Auto Classifieds | Classic Cars for Sale | Classifieds

=20

Home Classifieds =

Cars for=20 Sale Dealer=20 Listings Dealer=20 Showroom Cars=20 Wanted Parts for=20 Sale Parts=20 Wanted Services=20 Offered Books=20 & Literature Supplies=20 for Sale see all=20 categories Place a=20 Classified Place an=20 Event Ad

My Hemmings

My Owner's = Profile Browse = Owner's=20 Rides Browse Owner's=20 Stories Browse=20 Owner's Photo Galleries Most Recent = Submissions Hemmings=20 Wallpaper=20

Publications=20

Subscribe Hemmings=20 Motor News Hemmings=20 Muscle Machines Hemmings=20 Classic Car Hemmings=20 Sports & Exotic Car Newsstand = Locator Search Archive = Browse=20 Archive Publication=20 Indexes Hemmings = Auto=20 Blogs

Research=20

Car Locator = Parts = Locator MG = Project=20 Buying Tips=20 Restoration=20 Tips Price=20 Guides Hobby=20 Directory Forums=20

Store

Browse Store New = Products Best = Sellers=20 Gifts = &=20 Gadgets 2008=20 Calendars Books = Die-Casts Clothing Back = Issues=20 Porcelain=20 Signs Hemmings=20 Wallpaper

Directory=20

Dealers Clubs Museums Catalog=20 Directory

Forums = Downloads=20

Wallpaper=20 Videos=20

About=20 Us

About Hemmings = Advertising = Info Report a = Dispute Contact Us Help/FAQS Visit = Us=20

Search = All=20 Classifieds

Members: Log=20 in | New User? Register =20

FEATURE ARTICLE from Hemmings Classic Car

Home>Contents

American Motors' Pacer

Hemmings Classic Car - MARCH 1, 2005 = - BY PATRICK=20 FOSTER

Print=20 This Article

A=20 Piece of Tomorrow=20

When it was first introduced, the automotive press loved = it.=20 Then, within a short time, they hated it. Now, collectors = are=20 beating the bushes looking for pristine original or good = restorable=20 examples. No doubt about it, AMC's Pacer has had a = remarkable ride=20 these past three decades.

To understand how such an unusual car came to be (and = let's face=20 it, few cars of the modern era are weirder than a Pacer), = you have=20 to understand what the automobile business went through in = the=20 1970s. The long list of independent American = automakers-Packard,=20 Crosley, Studebaker, etc.-had withered over time until, by = 1970,=20 only American Motors remained. AMC had prospered by offering = products that were different from what the Big Three = automakers=20 sold. Then in the 1960s, AMC president Roy Abernethy changed = AMC's=20 course for a while, offering cars designed to compete = directly=20 against the Big Three. The result was disaster, and by 1967, = AMC was=20 close to bankruptcy. After a leadership change, the company=20 survived, but out of the ordeal grew a strong commitment to = a=20 product policy AMC called its "Philosophy of Difference." =

Basically, this said that AMC should build cars that were = different from the Big Three-otherwise, why should anybody = purchase=20 an AMC versus, say, an Oldsmobile? A big part of Rambler's = success=20 was that it was the first compact car. The Hornet Sportabout = was a=20 great seller because it was America's only compact station = wagon,=20 and the Ambassador was the only car with standard air = conditioning.=20 In each of these cases, being different was the key to = success. So=20 when the time came to introduce another new car, AMC's = management=20 and product planners had plenty of faith in their Philosophy = of=20 Difference.

In charge of planning was product group vice president = Gerald=20 Meyers. His goal was to develop a car that was truly unique, = so=20 obviously right for the times that buyers would flock to AMC = showrooms. Said Meyers, "Everything that we do must = distinguish=20 itself as being importantly different than what can be = expected from=20 the competition. Otherwise there would be very little reason = for=20 somebody to consider American Motors products.... 'Me too' = is wrong=20 for American Motors."

AMC had brought out America's first compact car, the = Rambler;=20 America's first hardtop station wagon, the 1956 Rambler = Cross=20 Country; and America's first subcompact, the Gremlin. For = 1975, they=20 decided to bring out America's first... er...wide small car, = the=20 Pacer. So you might wonder-why?

Meyers and his product planners considered the = environment that=20 people lived and drove in. " We saw the Megalopolis-these = urban=20 sprawls that extend from Los Angeles to San Diego with no = break. And=20 congestion, pollution, noise, energy shortages. From this we = began=20 to piece together the key ingredients for the Pacer. It = wasn't going=20 to be just another car but a whole new method of = transportation for=20 the next decade."

The assignment to design this new transportation device = was given=20 to the Advanced Styling studio under Chuck Mashigan. = Envisioned was=20 a car with exterior dimensions small enough to be able to = zip in and=20 out of traffic easily, yet with as much interior room as an=20 intermediate-size car. In other words, the interior size of = a Chevy=20 Malibu with the exterior size of a Vega. Of course, it had = to have=20 beautiful styling too. It was a tall order.

Mashigan's crew was up to the job. A 100-inch = wheelbase-same as=20 the original Rambler-was settled on. Experience showed it = would=20 provide sufficiently comfortable interior space for a = family. To=20 achieve the very compact exterior dimensions called for, the = Pacer=20 would have to discard conventional ideas of design = proportions,=20 i.e., the length of the hood compared to the size of the = main body.=20 The large cabin area would be mated to a very short, = severely sloped=20 front end.

But the key to the Pacer's interior roominess was its = width. Car=20 manufacturers traditionally keep vehicle width to the = minimum needed=20 for the intended market. Although length is a car's longest=20 dimension, increasing width adds considerably more to = material=20 expense because it runs the entire length of the car. In = other=20 words, one inch of width times fifteen feet of length equals = a big=20 increase in costs. But width is also one of the most = important ways=20 to give cars a real improvement in interior room as well as = a=20 feeling of much greater spaciousness. Designers know that = one extra=20 half-inch of width can make a car seem very much roomier. = Keeping=20 that in mind, understand that the Pacer's overall width of = 77 inches=20 was 3 inches greater than a Ford Granada, 5.3 inches more = than a=20 Plymouth Duster, and nearly a foot wider than Chevrolet's = Vega! AMC=20 actually parked a Chevy Nova inside a fiberglass replica of = a Pacer=20 body shell to dramatize the Pacer's extreme width.

Yet the Pacer's overall length was a mere 171.5 = inches-more than=20 two feet shorter than a Ford Granada-and that included huge=20 free-standing safety bumpers. Conventional thinking was = discarded as=20 designers also specified asymmetrical doors-the = passenger-side door=20 was four inches longer than the driver's-side door, for = easier=20 access to the rear seat. Both doors curved into the roof for = even=20 greater ease of entry. The rear hatchback door opened up to = reveal a=20 large luggage area, which could be expanded by folding the = rear seat=20 down. Equipped with a standard 90hp, 232-cu.in. straight-six = engine,=20 the Pacer was a trifle underpowered, but a larger 95hp, = 258-cu.in.=20 straight-six (also with a one-barrel carb) was offered. = Mid-year=20 brought a two-barrel, 120hp version of the 258-cu.in. six, = which=20 provided more adequate go. The unusually large 22-gallon gas = tank=20 assured an over 500-mile highway range in that fuel-short = era. The=20 Pacer was also the first AMC car to feature rack-and-pinion=20 steering. This, combined with Pacer's wide stance, made for = a car=20 with exceptionally good handling, and an isolated front = crossmember=20 helped provide a smooth, quiet ride.

Visibility was astonishing. The Pacer boasted one of the = largest=20 window areas in the business, 5,615 square inches, and a = very low=20 belt line. In fact, the belt line was so low that the door = windows=20 could not roll down fully-a raised door panel was fitted so=20 passengers didn't have to rest their arms on the edge of the = door=20 glass.

Development costs were high, $60 million, or five times = what AMC=20 had spent developing the Gremlin. The new Pacer was = introduced to=20 the public in February and March 1975. American Motors = bragged,=20 "When you buy any other car, all you end up with is today's = car.=20 When you get a Pacer, you get a piece of tomorrow."

Pacer came in three models-base, sporty X and luxury D/L. = Base=20 models, beginning at $3,299, were really plain, with = dog-dish=20 hubcaps, bench seats, and cheap interior trim, but the = upgraded=20 models were really nice. The X package added $339, while the = D/L was=20 only $289 extra. A three-speed manual transmission was = standard,=20 with overdrive or automatic optional.

But it was the styling that everyone talked about! Pacer = was=20 completely different from anything else on the road, with = body=20 proportions that at first were difficult for the brain to = absorb. It=20 was sleek, it was audacious, it looked like the car of the = future.=20 The automotive press loved it. Car and Driver = magazine=20 called it "...our first real urban transporter." Motor=20 Trend declared, "Suddenly it's 1980," and called Pacer = "...the=20 freshest, most creative, most people-oriented auto to be = born in the=20 U.S. in 15 years." A later issue described Pacer as "...one = of the=20 most comfortable four-passenger cars around." Small = Cars=20 magazine said of the press preview, "Unlike some unveilings, = there=20 were no cheers or applause from the gallery. There didn't = have to=20 be. Silent admiration was an obvious reaction...the = knowledgeable=20 product writers knew without being told that they were = privileged to=20 be there to see something new in automobile design."

The public loved it too, and Pacer became AMC's fastest = selling=20 new car ever. The auto industry was heading into a major = downturn in=20 1975, caused by a gas crisis and inflation, but Pacer = managed to=20 turn things around for AMC.

The biggest complaint made by the press was the lack of a = manual=20 four-speed transmission option, but AMC introduced one in = April=20 1976. However, for all the good feelings about the new car, = by=20 mid-1976, Pacer sales began to falter.

There were problems. The Pacer was viewed as a small car = but its=20 gas mileage, roughly 16 to 20 mpg, wasn't as great as many = people=20 expected. Its width made it harder to park than other small = cars,=20 and its acceleration was never a strong point-a Pacer = equipped with=20 the 95hp straight-six was clocked at 0 to 60 mph in 14.7 = seconds.=20 Road Test magazine went so far as to describe Pacer as "...a = sort of=20 Sophia Loren body with a cleaning lady's character and = performance."=20

All of this was the result of a fundamental problem with = the=20 Pacer's design-the car was too darn heavy. All that width = added=20 weight. In addition, at the time the Pacer was being = designed, new=20 federal safety rules were being debated. Not knowing how = stringent=20 the new rules might be, AMC decided to engineer in extra = body=20 reinforcements, making it very sturdy but also heavy-about = 3,200 to=20 3,400 pounds for an average-equipped car. Too, the Pacer had = been=20 planned around a lighter, more powerful GM-built Wankel = rotary=20 engine. When the General canceled that program, AMC had to = scramble=20 to stuff its existing heavy straight-sixes into Pacer's = smallish=20 engine bay. They fit, barely, but it was not what the Pacer = was=20 designed for.

A great-looking station wagon version debuted for 1977, = and that=20 helped to prop up sales for a while. A front-end restyling = for 1978=20 plus the addition of an optional 304-cu.in.

V-8 should have re-ignited sales, but they didn't. By = now, the=20 press had turned against the Pacer and were badmouthing its = lack of=20 power and performance.

For a while, there was a chance that a new Pacer would = appear.=20 AMC showed an idea car named Concept II that looked like a = smaller,=20 lighter Pacer. Vice president of design Dick Teague also = talked=20 about a new four-door version of the existing Pacer and even = mentioned a taxi version, but it was all for naught. Sales = continued=20 to fall for 1979, by which point it was obvious what Pacer's = fate=20 would be.

The AMC Pacer came to the end of the road in December = 1979, after=20 a small run of 1980 models had been produced. In all, over = 350,000=20 Pacers were built in its short six-model-year run. At one = time, they=20 had been a piece of the future, but that future was over. =

This article originally appeared in the MARCH 1, 2005 = issue of=20 Hemmings Classic Car.
= Order=20 Backissues of Hemmings Classic Car Here.=20

1281183