WOW (OT)

As of when "The Autocar" turned 100, years old, the Pacer had the worst rating of any car ever built (conmpared to the othr cars of it's time.) I think that having the smaller door on the passenger side didn't help.

Karl

Dan wrote:

As Pacers go it's a very nice one. They actually were very quiet and smooth driving caes. They had a sub-frame in the front that was very well isolated from the unit body. I don't understand the money paid for it unless there were a couple of museums looking for a rare AMC for their collection. I would have been surprised at half the price of the winning bid. But after all it is the "DL version".

Ernie

There is something disturbingly appealing about that car, althogh I'd rather have a Gremlin. (how about a Levis Gremlin X with the 232 replaced with a Jeep 4.0... look out Mustangs!)

Jeff DeWitt

Dan wrote:

>

>

>

Karl

I am wondering..."Autocar" is a British magazine, right? Pacers in the UK would have had RHD, correct? Then the smaller door would have been on the "passenger side" on the left.

Jim Bartley > The smaller door was on the DRIVER side, Karl....

10 years or so ago my grandmother sold one of those when she finally quit driving. It was in mint condition and even had woodgrain paneling on the side.

One of the ugliest cars I've ever seen--wish I had it now.

Mark

65 Cruiser wrote:

>

I had a '76 Gremlin with the 2 bbl 258 and that car didn't wait for anyone. Best mileage though was about 18 mpg...

JT

Yep, that's it.

I rented one once. ONCE!!!

Karl

If it had woodgrain on the sides, it was no doubt the wagon version in 'Limited' trim. The only Pacer model I like is the wagon, with the squared off roofline and slightly longer length. The 'best' Pacer to have in my opinion is a '79 wagon in Limited trim, without the woodgrain sides. With the top-of-the-line Matador being dropped from the catalog for '79, the Pacer Limited bacame AMC's flagship car, and all the interior trimmings and previously unavailable options like power windows could be ordered. And 1979 was the last year for a V8 in them. What AMC should have done was made a cargo/panel delivery version of that wagon, possibly with 'barn doors' instead of that heavy tailgate. They did have a few concept drawings of one at the time. It probably would have sold rather well in the small courier market.

Craig.

Yep, I believe the Pacer was designed to use the GM rotary engine and FWD transaxle. AMC was too far into the project to kill it when GM scrapped the rotary so they converted it to use a conventional drivetrain. That might also explain the subframe in the front.

"Pacer, The Wide Small Car"

Jeff DeWitt

S2DSteve wrote: