be and build a car that met them now. This was pretty ambitious for a company that was a distant also ran to the Big 3. AMC's big trick had always been creating a new car by still making the same car.

Their VP of Style, Dick Teague, was a master at this. Need a subcompact? Hack off the back 30% of the Hornet and call it the Gremlin. R&D is expensive and time-consuming.

The Pacer, though, was going to be all new from the ground up. It was an awful risk. To mitigate this, Dick and his team, designer Bob Nixon and advanced styling director Chuck Mashigan, decided to design the car from the inside out. No matter how avant garde it looked on the outside, or was engineered, it would still feel comfortably familiar when you were in it. This would be their way of easing people into something new. And that was a good idea. On paper anyway. Speaking of which, I'm not sure how that philosophy carried into the first !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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When Teague got free reign he really ran with it. It sure looks futuristic, but the dos à dos seating is anything but familiar unless you were one of the unfortunate few who bought a Zündapp Janus. But, this was just meant to be an inspiration for "Project Amigo" (most perfect awesome name ever) as it was called in 1971.

They wanted something suitable for both urban and suburban environments. It should have a small footprint and be agile, but roomy enough for a family of 4. They started with 4 bucket seats sitting on a truncated Matador frame. Since they wanted a small car that felt like a big car, they would give it the interior dimensions of something full-sized. Now we're beginning to see why it came out so roly-poly. "The world's first wide small car," the ads would tout. This was going to be a new segment, one the Pacer would be the sole occupant of. Unfortunately, AMC's fear of increased crash standards pushed its width to absurd proportions. The head of Product Planning was convinced that the standards were becoming so severe that roll bars were going to become mandatory and insisted one be incorporated into the Pacer's design. That gave the car its bulge which would remain even though the roll bars never materialized. The first models are relatively sleek compared to the finished car which Bob Nixon hated. He felt management ruined the design which I imagine is a pretty common kvetch among car designers. But, here he's right.

They obviously went off of that original Teague sketch. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! has a fascinating rundown on the design evolution of the car. The increasing girth is obvious. One feature that stands out on every iteration is that huge greenhouse back end. It's an epic ass made of glass and is unique to say the least. Or is it? One of automotive history's great myths is that Anatole Lapine, Porsche head of design from the 60's through the 80's, copied the Pacer's historic hinder when he penned the 928. And, looking at the two cars you can see a remarkable similarity in the shape and treatment of the windows and c-pillar.

The 928 is just sleeker and less bulbous. What gives? To find out, and this is an exclusive you will only read here on Oppositelock, I contacted Hans Lapine, Anatole's son, and asked him.

"This story has been almost becoming the truth since it has been printed so often. There is a little twist to it that might be disappointing to many," were his first words.

"And, it's only in the rear upper quarter panel."

Hans is head of modeling and prototypes at Volkswagen. He didn't want to do exactly what his father did, and always thought making models was "cool and fun." Interestingly, when Hans was growing up, his family lived down the street from the Teagues. Anatole Lapine and Dick Teague both worked at GM in the late 50's and early 60's. They were in different design studios, but the men became close friends and remained so their whole lives. "They went to the same school with the same headmaster," is how Hans put it. That headmaster was the legendary Harley Earle. Earle was an overwhelming presence that injected his vision into everything and his leadership created a strong bond among his teams. This caused something of a revolt when his underlings moved out on their own. They eschewed his frippery like excess chrome and fins in favor of fresh, clean lines. Teague and Lapine were still neighbors, although Dick was now at Studebaker, in 1963 when one of the most influential concept cars of all time was built. Anatole was actually working in Bill Mitchell's experimental design department when GM hired Bertone to build a Euro Corvair.

The job went to Giorgetto Giugiaro and what he came up with blew people's minds. It was called the Testudo and right there is the Pacer and 928's bubble butt.

Anatole went so far as to steal the headlights, too. The Testudo was considered a harbinger of where automobile design was headed. A few years after its debut, two buddies with similar backgrounds, sensibilities, and influences were trying to solve the same problem; how to move their respective companies into the future. In an example of convergent evolution, they came up with the same solution: ripoff Giugiaro (it won't be the last time). "They were working on those cars at exactly the same time, '71 - '72," Hans explains, "they looked at the same stuff to get ideas and had learned the same things. I think when my father saw the Pacer, he said 'huh, you did what I did.'" And that's how a Porsche and an AMC came to look alike, at least in the upper rear quarter panel. Despite the gap in prestige between the kind of cars they worked on, Lapine always had a great deal of respect for Dick Teague. "It's much easier to design a Porsche than a [Rambler,]" he would say. His cars only had to appeal to some rich guys while Teague's needed to sell to the masses.

The outside wasn't going to be the only place the Pacer stood out. It was also supposed to have something crazy under the hood. A rotary engine. The Pacer had a stubby nose to keep it short for crowded cities. The only thing that could fit in that little engine bay was something small and the rotary was perfect. It was also light which the rest of a car made of glass is not. AMC didn't have the money to develop their own rotary, but GM had just bought a license from Wankel to build them and made a deal to sell some of these motors to AMC for the Pacer. AMC then spent $2 million on their own license to build the engines later when production of the car was in full swing. They really had high hopes for this thing.

They began taking fiberglass mockup Pacer concepts around the country to gauge interest and help finalize the design. It lost planned hideaway headlights and front wheel drive. These ideas were a little too cutting edge apparently. But, the visibility out all that window space was a big hit. The general reception was very positive and it seemed like AMC was on to something. A comfy two-door runabout with forward thinking design scored well with the focus group crowd. Engineers also came up with several other tricks to keep the car's nose short. There was a specially designed rack and pinion, only the second to come standard on an American car; a low-profile crossflow radiator; and a new front end accessory set-up. Everything was on track when GM dropped a bomb. Getting the rotary to comply with mileage and emissions standards proved to be utterly futile and they completely abandoned the project. For the giant General Motors, it was a minor setback. They had many projects in development and failure is part of the process. But, tiny AMC was now fucked. They had spent way too much time and money developing the Pacer to give it up. The company was always strapped for cash and they would not survive if they got nothing back on their investment. They toyed with the idea of buying rotaries from Comotor in France which would have been an epic fiasco as their Wankels had nearly sunk Citroën. Fortunately, importing engines proved too expensive. So, AMC did the only thing they could do. They figured out how to shove their ol' reliable inline 6 into an engine compartment designed around a motor a third the size and half as heavy. This pretty much flushed what was left of the original idea of something light and thrifty down the toilet. We all know about the current state of auto bloat with successive generations, but the Pacer experienced obesity between concept and showroom.

To get the 6 cylinder in there, they cut a giant hole in the firewall and pushed the thing in as far as it would go (TWSS!). This meant the back two cylinders were basically under the dash making maintenance a bitch, believe me. The old block also needed miles of vacuum hoses to help emissions. It was a mess under the hood. But, it worked. Barely. The smog choked 232 rated 100 horsepower (later downgraded to 90!) and the car now weighed over 3,400 lbs. (almost 200 of which was the 5,615 [!!!] square inches of glass). It was anything but spry. It also didn't get very good gas mileage, and when it went on sale February 28th, 1975, it started at $3,299, $500 more than a Pinto.

After all the compromises, AMC kept their expectations low and their fingers crossed. I almost get the impression that at first, everyone was giddily insane at the idea of this future-car that was going to revolutionize personal transport, and slowly but surely the dream was crushed in front of their eyes by the reality of circumstance and fear.

Against all odds, though, the Pacer was something of a sensation upon release to an unsuspecting populace. It really didn't look like anything anyone had ever seen before. "Suddenly, it's 1980!" proclaimed Motor Trend , "[the] new Pacer is the freshest, most creative, most people-oriented auto to be born in the U.S. in 15 years." I wonder what came out in 1960 that got them all riled up.

Road and Track was also kind pointing out its smooth ride and spaciousness. Consumer Reports , uh, reported only 17 manufacturing and dealer-prep defects. Stellar when compared to the VW Rabbit's rather scary 34. American Motors thought moving 100,000 cars the first year would be a resounding success. They ended up selling 145,000. The pudgy Pacer was hip. For a generation raised on The Jetsons , here it was, a space pod from the future.

But, it wasn't long before the space-bloom was off the space-rose. After the rotary debacle, the revised piston-powered car was rushed into production resulting in flaws. The exhaust manifolds were poorly cast and quickly cracked. The heavy engine required soft motor mounts which weren't up to snuff. This caused the engine to sink and rest on the rack and pinion which then leaked. The interior was paneled in cheap plastic that reacted to sunlight like the flesh of a ginger and looked like a jigsaw puzzle assembled with all the care of a stoned baggage handler. People also began to second guess its unconventional looks. It was called, most famously, a fishbowl, a toaster (?), a raindrop in overalls, fat, strange, ugly, a cancerous testicle. Horrible things no car with such good intentions deserved to be called. By the end of 1976, sales had tailed off. It seemed that everyone who wanted a Pacer already had one, and everyone else was scared off by its issues. AMC did work out the kinks, but the car had gained a stigma. It was crap. And, weird crap at that. What was once novel was now bizarre. It also wasn't too practical. It was only a two-door and had no trunk to speak of. So, Dick Teague worked his magic, and the Pacer Wagon was introduced in 1977.

He took a car that was inherently unrevisable and revised it. He used the car's width to his advantage and squared off the back creating a gigantic cargo area. The Wagon invigorated sales and salvaged the whole Pacer concept. It outsold the coupe almost two to one for the rest of the car's life which would be brief. Sales went from 58,000 in '77 to 21,000 in '78. That year, they tried giving the car a facelift by raising its hood. This completely destroyed the spaceship effect and was a sign of desperation.

It was said it was done to accommodate a V8 which was now an option. The big engine finally brought performance up to acceptable levels, but made it even less miserly. City MPG was something like 11. However, I've actually fit the original sloped hood over a V8 in a Pacer. I think the high hood was a cop-out. People were used to seeing a hood in front of them, but when they took the Pacer for a test drive, the hood disappeared and that was disconcerting. Thus they gave them a hood to look at. Anyway, it didn't help and just 12,000 Pacers were sold its last two years before whimpering out of production in 1980. Its assembly line was needed to build a car people actually wanted, the first crossover, the Eagle. That car, a more than a decade old Hornet with a tried and true Jeep 4-wheel drive unit underneath, was much more prescient than the visionary Pacer.

The market for the Pacer that AMC thought would exist never arrived. Economy buyers went for cheaper, and better made, Japanese cars like the Civic and Corolla, or they bought a Rabbit, or a Chevette. People who wanted pseudo luxury in a small package found a Mustang II Ghia. The poor Pacer found itself an orphan. The fat kid sitting alone in the cafeteria no one wants to be seen with.

And after all that I think it's an icon? For sure. Despite the fact that it's a whiffed attempt at being ahead of its time, the Pacer has lived on in popular culture and collector's garages. It's constantly turning up in movies and on t.v. Often the butt of a joke, but still. Everyone knows what it is.

They'll call it a Pinto a lot of the time, but they basically know what it is. And it really was't all that bad. Build quality was never top notch, but that drivetrain was basically bulletproof. Once you replaced the motor mounts, rack, and, most annoyingly, the exhaust manifold, you had a great and, yes, fun car. It's so comfortable and squishes along with a ride you expect from a 70's American car. The wide track and cab forward design actually lets it handle pretty well for something with the body roll of a rhinoceros. In 1977, they gave it a four speed that, when paired with the torquier 258 I6, made for a really good driver. Plenty of people loved their Pacer. Conway Twitty, Brigitte Bardot, and Richard Petty all owned Pacers.

Pacers were even sold in small numbers in Europe. Predictably, it found its most success overseas in France.

Today, nice Pacers fetch in the low 5 figures and prices are going up. Beyond that, like I said at the beginning, it's quintessentially 70's. Driving around in that glass bubble is so groovy, man. You have to respect what a bold decision it was to bring it to market. I've owned 10 of them over the years and finally people are catching up to me and it. Long may it reign as the definitive American car of its age.

Shortly after the Pacer's demise, Dick Teague did finally design a real automobile of the future that was almost completely new. And it did redefine the motorcar. Its influence is all around us today. The XJ Cherokee/Wagoneer, the first compact SUV.

For more of my musings on odd old cars, check out my Kinja:

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505Turbeaux > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 13:29

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dat ass

505Turbeaux > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 13:31

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JBH is proud of you today for tackling his very favorite car of all time

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 13:34

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Fantastic write up! Definitely FP worthy methinks!

As Du Volant > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 13:45

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Totally looks like:

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 13:50

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Pacers are cool. As much as I love the bubble I like the wagon even more.

http://northernwi.craigslist.org/ctd/4945645704…

Jonee > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 04/03/2015 at 13:53

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I actually like the custom work on that one. I've always preferred the true fishbowl, but the wagon is really an amazingly practical car. And the last real two-door wagon as far as I can remember.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 14:02

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Planning was convinced that the standards were becoming so severe that roll bars were going to become mandatory and insisted one be incorporated into the Pacer's design.

He called it. It just took longer than he was expecting.

Arch > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 14:44

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My neighbor had a new one when I was a kid. A yellow Pacer X. I thought it was pretty cool, even back then.

KnowsAboutCars > TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut 04/03/2015 at 14:59

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THIS!

Jobjoris > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 16:53

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Finally, the Pacer-Piece! And it's epic, especially that Lapine-part ;-) "It's much easier to design a Porsche than a [Rambler,]"

I don't see any pictures of your own glorious Brown Pacer?

Jonee > Jobjoris 04/03/2015 at 17:32

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I forged ahead without Jeff Teague. Maybe he'll read it one day and grant me that elusive interview. I forgot to thank my crack Dutch research squad. I couldn't have done it without you. I think I'm going to contact Hans again at some point and get him to talk some more about his dad and what he does at Volkswagen. He gave some good quotes.

I didn't feel like digging up good, old pictures of my Pacers, I guess. Maybe I'll do a separate thing on them one day. This is the only one I have of the beautiful brown goddess on my computer. She's a rare '79 with the ugly hood, but they topped it off with a hood ornament that year and I kind of dig the gaudiness of it.

Jonee > Arch 04/03/2015 at 19:47

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They were my favorite car when I was a little kid. You didn't see too many and I would always point them out. "Fishbowl!"

ranwhenparked > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 20:00

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It was designed for a future that never happened. Congested roads = small footprint, stringent crash test regulations = extra stiff body structure and roll bar, American small car phobia = wide track, and stricter nitrogen oxide emissions regulations = rotary engine. If everything had worked out the way it should, the Pacer probably would have been the right car for the right time.

In retrospect, a company as small and as perennially cash strapped as American Motors never really had any business taking such giant risks, but at the time, they had deluded themselves into thinking that they really were smart enough to have figured these things out.

Jonee > ranwhenparked 04/03/2015 at 20:07

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Yeah, it's really fascinating how they had the right basic idea, but made the wrong choice pretty much right down the line. I almost wrote a part where I imagined an alternate universe where the Pacer was the right car for the time and everyone drove squat rotary powered things.

ranwhenparked > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 20:12

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I've always wondered what would have happened if they had taken the money they spent on the rotary project and the Matador Coupe body and put it all into a new FWD platform, lopped 2 cylinders off their straight six, and brought the Pacer to market as a front drive 4-cylinder. It probably would have been way too heavy for that to work, but still, a radical, cutting edge body shape with that package in 1975 would have given the Rabbit a bit of competition.

Jonee > ranwhenparked 04/03/2015 at 20:18

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They had a concept that completely fit the bill for that, too.

If they had built this as a Rabbit fighter, they might have had a chance. In the focus groups, people said they didn't want fwd. But, people don't really know what they want and they ended up buying front drive cars anyway.

ranwhenparked > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 20:29

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Yeah, that was the problem - they didn't know who to listen to. That would have been just as much of a forward-looking gamble as the Pacer, its only in hindsight that it becomes the obvious choice. Though, product planners at other automakers obviously managed to recognize it.

The truth is that AMC had spent so much money on the aborted rotary program, the Matador Coupe's sheet metal, and the Pacer's body and platform that they really didn't have the cash to do a FWD architecture, given how little compatibility it would have with their existing factories and drivetrains. They would have had to have conserved cash elsewhere along the way to do it, and the time for that ran out fast.

Jonee > ranwhenparked 04/03/2015 at 20:35

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Yeah, it's too bad. One of automobile history's what if's. They put all their eggs in two weird baskets. I'll never really understand why they had such faith in the rotary. There was a certain amount of sense behind the Matador, I guess, which Chrysler later proved with the Cordoba, but the execution was definitely off. The rotary never had a chance of working for what AMC wanted out of it and it seems like that had already been settled.

ranwhenparked > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 20:39

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It is a shame. Up until about 1975-76 or so, they were still a relatively viable company with the ability to develop and productionize new models, after that, it was pretty much all over without a major partner holding their hand. They went from buying Kaiser-Jeep (a pretty major deal) to a basket case in half a decade because of about 5 years worth of pivotal decisions that weren't made or were made poorly.

Jonee > ranwhenparked 04/03/2015 at 20:51

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They figured out how to capitalize off of Jeep too late. They actually were on the right track, but, yeah, the Renault thing was a poor band-aid over the mistakes at the beginning of the 70's. Looking back, a company that focused on economy cars was always going to struggle in the 80's and beyond, but if they had picked the right kind of economy cars, they would have at least been in the black when SUV's took off. Then maybe they could have bought Chrysler.

ranwhenparked > Jonee 04/03/2015 at 22:02

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In 1961, I think a few people would have been surprised to hear that Chrysler would eventually devour American Motors, rather than the other way around. That company really did have a roller coaster existence.

If they had at least managed to keep themselves slightly more viable, Renault might have seen the value it at least keeping the AMC brand for their US-market products, instead of gradually phasing it out over the course of the decade. Even if Chrysler hadn't bought them, it would have died with the Eagle after 1988 or '89, leaving Jeep and Renault. And Renault hardly set the world on fire here.

Jobjoris > Jonee 04/04/2015 at 13:07

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There's an 'edit'-button for things you forget ;-) But I wasn't the only one of course, don't forget Wolfgang Mederle as well as he was the one nodding you in the Lapine-direction in the first place. I'll inform Wolfgang about your publication as well by the way, did it end up on the FP (I'm replacing furniture at the moment, there's coming an end to camping!)?

Jonee > Jobjoris 04/04/2015 at 23:26

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I'll remember to thank you when I accept my Pulitzer.

I wonder how Wolfgang will like Hans's answer. Hans didn't remember him. No front page this time. Torch said he liked it, though, and asked me not to steal his job.

Jobjoris > Jonee 04/05/2015 at 13:41

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And how about that Oscar when you finally make that documentary?

Not sure how Wolfgang got his e-mail address, it was really a long, long time ago he said. That's why he wasn't sure it still was correct.

I think it should at least have made it to 'best-of-Oppo' which had returned miraculously. If Torch had better monitored our 'discussions' he could have gotten plenty of input!

Jonee > Jobjoris 04/06/2015 at 13:53

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Jeff Teague better come through when we film the documentary. I will interview you for the behind the scenes stuff that'll be on the DVD, don't worry.

It's nice that they're doing Best of Oppo again. They'll probably include this when they get to the first week of April since they shared it to Oppositeblog.

Is the house all furnished now? That must be exciting. Does that mean the work is coming to an end? My father's a furniture designer, you know. If you need anything extra, I recommend looking for some Eisen pieces.

Jobjoris > Jonee 04/07/2015 at 03:27

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The house isn't completely furnished. We've got lot's of extra space so we definitely need more Eisen pieces. Does your father have a webshop?

And work is certainly not coming to an end. This was just Phase I. Phase II is about to begin. And don't even start about Phase III. Or IV!

Jonee > Jobjoris 04/07/2015 at 21:07

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He's actually pretty much retired, so you have to look in the antiques shops now. But, his furniture was pretty popular back in the 70's and that stuff's hip now.

Whoa. 4 phases? Verbeeten Manor really is a moneypit.

Jobjoris > Jonee 04/08/2015 at 01:56

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So there is a fan-site, at least! URL me!

4 phases? I didn't get to do anything to the garden, that's probably phase 5...

Jonee > Jobjoris 04/08/2015 at 23:38

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I don't think there are any fansites, unfortunately, but in the 70's, Terry Bradshaw, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, furnished his whole house with furniture designed by my dad.

And I suppose the garage is phase 6?

Jobjoris > Jonee 04/09/2015 at 03:34

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Terry Bradshaw, quarterback, Pittsburgh Steelers: all Greek to me. But if he's any good/famous: something should be online about this!

Do you really expect me to have more love for gardening then my automotive pleasures? The Garage is IV.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Jonee 04/10/2015 at 13:01

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Hey, thanks for the effort here. AMC cars and their venerable straight-six engines have always fascinated me.

A suggestion: can you try writing without the F-words and S-words and B-words? Your effort stands on its own without those.

Thanks.

Jonee > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 04/10/2015 at 13:47

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Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. I will definitely take your note under advisement. The conversational vulgarities can keep the internet crowd interested while trying to teach them something.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Jonee 04/10/2015 at 15:33

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Thank you for accepting my note in the spirit in which it was intended.

Are you aware of anyone doing performance mods to those AMC sixes?

Jonee > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 04/10/2015 at 16:50

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There are a number of performance enhancements one can make to the old I6. I've mostly left mine stock on my AMC's except for adding a 2-barrel carb on a couple of my Pacers, and a nice 4 barrel on a Gremlin. This guy gives a good rundown of stuff to do:

http://www.planethoustonamx.com/main/performan…

And I'm sure there are a lot more possible mods out there if you look. It's a pretty basic motor that was aways meant for just getting the job done. Most folks would swap a V8 into whatever car they're driving for more power, but I like the idea of wringing all you can out of the 6. Like I said in the article, the 258 has more torque, but the same horsepower, as the 232 and is probably the better motor for modifying for power, but there are no rules when it comes to these things.

CALUSA > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 16:42

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Get a Gremlin and the kids are gone?

alan > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 16:49

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shame they could not keep it in production for a few more years

CALUSA > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 16:56

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What a great story. Always loved this car, now I know a lot more about it! How did your one looked like?

Jimmy Joe Meeker > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 16:57

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“I wonder what came out in 1960 that got them all riled up.”

Ford Falcon.

DoglegFirst > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 17:00

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Wasn’t the door on the passenger side a few inches longer than the driver side door to make the backseat more accessible?

Jonee > DoglegFirst 04/22/2015 at 17:01

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It was indeed. One of the biggest doors ever.

DoglegFirst > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 17:03

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I’m surprised that wasn’t mentioned in that commercial

webmonkees > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 17:06

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Excellent. If they had gotten the rotary there probably be few running examples left.

*Once had a roommate that thought his Mazda 929 had a rotary.. Like all the other Mazdas.

K5ING > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 17:58

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You can always turn it around and use it to haul cars.

cdydatzigs > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 18:24

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In 1977 when my mom was pregnant with me, my dad set out to buy their very first new car. He considered a Pacer but was turned off by the absurd amount of glass and didn’t want to drive a goldfish bowl. He ended up buying this instead:

cdydatzigs > alan 04/22/2015 at 18:26

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They’ve kept the Wrangler (essentially) the same for decades, I know Jeep would have done just fine keeping their beloved-to-offroaders Cherokee the same too. Especially since we’ve been stuck with the Patriot and Compass ever since.

The Big Corrector > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 18:59

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What an extraordinary article, and extremely well-researched. Jalopnik remains ever my favorite blog on Gawker.

Jonee > cdydatzigs 04/22/2015 at 19:27

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That’s funny. That car’s no less weird. Was it a Monza, or a Skyhawk? I’ve always had a thing for that design as well.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 20:22

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All things considered, i’d rather have this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Other-Make…

cdydatzigs > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 20:48

1

It was a Chevy Monza 2+2 in gloss brown. Ours has the white lettering on the tires and actually the car looked pretty slick! Almost like a “Camaro light” haha. I wouldn’t mind owning one now, albeit without that awful 305 smog motor.

Scott Swenson > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 21:00

2

I’ve kinda like the Pacer, I remember the commercial with the chef making a huge sandwich in the back, must be the fat kid in me:). Seriously, it alway amazed me at what AMC pulled off with such small budgets (the SC\Rambler, AMX, Javelin, and my favorite - the Eagle). My ideal Pacer? 304 with Eagle drivetrain:)

dirtfarmer > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 21:00

0

Also, the doors were extremely heavy, you needed both arms to open them from your seat.

TwoToneLoser > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 21:11

0

And it weighed a lot. Ask me how I know!

Dream Theater of the Absurd > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 21:12

0

Interesting. That looks like something Renault might have built during that era.

RunAmock > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 21:35

1

I had a Gremlin, and my buddy had a Pacer. the Pacer had a couple of intersting, forward reaching features. the passenger door was longer than the driver’s door to make getting into the back seat easier. They also integrated the gutters into the door frames with their “aircraft inspired” doors. Every car does this now.

Jonee > RunAmock 04/22/2015 at 21:47

0

That’s true. Those doors were pretty revolutionary.

Birddog > Jonee 04/22/2015 at 23:34

1

How the heck did I miss AMC loving on Oppo? I feel so useless now..

rudyH > Scott Swenson 04/22/2015 at 23:35

1

rudyH > DoglegFirst 04/22/2015 at 23:37

0

I think they did in the introduction commercials but I think it confused people so they played it down leaving it to the sales people to sell.

rudyH > cdydatzigs 04/22/2015 at 23:39

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If you can find it, the Car & Driver guys were literally saying at the time that every other manufacturer should get out of the car business because these cars were so good looking and advanced. At the time, they were considered very good looking but soon, the engineering mistakes started to appear.

TheHondaBro > Jonee 04/23/2015 at 00:23

0

I’m really liking this shape. Am I weird?

Jonee > Birddog 04/23/2015 at 01:48

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the place has gotten busy

Jonee > TheHondaBro 04/23/2015 at 01:50

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nope. don’t worry. perfectly normal to be attracted to something that smooth and round.

steveha > Jonee 04/23/2015 at 04:33

5

I drove a Pacer for 20 years.

As a poor college student, I wanted a spare car as I was certain my very used ‘68 Pontiac Catalina wouldn’t last forever. I wound up buying a used 1976 Pacer for $250 cash. It had a lot wrong with it, but it worked. Over time, as I had money, I paid mechanics to fix and improve things. I was happy to not have a monthly payment I had to make.

I wound up getting a rebuilt engine, new cooling system, all-new brakes, at least one new axle... and I had the interior redone, and the exterior repainted. (The car was silver over maroon when I bought it; I had it repainted silver over charcoal grey and I liked the way it looked.) Partway through this list of repairs, the Catalina died and I started using the Pacer as my only car.

I had some upgrades installed, too. The driver seat came out of some Japanese car in a wrecking yard, and was more adjustable than the original. I had gauges installed (my Pacer had only idiot lights). The dead 8-track player came out and an AM/FM/cassette player went in. I even had a rear defogger grid, rear wiper blade, and third brake light installed on the rear hatch.

It would never have won any drag races but I liked driving it. It handled well.

After two decades of driving, the engine threw a rod. I didn’t really want to pay for another rebuilt engine for a car with such a small resale value, and I was ready to drive something with more modern crash safety features. But I couldn’t find an auto recycler that would take the car for any reason other than to crush it, and I didn’t want to crush it. “Some people still like these, and they’ve stopped making them,” I thought. So I took out an ad in Craig’s List. “Pacer parts car, $60 or best offer. Or, if you want to fix it up so it will drive again, I’ll give it to you for free.”

Within 12 hours I got an email: “Is it still available?” And it was from someone who wanted to fix the car to drive again. His name was Charlie, and he drove a flatbed tow truck for a living. He told me he would do the engine swap himself. He drove over in his tow truck to carry the Pacer away, and he was stunned when he saw the car. “I never thought it would be in such good shape,” he said. “All it needs is an engine,” I said.

But the most amazing part of the story is this: Charlie had a Pacer parts car in his back yard, and it had a perfectly good engine in it. And the reason he had this was that he had built a Pacer hot rod.

He told me that the original script for the movie Wayne’s World 2 had a subplot involving a Pacer hot rod. Some car guys built a Pacer hot rod for use in the movie, but the scene was cut and the car wasn’t needed; so they stripped the engine and other valuable parts from the hot rod, and the car body was left in a recycling yard in the desert (Arizona I think). Charlie found this modified Pacer and decided to build it out into a hot rod. He spent a surprising amount of money on this project... he showed me the photos: really wide rear wheels; square hole in the hood with a chrome supercharger sticking up through it; roof chopped and lowered; beautiful paint job; absolutely not street legal at all ever. Charlie told me that he would load the Pacer hot rod onto his tow truck, drive to a car show, then drive the car a block or so to the show. A very low-mileage car, ridiculous cost per mile.

But that’s why he had a perfectly good Pacer engine in his back yard... the hot rod had some brute of an engine with a supercharger so he didn’t use the AMC engine.

It makes me happy to think my Pacer is probably still out there, still being driven. It served me well and I liked it. And they’ve stopped making them.

Scott Swenson > rudyH 04/23/2015 at 08:48

1

That’s the one!!

AOL'98 > Jonee 04/23/2015 at 09:43

1

Can’t remember the model year but this was my driver’s ed car in high school. I grew up in a very rural area in a small school system without any money, and it was rumored that the brown Pacer was actually an amalgamation of two cars - one that had been wrecked in the front and another that had been wreck in the back. In 1985, this was pretty much the uncoolest thing you could be seen driving, and the only saving grace was that you knew everyone else taking driver’s ed would have to drive it, too. That is until they got a brand new LeBaron less than a month after I finished behind-the-wheel... smh.

Jonee > steveha 04/23/2015 at 12:45

1

Great story. Thanks for making sure that car got saved. There was only one Pacer and they deserve preservation.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > Jonee 04/23/2015 at 19:03

1

Now I’m wondering who’s tried swapping this:

...into this:

How could this not succeed in LeMons?

Jonee > NotUnlessRoundIsFunny 04/23/2015 at 19:14

0

I know. I’ve never heard of someone doing it. I imagine it would be a complicated build, but so worth it. It’s always been on my list of things to do if/when I’m rich and bored.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > Jonee 04/24/2015 at 00:29

1

It would take a lot of effort, and be pretty pointless, but just seems like it needs to be done.

If the LeMons judges didn’t love it, they have no souls. What could be more perfect for LeMons? It should practically be their mascot.

formulka > Jonee 04/24/2015 at 11:10

0

This happens to the poor car when Edd China unleashes his madness.

Old-Busted-Hotness > Jonee 01/23/2016 at 07:01

1

AMC ripped off Aston Martin before Ford did!

Veedriver (wings are for chickens) > TheHondaBro 05/20/2020 at 13:13

0

Ahem...