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Automotive atrocities : AMC Pacer
By Yoann Besnard on 18 July 2005 | 
(1) Comments | Permalink
AMC Pacer is the iconic car of the 70s, which defines the era even more than a Bee Gees track or the Farrah Fawcet hairstyle. In fact, dressing as Farrah Fawcet and listening to a Bee Gees track while driving a Pacer with wood panels to go to your job was perhaps the ultimate 70s experience.
AMC had intended great things for the Pacer. It was supposed to have been powered by a small rotary engine rather than a conventional, heavy, fuel-thirsty piston engine tied into a compact front wheel drive to save weight and allow for the maximization of interior space. The whole car was built around this idea. But AMC made the mistake of trusting General Motors to supply the rotary engine. At the last minute General Motors abruptly dropped the intended rotary engine and what was to have been the heart of the car was replaced by an in-line six engine that dated to the 50s. As a result the only thing modern or innovative about the car when it hit the showroom was its original bodywork. Unusually, the passenger side door was four inches longer than the driver’s side door. Nearly 40 percent of the Pacer’s exterior surface was glass. This was a good idea for great visibility, but also let the sun bake the interior to infernal temperatures that caused early fissures and cracks in the dashboard and even with the expensive air conditioner option, the interior was not livable on summer days.
Talking about an economic car is a heresy because the old in-line six with 90 HP had a hard life with the 3,500-pound Pacer. With great generosity, AMC provided a sporty option that delivered 95 HP. Later, the Pacer was equipped with no more than 125 horsepower thanks to a V8. Due to poor sales, AMC introduced a wagon but only 1,341 coupes and 305 wagons were sold the last year in 1980. Iconic car of the 70s, the Pacer is a symbol of the American automotive industry's utter confusion in the face of new changes and competition from the Japanese.
Comments
Posted by: Jack Yan | Jul 27, 2005 2:20:57 PM
I recall from a Motor road test that the Pacer, the worst car it had tested since the magazine began in 1903, was wider than a Rolls-Royce yet had less interior room than an Austin Maxi. After the GM engine fiasco, it was in reality an abbreviated full-size American car with inches cut from the wheelbase: a quick way to create a so-called compact with ancient engineering. Similar laughs go to overweight Fords, the Dodge Charger SE with nothing "charging" about it, the slanted rear end of the '78 Buick Century, and the bustle back of the '80 Cadillac Seville, all of which beg the question: why?
