curious little video on the AMC Pacer

[Rick in PA]

I came across this video, ostensibly about the Pacer but it had a lot of information about the AMC years.



I actually drove one, once. It drove OK as I remember. As a young fellow, I took a job at an AMC dealership, I was going to be the gofer boy, but I was also looking for other work at the time. I remember the service manager was a nice fellow. At one point in the day the oil change technician joked with me about working up to doing oil changes, I didn't say a word, but my capabilities were pretty well beyond just oil changes at that time. Later in the day, we had to take a Pacer somewhere down in the city, a salesman and I. I got to drive the Pacer. On the return trip the salesman said something about needing directions or something and stopped to ask directions... at a bar. The Recovery Room Taproom (across from a hospital, I kid you not). After a bit of time, I had to go in and retrieve him so we could be on our way again. The day ended and I went home. That night, I got a call offering me a decent factory job, which I accepted. I called the service manager and explained, he was reasonable about it. I worked there for all of one day, but it was an interesting day...

 

[Mike242GT]

Nicely done video, worth watching, thanks for the link. My g/f in grad school had one of those. It was a nice enough car to drive and ride in, but I swear you could hear it rusting. And it got rotten mileage too, well under 20 mpg while my Datsun 510 was getting well over 30 mpg.

 

[Nickdfresh]

I watched it the other day. My father had a 1977 Pacer, and I recall laying in the back of it under the dome as a child as if it were some sort of planetarium. And yes, he complained about the mileage as he bought it thinking of it as an economical V6 for commuting to a neighboring city for work. Boy was he wrong.

But overall it was a good car until he traded it in on a 1981 Buick Skylark...

 

[flanso]

And then there's this Pacer:
http://bringatrailer.com/2014/09/25/muscle-hatch-4015-speed-1978-amc-pacer/

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Interesting video. I remember the AMC days well. My mothers' sister (my aunt) had a maroon Matador that I well remember. I drove a Pacer a time or two, and once owned a Gremlin. Given the time, they were actually decent cars.

 

[Schmoe]

I actually watched that yesterday. Didn't know the Pacer was designed for the rotary engine.....that thing would have been a screamer if it would have gotten a 1.2 or the 1.3 installed in it. Seems they just had a rash of bad luck and terrible timing. That and the one thing that puzzled me was they had a competitor, GM, help them design the rotary engine and then at last minute said they couldn't do it.....hmmmmmmm

 

[dlundblad]

Cool video. The brother and I just saw a Pacer last summer at a small car show in town. The guy showed it to us and started it up. He said my lawn mower was probably faster. Ugly cars, but definitely nostalgic.

The AMC Javelin is a pretty awesome car too. My dad showed me the first AMC eagle I ever saw.. It was sitting on the ground at a junkyard. While I was a freshman in college, I saw a kid driving one. I ran into him later that semester and come to find out he had 2! The following fall I ran into him at a Jeep get together, but they didn't let him participate because well.. it wasn't a Jeep. Lol. I haven't seen the car since so maybe it has since been replaced.

 

[rjundi]

I grew up an AMC Eagle as my parents found 1980's Subaru too tiny.

With the Jeep I6 4.2 my parents got 250k out of it before they got sick of everything electrical broken including heater fan(vent blew for defroster if moving), windshield wipers, lights, radio, etc. I believe a Jeep CJ-7 owner purchased for the engine.

It ingrained in me that any car can last 200k miles at least as long as you care for it and drive easy. Irrelevant to brand or country of manufacture.

In my life parents only had 1980 AMC Eagle>1988 GMC Suburaban>2000 Forester(still have)>2015 Outback(recent).

 

[gman2304]

I often see an old AMC Eagle sitting beside an old cinder block building out in the country near my house, with weeds growing around it. It still looks cool and I dare not stop to inquire about it.

 

[FocusTi]

There was a time in my life when I lived in Wyoming that I would've loved an Eagle....preferably the 2-door hatch. Decent power, decent looks and it got around really well in snow. REALLY soft suspension with lots of travel, so it wasn't much fun when it came time to take a corner, but it was big fun passing everyone when the snow got deep. A friend of the family bought one in the 80s and she sunk her nails into that car and refused to let her husband sell it until it became impossible to maintain it anymore. There was nothing else like it at the time except Audi and she loved it. She was out driving around in the snow when everyone else who drove regular cars were stuck at home.

 

[Win]

The Javelin was a nice looking car, as was the AMX.

The Gremlin could be had with the 304 V-8, as best I recall.

Never cared much for the Pacer or the Matador. Can't recall the last time I saw either of those on the road, or a Javelin.

Last AMX I saw wasn't on the road - it was embedded in a building I own. It had ran off the road, jumped a small retaining wall, and ran into the building, after being slowed down by a couple of package a/c units.

Pretty sturdy car.

 

[KitaCam]

The Pacer was the Corvair of the 70s...Icons of their time...and they still evoke passion among their fans...of which I'm one...of BOTH

 

[BHopkins]

I remember the Pacer. I remember the older sister of twins that lived around the corner from me, owned one back in the early '70's. Talk about ugly. We nick named the Pacer the Pregnant Guppy. That name still seems appropriate for them.

Other than the Javelin, AMC never did figure out how to make an attractive car. Even the Eagle, which was kind of cool on many ways, looked pretty goofy.

 

[ls1mike]

Cool video! Thanks for sharing. I remember growing up seeing a lot of AMC Eagles in Upstate New York.

 

[Propflux01]

Some friend of mine had a AMC Concorde DL. Wasn't a bad riding little car, IIRC it had a straight six in it.

 

[rjundi]

AMC was very ahead of its time many times over. They had to be as a small company. Incredible acquisition by Chrysler and beyond Jeep, taught the big three a few things like outsourcing certain parts and operation management. I actually did a paper on them in college.