AMC Pacer

[moribundman]

Yesterday I drove behind a circa 30 year old Pacer and I realized this thing may have been compact, but it was not a compact car; it was HUGE. It looked wider than an S-Class Benz or a Lincoln Towncar! Did my eyes fool me?

 

[BGK]

They do look wide. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the Pacer has one door that is longer than the other. It's the fish bowl of the 70's!

 

[Pablo]

A strange and weird use of "space" to say the least.

 

[moribundman]

The Pacer simply looked out of scale. Like a 1/18 scale model next to a 1/24 scale model, if you know what I mean. With all the glass it must be a real greenhouse. You could grow tomatoes in there.

It has unequal length doors? Reminds me of the Saturn S-Coupe with that extra rear passenger suicide door on the driver's side (!!!).

 

[rriddle3]

Back then cars were size-classed as sub-compact, compact, intermediate, full-size, or luxury. Compared to today's vehicles, what then was an intermediate would now be called a full-size. Yes, the Pacer was called a compact back then.

 

[moribundman]

We had an Austin Allegro in the early '80s. It had a similar shape to the Pacer, but the Austin was really a compact car.

The Pacer is actually 77.3" (1960 mm) wide. That is wider than an S-Class, but less wide than a Towncar. The Pacer is actually still a pretty cool looking vehicle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Pacer

 

[moribundman]

Quote:

---

Yes, the Pacer was called a compact back then.

---

Sure, large cars were real boats at the time. The Buick Estate comes to mind...

I was never fond of the term "compact car," because the term "compact" is not at all about size, but about proportions and efficient utilization of space.

 

[Pablo]

My future wife had an AMC Hornet. My friend had a Gremlin. Lots of folks had Pacers. All were solidified ferts.

The Hornet was at least straightfoward on the eye. But I had to work on it........

Who the khrap named the "Gremlin".....?

 

[tom slick]

the pacer was quite a jewel!

the wiki page on it explains the longer door and spacious feel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Pacer

 

[moribundman]

I hear the Gremlin, being full of gremlins, was appropriately named.

 

[Gary Allan]

It was a Hornet without the trunk. You could get it with a 304 V8 ..which means an upgrade to a 390 would appear transparent ..maybe even a 401

. One local has one tubbed out with a SBC in it. He did want to do the same thing with a Pacer.

Brewster McCloud's guardian angle drove a Gremlin X ..and we all know what happened to him

 

[JHZR2]

Quote:

---

With all the glass it must be a real greenhouse. You could grow tomatoes in there.

---

hmmmm... reminds me of the latest civic...

JMH

 

[rriddle3]

Quote:

---

The Pacer is actually 77.3" (1960 mm) wide. That is wider than an S-Class, but less wide than a Towncar...

---

I remember the AMC TV ads from back then. They would show how a Chevy Vega would fit width-wise inside the Pacer's hatch area. In retrospect, an appropriate pairing of cars, huh?

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

With all the glass it must be a real greenhouse. You could grow tomatoes in there.

---

hmmmm... reminds me of the latest civic...

JMH

---

I'm a Honda nut and I booed you at first at my computer. Then I thought about it.
You're right. There IS a lot of glass on those new ones. I have a 2001 and the 2006 could either be used as a greenhouse or a Dustbuster.

But, the quality is way up on them apparently! I'd drive one.

 

[Axe Man]

My parents had a Pacer. Dude, that thing was just plain UGLY!

First time it went thru a car wash the interior flooded from all the leaks in the window trim.

It had a 3 speed column shifter with electric overdrive. The O/D unit seized up because the factory forgot to install lubricant.

The dealer replaced the O/D unit and while my mother was driving it home the clutch linkage came out of the bell housing! The result was no way to disengage the clutch. I have to hand it to my mother...she knew enough to come to a stop, allow engine to stall in gear, shift it to first, and then hit the starter to bounce the car forward and drive in 1st!

Shortly after that they traded it in.

 

[alreadygone]

P. O. S.

Bob

 

[Auto-Union]

I had a Gremlin as my 1st car. It was awesome. The early ones with the small bumpers are much better than the later ones.

 

[Auto-Union]

 

[Auto-Union]

Look how the model was shrunk to about 4ft tall to make the car look bigger. Pretty primitive. Funny AMC Gremlin/Audi connection was that 1978 saw an Audi 2.0l as an engine option, likely as a mpg model. Good luck with that.

 

[g20ooh]

Not quite .
Actually , it was a cut lenght Matador( compare all three relevant sets of dimensions) intended for a GM sourced Wankel that was never produced .If it had worked out , it was intended to take over the Hornet/Gremlin "slot" .
The Wagon was actually kinda neat - definitely better looking - although impossible to fully cool in bright sunlight and high temps .

#6 was a "Boys I'm Taking Charge Here" to change (read between the lines) - the backend of the 258 I6 (can't remember if the 232 was offered - or for long???)- was buried waaay back - never intended originally for the car .( I helped someone exactly once on this - and she was more than pretty .)

I may have this slightly wrong and I can't remember which body style , but one of them was credited with something like twice the weight as was "average" ( I believe compared to other Domestic intermediate "class") in glass weight .
They were also originally designed to an anticipated impact standard (somewhat like a Fiat X 1/9) that never materialised .
Bottomline : somewhat heavy - although I did know one individual who removed most of the glass , rearranged/removed/replaced a significant amount of metal and was suspected of having installed either a FORD 221-260V8 from who knows where or possibly a BOP 215 - it wasn't AMC or Chrysler .Nobody was allowed to look .