Trumpeted as small but wide, the Pacer from American Motors was certainly one of the more unusual American cars of the ’70s, but the wide/small trend failed to stick.
Introduced in February of 1975, the Pacer from American Motors was the first example of a wide, small vehicle package in the auto industry, and as things turned out, it was the last and only one. (See our feature here.) The Pacer concept was developed by a product management team led by Gerald C. Myers, which in late 1971 picked the novel vehicle format from a list of 36 candidates. It was the classic AMC product strategy: searching out new genres and markets to stay out of the way of the much larger Detroit three.
With its $60 million development budget, a fortune for tiny AMC, the Pacer saw a number of twists and turns on its way to production. Originally envisioned as a low, sporty coupe called the Amigo, it grew a tall greenhouse —37 percent of the body area was glass—and an oversized B-pillar to meet proposed government rollover standards. The stubby nose was intended to house a Wankel rotary engine from General Motors, but when GM cancelled the program at the 11th hour, AMC’s trusty 232 and 258 CID inline sixes were substituted, with the rear portion of the engine tucked under the windshield.
Still, the original premise of the Pacer was preserved: It was small and it was wide. At just 171.5 inches long, it was three inches shorter than a Chevrolet Vega, while its width was nearly identical to a Chevy Malibu at 77 inches. The automotive press was intrigued by the unique packaging. William Jeanes of Car and Driver wrote that this new AMC was “a small car for people who don’t think they like small cars.” However, Road & Track drew a different conclusion, deciding that the Pacer was actually a big, short car.
The front of the cabin was indeed as roomy as most any full-sized car, and nicely trimmed out on the deluxe models (in 1979 the upmarket DL became the base model). The two large doors, with the right four inches longer than the left, allowed easy entry and exit. The rear seat could at least accommodate adults in a dignified manner, while the hatchback cargo area offered nearly 30 cubic feet of utility space. AMC engineers did an admirable job managing the stumpy 100-inch wheelbase, providing close to a big-car ride, though there were road-test reports of rear wheel lockup under heavy braking.
From the ’75 introduction, AMC continued to modestly improve and expand the Pacer line. In 1977 a station wagon was introduced, which provided 60 percent more cargo volume while altering the silhouette surprisingly little. In ’78 the 304 cubic-inch V8 became available, and in that same year a classic-ish front grille was added to make the Pacer look slightly more conventional. It didn’t seem to help.
What we remember of the Pacer is that the people who bought them loved them. Many Pacer households owned more than one. Of course, these buyers had self-selected as folks who weren’t at all put off by the peculiar fishbowl styling. As often said, from the driver’s seat you can’t see the outside. But most Americans never warmed up to it, nor were they impressed, apparently, by the advantages of the creative packaging.
Sales were brisk at the beginning, peaking at 117,000 in 1976, but then quickly tapered off: 10,000 in 1979 and a measly 1,746 cars in 1980 as the demand was exhausted. That was the end of the Pacer, and the end of the wide/small format in the Motor City, too. AMC Chairman Roy D. Chapin Jr. described the Pacer as “today versus tomorrow,” but its tomorrow never came.
I knew someone who had one by the time that they had developed a cult following and she enjoyed it. The revised grille was unfortunate, tho.
Indeed, I hate to say it but that grille looks like it had a harelip.
The wagon pulls it off better than the coupe imo. Same thing with the last, square-fronted Pintos.
Who says car buying consumers are rational? If they were, we’d have lots of wide/small cars on the road. But with Chrysler’s Airflow and others that followed, it’s been proven that a different car will be an unsuccessful car. Once initial sales are over, so is the game. Sad but true.
Seems like a hard sell when AMC already had the Hornet and Gremlin, but being the master of small cars was not a bad market position. Especially at that point in time. I had no issues with the concept and probably would have bought the wagon if I had “new car money” then.
The Wankel would have improved the concept but GM was right to cancel it. The gas crunch nearly took down Mazda because of the engine’s thirst. The engine still has it’s faults fifty years later. But as a result of the loss of the Wankel, the car needed more cooling for the V8 and I agree that the revised grille was not an improvement.
AMC tried really hard to stay relevant and thought out of the box. I don’t feel the same can be said of Chrysler currently.
had one I bought used for $200 in 1983 and it was in really nice shape, I liked it just fine but the steering rack was leaking and I was offered $700 which I grabbed and used to buy a dilapidated AMX
Excellent! Party time,, whoo, whoo, whoo, I realize a cheap shot, but there’s nothing like being featured in a hit Hollywood movie or song to be remembered for the ages. Think GTO,,409, etc. It’s not easy growing up in a city known for , um, unusual cars. The butt of all jokes, we were, far and wide. In MilwauKenosha, we saw it differently. Let’s stop dancing around the obvious, the 70s-80s were heavily influenced by the counter culture, aka, hippies. While the others dabbled some, with paisley roofs, AMC was bold enough to actually market unusual cars. Some took, most didn’t. It’s been mentioned, these cars were made by my neighbors and friends and were very concerned about pride. It didn’t matter what came down the line, wasn’t their concern. They were well built cars because of that, until the Alliance, that is.
HOWEVER,,,,as usual, I feel the AMC staff grossly underestimated what the rest of the world wanted, and since hippies generally didn’t buy a lot of cars, their ideas went flat in a hurry.
AMC and Pacers in particular, aside from Gremlin, were pretty much a regional make. In all my travels, I rarely saw Pacers outside of the Midwest, and believe me, I would have noticed one. Perhaps many locals bought a Pacer out of pity, but found out what great cars they were. I know several folks that would have easily bought another, but by the time the 1st one was toast, they were unavailable. They come out of the garages from time to time, with every passing estate sale,,and I’d love to have one. Party on, MCG,,,
Did you ever get out of the Midwest? I’m from right outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, & besides the 2 late 50s Rambler wagons my dad had over the years, my brother-in-law had a Matador, I knew someone who bought one of the first Pacers, as well as knowing people that owmed Javelins, Gremlins, Hornets, & one AMX 2 seater. Our town had an AMC dealer for years. AMCs were a common sight around there, relative to their market share, of course.
As for the ‘hippies’ having any influence on the things you mentioned; by 1975, what ‘hippies’ were left? AMC, along with everyone else selling anything, went after the ‘youth market’, the boomers from 1946-1964, ‘hippies’ or not. That’s where the money was & was going to be for several years, so that’s the market they went after. Common sense. That’s where the Mustang, Camaro, etc. came from, it had nothing to do with ‘hippies’, unless you think that every boomer was also somehow a ‘hippie’. Considering the 18 year disparity between the first boomers & the last, it’s impossible for them all to have been ‘hippies”.
Having bern around enough AMC products in my time,& vaving actually worked in vehicle manufacturing for several decades, I can say that the pride may cave been there, but it didn’t translate to quality. Absolute worst built cars I ever saw, rode in, or drove & this was in the ‘malaise era’.
My sister acquired a new 75 Pacer as part of a divorce settlement. It was gold with a Navaho themed interior. Nice ride but dog slow with the six. But like all AMC’s of the time reliable as the sunrise. We called it the egg.
My sister had ’76. She let me use it for a week. It was surprisingly nice compared to the Vega and Pinto, especially when making a thousand mile road trip. I am a form following function type of guy and the Pacer was all of that. A neighbor had one in the late ’80’s, he stuffed a 401 in it, kept the outside appearance the stock. He made custom 8″ wide wheels for the back to they kept the hubcaps and did not bring attention to the 10″ wide tires. Turned high 11’s with the mufflers still intact.
A gradeschool teacher I had owned one of these. One day he parked it under the windows of our 3rd floor classroom. A few of us were by the windows talking before the bell rung when we looked down at the car and exclaimed “fishbowl!” in unison. We had a good laugh at the poor Pacer’s expense.
If only they added some length to the nose, laid down the head lamps, moved the grill under the bumper, and lowered its height they could’ve had a budget Porsche 928 😉
We used to refer to 928s as ‘squashed Pacers’!
That’s basically what the Amigo was, then it got a big greenhouse to become the Pacer. There are sketches floating around the web.