"I didn't know that." AMC Pacer

[Greg Myers]

Here's a great video on the AMC Pacer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcl98aBRkD8 25 min.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Greg Myers

[cobraman]

Interesting. Long but interesting.

[vettecote]

After seeing the video, I want one!...lol...Joe

[Daddyfink]

I want one too!

[Jeff Johnston]

I don't want one. haha They really are a WEIRD looking car...

[unclescott58]

Pretty good documentary. Didn't mind watching it a second time. I had seen it once before. Covers the history of the Pacer and AMC at the time accurately. Makes me wonder, how well MPC/Round 2 did with their Pacer reissue recently? I've always like those weird cars like the Pacer. So I bought one. Painted it with Testor's Aztec Gold One Coat Lacquer. It turned out pretty nice. But, I haven't seen any others built. So it makes me wonder, did it sell?

Scott

[pharoah]

I can't say that I ever wanted one. I remeber the mid 70's well. It was a horrible time for the automakers and the consumer. All the gummint regs and poor quality. Those big,I-beam bumpers didn't help the looks.

I went to technical school from 70 to 72 and half of that time I had to ride in the back of a Gremlin. No fun.

[DrKerry]

My mom had a 77 Pacer X, brown with tan interior!!!!!!!! I'm working on building a replica of it.... AMC's are great!!!!

[unclescott58]

By the way, it would be cool if Round 2 was able to reissue a stock version of AMT's Pacer wagon kit. I believe that kit was modified into a custom only wagon/van thing after the initial run. And did MPC ever offer a Pacer wagon kit? I'm pretty sure they made a promo of the wagon. But, I don't remember a kit.

Scott

[DeeCee]

I had never seen or heard of these things until i saw one at a local car show a couple of weeks ago, i still can't believe somebody would import one all the way to Tasmania though.

[Howard Cohen]

They were different looking cars. I worked at an AMC dealer back in the mid 70s and got to drive a few of them. They were spacious and drove okay but were underpowered, needed a big V8

I didn't watch the video but one problem we had was the rear windows blowing out on a hot sunny day. If the temperature went over 90F, we had to go and open the windows on all the Pacers or the heat buildup would be too much for the goldfish bowl and we would hear 'BANG'! Then we had to clean up the glass and get a new rear window installed. It got to be expensive. We also had a lot of customers who came in with the rear window blown out.

Mechanically, they were not too good, lots of little problems, like leaking rocker cover gaskets, wiper linkages with bad bushings, worn out window regulators due to the over sized windows, hatch hinges and door hinges. But, the owners loved them, they didn't let the repairs ruin their day. I think if AMC had installed a V8, they would have sold better.

I wonder what a modern retro Pacer would look like

[Joe Handley]

This perhaps?

[Daddyfink]

Our neighbor got one back in '76 and we all called it the Moon Car! It was very spacious and looked like a 50/50 bar, orange with a mostly white interior! Can't believe how much people are asking for survivors these day. I remember when they where all over the place and then they just vanished.

A few years ago a guy had a box of AMT Pacers and he could not even give them away! I should have bought a few, but, I passed.

[Greg Myers]

This perhaps?

[unclescott58]

What's the yellow thing. Greg? It looks like something Starbird would have built. Is it?

Scott

[DrKerry]

That is Starbird's "Illusion Pacer" Scott!!

[vintagercr]

They are so ugly they are cute!

[slusher]

I always thought the wagons was kind of cool. i would drive one...

[Danny Lectro]

I had thought of picking up the Round 2 Pacer reissue to build as a post-apocalypse survivor car, but I have enough projects floating around that will never get finished.

[Danny Lectro]

Thanks for posting this, Greg. That was a good, informative video.

[Tom Geiger]

I enjoyed the video. I always thought the Pacer was an interesting car. My friend worked at an AMC dealer at the time so we got to tear around in a few of these. Especially fun with a 4 speed.

It must have been around 1986, I went to the Englishtown, NJ car show and a guy had a red wagon for sale. It was the early model with the lower hood (I don't like the look of the higher hood). It had a black interior, 4 speed, a/c and wheels on it. I remember miles being around 60k and the price was $1500. I took the guy's number and told him I'd call that week. I lost the paper!

I wouldn't mind having that car today!

[Mark]

They were different looking cars. I worked at an AMC dealer back in the mid 70s and got to drive a few of them. They were spacious and drove okay but were underpowered, needed a big V8

I didn't watch the video but one problem we had was the rear windows blowing out on a hot sunny day. If the temperature went over 90F, we had to go and open the windows on all the Pacers or the heat buildup would be too much for the goldfish bowl and we would hear 'BANG'! Then we had to clean up the glass and get a new rear window installed. It got to be expensive. We also had a lot of customers who came in with the rear window blown out.

Mechanically, they were not too good, lots of little problems, like leaking rocker cover gaskets, wiper linkages with bad bushings, worn out window regulators due to the over sized windows, hatch hinges and door hinges. But, the owners loved them, they didn't let the repairs ruin their day. I think if AMC had installed a V8, they would have sold better.

I wonder what a modern retro Pacer would look like

I had the rear hatch glass blow out on my Spirit liftback, in the early Eighties. I later learned that it was often caused by a difference in temperature between the outside and inside of the car; as in the temp suddenly drops on a hot day, and the interior of the car remains hot. I wasn't home when it happened, so I didn't see it firsthand. It happened a couple of weeks before Christmas; that day was unusually warm but the temp did drop quickly at mid-day.

I bought my Spirit new in '79; by then Pacer sales had fallen off considerably. When I was car shopping, I visited most of the AMC dealers in the area. Most only stocked one Pacer at a time, usually a wagon. Most of the people buying them by then were repeat customers, usually trading in a Pacer. I drove a well-used one as a loaner once; the ride and handling were decent but the car was slow. A/C was a must, and mine didn't have it. They did offer the V8 in '78 and '79; that's partly why the higher hood was used.

The Pacer was the type of thing GM could afford to build, but AMC couldn't. The resources spent on it and the Matador coupe came at the expense of updates that the Hornet, Gremlin, and Matador sedan/wagon did not get. In the end, AMC was too small to ultimately survive, but maybe they could have gone into a merger with another company in better shape.

[unclescott58]

Okay I knew it would come up. Mark mentioned Pacer getting the V-8 and that being the reason for the higher hood on the on the 78's. This is a common car myth. It's basically a coincidence that they both came out at the same time. As noted the Pacer's weight really called out for a V-8. There where AMC dealers, particularly one in Phoenix, Arizona who started putting V-8s in Pacers almost right away in 1975. Now people will tell you that the Pacer got the higher hood in '78 to clear the V-8 or its need for a larger radiator to cool the V-8. Let's look at some facts. V-8s tend to be shorter in length and even height compared to most straight sixes. The dealer in Phoenix, a fairly hot part of the country, was putting AMC 401s and the required cooling system in Pacers with no modifications to exterior sheet metal. And the cars were fine. The real reason for the new hood was to give the car a new look. A more conventional look.

 

And by the way Mark, I'm not picking on you personally on this one. The V-8, high hood connection is a common myth you'll hear from a lot of fairly knowledgeable car guys. Once these myths, and not just the Pacer hood one, get started, people tend to run with them. Like with the V-8 and hood change. Until you really think about it and check out the facts, it makes some sense. So your not alone on this one.

 

Scott

Edited March 21, 2016 by unclescott58

[Joe Handley]

That whole V-8=high hood made no sense to me either. Between, my Parents, Sister, and Myself, we've had four 4.0l XJs and a 4.0l ZJ and those I-6's are long, tall, and HEAVY engines!

[Mark]

Six cylinder Pacers used a crossflow radiator, while V8 Pacers used a downflow (vertical) radiator, which would probably not have fit under the early style hood.