Unleash The Beast

From: Subject: Unleash The Beast Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:15:35 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_008B_01C7EAE6.52A262E0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3138 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_008B_01C7EAE6.52A262E0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://web.archive.org/web/20030822120554/www.classic-american.com/features/pacer/pacer.html =EF=BB=BF Unleash The Beast

AMC's answer to the fuel crisis of the = Seventies=20 was the bizarrely styled Pacer - the second most = controversial=20 American car of all time after Ford's Edsel. MARK WILSON = tracks down=20 probably the finest example in the UK.

Photography: = Mike=20 Key

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If ever an American car has been = ridiculed=20 over the years, it's the infamous AMC Pacer. People have = mocked its=20 bulging, rounded styling, its greenhouse-style massive areas = of=20 glass, its odd-sized doors and its failure to take America = by storm.=20 Some laughed when it appeared in 1975 and they're still = laughing=20 now. The controversy that surrounds American Motor = Corporation's=20 most bizarre compact car is still alive and kicking, even = after=20 nearly three decades.

It's all a bit of a shame, you = know.=20 The idea behind the Pacer was a good one, and showed a great = deal of=20 intelligent prophesying on the part of AMC. A clay model of = the=20 Pacer was built as early as 1971, before the fuel crisis bit = hard=20 and before the flood of Japanese imports that so shocked the = rest of=20 the American motor industry. Created by AMC chief stylist = Richard=20 Teague, the Pacer clay model spent much of 1972 being = displayed at=20 'customer clinics' (a fairly new idea back then) to gauge = public=20 reaction. Interestingly, the Pacer still made it into = production -=20 although not until 1975, by which time its specification had = altered=20 significantly.

The four long years between the first = clay=20 model being created and the first production Pacer rolling = off the=20 line saw massive changes in American car buyers' habits. = Fuel prices=20 were rocketing, supplies were limited and, for the first = time ever,=20 American drivers became aware of the importance of economy. = By the=20 time the Pacer actually hit the streets though, large = numbers of=20 neatly styled Japanese 'econoboxes' were proving a big hit = in the=20 States - and alongside those, the bizarre looking Pacer was = a shock=20 to the system.

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Still, at least AMC = had the luxury=20 of having spent time developing their own compact car. = Chrysler, by=20 comparison, were caught out by the fuel crisis and, in = desperation,=20 ended up launching an American-spec version of Britain's = Hillman=20 Avenger, going by the name of Plymouth Cricket. Now that = really was=20 a bad decision =EF=BF=BD The AMC Pacer is still considered = one of the=20 weirdest looking cars ever to come out of America. And yet = despite=20 the shock of its looks upon its launch in '75, the Pacer was = a=20 revolution in some ways - and very much ahead of its time. = Even so,=20 the specification was 'diluted' compared with what was = originally=20 intended. Richard Teague had planned a car with front-wheel = drive=20 and a rotary engine, which was to be supplied by General = Motors. The=20 problem was that GM wasn't able to make an engine that was = efficient=20 enough in terms of fuel consumption and, in the middle of an = oil=20 crisis, economy was top of the list of requirements.=20

Development of the rotary engine was axed in 1974, = leaving=20 AMC without a powerplant for the Pacer. A major problem. = This caught=20 AMC on the hop, leaving it with only one real option. The = Pacer was=20 too far down the line to be junked, and so it was modified = to accept=20 American Motors' tried and tested 3.8-litre straight-six = engine and=20 rear-wheel drive. Fitting this into a car designed from the = start to=20 be front wheel drive meant AMC had to fit a solid rear axle = and leaf=20 springs, relocate the fuel tank into the boot (losing = valuable=20 storage space), fit a driveshaft front to rear and so on. To = add a=20 driveshaft to this design was no easy task; in fact the body = of the=20 Pacer had to be widened by six inches. Later AMC would use = this as a=20 plus point in advertising, saying 'If you want to ride like = a Pacer,=20 you've got to be wide like a Pacer'.

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