Here's how the AMC Pacer has become an icon of the 1970's
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Note this video has been re-uploaded to replace footage that was flagged as copyrighted.
In this episode I provide the history of the Pacer from American Motors, which launched in 1975 as a 1976 model, and was heavily advertised as the "first wide small car", with subcompact length, but was wide as most full size cars back then. Although it was one of AMC's best sellers in its first year, it's odd look and poor fuel economy caused sales to quickly drop off, leading to its cancellation in 1980. It's popularity came back in 1992 thanks to its starring role in the movie Wayne's World, and the original car has been sold multiple times and refurbished to look like it did in the movie.
Happy to see the re-upload, I do not know who francis gerard fay is but that was what popped up on screen as the copyright claimant. Thanks for all the hard work researching and editing all these clips together! It's definitely something I look forward to on my saturday morning, sitting down with a coffee and watching some automotive nostalgia, Cheers!
In my experience, anyone that goes by 3 names is always a Karen ! 🤣
Francis Gerard...not really a masculine name now is it?
3:35 The stretch passenger door reminds me of the Hyundai Veloster and its three-door configuration, 2 passenger side doors and 1 driver side door.
I always rooted for AMC when I was a kid, they worked so hard to run a car company with so little cash. If they could have had ONE homerun in the 70's they maybe could have held off MOPAR and ridden the SUV craze into the late 80's and beyond. They were ahead of the times in so many ways.
The assassination of Georges Besse did AMC in and sent Renault into a tailspin. Almost 40 years later Renault is in problems again by a CEO who should have been assassinated.
AMC was so ahead of it's time with many cars, it's a shame that actually hurt them in the long run
Dude legit I wouldn't complain if you did a video on a 1930s model car, your content is always through and we'll laid out so you shouldn't restrict yourself to certain decades of manufacture. Great video as usual 👌
Richard Teague was a genius of automotive design. He did wonders at Packard and continued with AMC.
Glad to see this back up and going. A little hidden gem, AMC designers had came over to Chrysler and in a nod to their chief designer retiring designed the Dodge/Plymouth Neon. In many ways it accomplished the job that the Pacer was aiming to fill. Notice the bubbly fender flares on most of Chrysler's cars in that era? That was a hallmark that Chrysler adopted. It was even more obvious with the 2001 Caravan. Shortly after that it seemed most of the hallmarks and design language had gave away to squared off, frankly ugly looking designs. I suspect Daimler had something to do with that. But I remember the day Chrysler bought up American motors, it was a sad day I admit being a lover of AMC. I was glad to see the hallmarks such as what became the LHS series and Grand Cherokee come to fruition.
I'd love to see a video on the AMC Concord (I know you've already done the Eagle). Now, when I think about the ultimate Brougham, THAT is what comes to mind IMMEDIATELY. All of the plush trimmings that you would expect to find in a Cadillac or Lincoln, but even when fully loaded with every option imaginable, it STILL retailed for thousands less that any car from either of the aforementioned established luxury brands. We actually rented a brown Connie wagon on our first trip to Disney World, & I do remember crying when we had to give it back. I had fallen that much in love with it. Anyone who calls that car ugly is COMPLETELY missing the point, in my view. Is it the most beautiful car in the world? Absolutely not. However, it was not DESIGNED to be beautiful. It was designed to be durable, it was designed to be strong. It was designed to be sturdy. It was designed to be tough.
The Concord was a spruced up AMC Hornet, which was also used as the base platform for the Gremlin, Spirit, and Eagle (which was mostly just a lifted 4 wheel drive Concord) They were good cars, but it wasn't long after they were dropped that parts became impossible to find for them. I used to own a 1976 Gremlin, and actually wound up selling it because I couldn't find parts to keep it going.
Love these videos! As a child of the 70s and 80s, they really take me back. Have there been any requests for the Honda Civic CRX - seems like it was not around that long, but I always thought it was a cool 2-door, sporty car. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing this model and the video. The interesting thing is Jeep is still going very strong in 2022. My fourth grade teacher owned a AMC Pacer. The kids called it the "bubble car". AMC cars were always quirky and different. They always did things on a budget. They also were ahead in some things too. Thank you for your efforts on this video and the footage.
My third grade teacher in 1984 had an orange one. Mrs Dorsey.
Sometimes way ahead of their time. Think about the Eagle for example... what's a hot seller today? AWD crossovers. They're everywhere. The cute little Pacer was this idea of making a small car feel big on the inside while being fuel efficient. We got that later on in a lot of cars. When Chrysler bought AMC the engineers finally got a budget to make some of them ideas a reality. The LHS series, Neon and Grand Cherokee just to name a few...
@@PearComputingDevices Very good response! I totally agree.
@@PearComputingDevices Lee Iacocca's whole interest in buying up AMC was getting his hands on the Jeep brand. making it even better was the fact that AMC already had fully developed the grand Cherokee and it was ready to go into production.
@@stratcat4450 Uh yup. The rest was just frosting.
That Pacer van is rad! I never knew such a thing almost existed.
I always thought the second Gen Javelin was the best looking American muscle car.
My first car was a '91 Geo Metro 4 door hatchback. 5 speed manual transmission. As barebones as cars got at the time, manual windows and locks. It did have air conditioning though. Its saving grace was the gas mileage. The Suzuki 1.0L 3 cylinder transverse motorcycle engine got 45 on a bad day. Besides that it was a fairly awful car. It would vibrate like none other when it got up to 60mph. And only got to 65 going downhill with a stiff tailwind. I do kind of miss it though lol.
...and it got like 50 MPG (40+ with an automatic transmission). Saw a lot of those SA310's and Forzas in the '80s.
By the time the Metro and then Sprint went on sale the Suzuki version (the Swift) already had a 1.3L I4 (an extra piston version of the one GM used). But they were not motorcycle-based engines, as I've seen Suzukis on sale since the '79 SV-80 (Kei "Jeep" of 770cc, export version). They already made car engines, just like Honda (in '69 they started with the N600, an export version of their N360 Kei car).
@@syxepop Im thinking Toby Bishop said "...motorcycle engine..." for dramatic effect just to exaggerate the absurdity of it all.
I owned my Geo Metro derivative, an 87 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo, from 93-2015. Best car I have owned. So quick. Over 40 mpg. Road just fine. Good space. Sold it for more than I paid back then. I only sold it because I biked to most of my needs, and I owned a 92 VW GTI (still do)
@@djkenny1202 Those were bad ass.
I opted for the 90 Daihatsu Charade after I test drove both. The charade had more "power" if you want to call it that but when you turned the AC on it was anemic to say the least. Did get over 50mpg on the Highway and I think I paid around 8k for it.
I once drove my bosses AMC Pacer and was always impressed with how it drove and how darn nice the car was inside.And after that,I felt really sad because I knew The Pacer ,because of it's appearance ,never got a fair deal.Great video.
That van at 5:46 would have been awesome. That and the AMX 3 are cool cars that should have been made. 😔
THAT WAS FAST! 😲 Thank You for the reupload. And now to that SMALL 🐟YT'ER that had RECOGNITION SYNDROME give him some "fake meat sandwiches" from Subway and let him "enjoy 'em" (it was an ad about a giant sandwich been made inside of the "Fishbowl").
An AMC Pacer was also used as the burger mobile in the Nickelodeon movie "Good Burger".
EXCELLENT, MOC!!!!!! PARTY ON!!! Oh, it was the SANDWICH KING ad that did it!!!!!! Francis Gerard Fay DOES know that HE does not own that commercial, either, right?!!
All of your videos are just awesome to watch!
What I don't get is, why didn't AMC use the 4-cylinder engines from Jeeps in the pacer?
I remember that scene from the movie Oh God where John Denver is driving down the road in that Pacer Wagon with George Burns and getting rained on.
AMC was always a cursed company. George Romney saved the company years before, but he also gave us his son Mitt.....
They came out with some interesting cars, but eventually sagging sales did the company in. Plus the fact that their cars technology dates back to the 1950's didn't help either. If the company made sub compacts and compacts with front wheel drive , who knows, they might still be in business.
Not gonna lie, that van concept looked awesome and I would rock the hell out of it
I have a fascination with the wankel engine. Now I want to put one in a pacer lol
I would love to drie a Pacer stationwagon all day everday, full of personality.
I had a Pacer wagon back in 1990,it was a nice driving car especially with the 4 speed manual on the floor.
@@corvetcoyote443 That sounds like good times. I love wagons, I love quirky cars and I love woodys, so yeah ! lol
Why the reupload?
Nevermind saw it in the video description
I liked the wagon, with the V8
My neighbor bought one in the late 80s! It caught fire heading home one day! ;-) Still It had that unique look! But, to me, I liked the Eagle better having 4-wheel drive.
A full size truck nearly gets the same mileage. Looks better too. Lol
My friend's grandmother drove a pacer in the 1980s. Even though we lived in a colder state, I remember riding in the back of her Pacer in the summer and how hot it got surrounded by all that glass. I liked how round and futuristic it looked when most other cars at the time were ugly boxes on wheels.
I think the Pacer really could have been a smart buy in 1976. All it needed was better mileage and a little more interior space.
Rotary engine made the rounds. Suzuki had a limited marketed rotary engine motorcycle. It was powerful
I fell in love with the 1975 Pacer and was going to buy a new one I had seen on the dealers lot. My interest vanished as I drove it off the lot. Weak engine, and non-power assisted brakes were the reason. For about the same money, I bought a new 1975 Chevy Nova - a car I loved and kept for 7 years.
I purchased a new 1982 Chevy Beretta for my next car. Worst New car I ever owned. Nothing but problems. Repairs cost me a fortune! Have you done a video on this POS?
American motors is my favorite auto maker!
Surprised a right hand drive model was made.
Australian Ramblers selling at rates far higher than other pure US designs. Possibly Toyota buying out the Australian owned AMI factory in Port Melbourne stopped Rambler assembly by the time of the Pacer.
The Pacer name might have caused problems in Australia as Chrysler had used the name for the Chrysler Valiant Pacer performance upgrade car from 1969.
I liked the Pacer when it premiered.....being far to young to own a car or even legally drive one I thought...that's different. I got mocked for my fandom, my friends called it a bubble gum machine because of its glass area...I didn't care. Wish I had owned one then, wish I were able to find a good example to buy now.
That AMVAN is AMAZINGLY awesome !!! I remember the episode at 8:40. That was in Oakland or Berkeley.
When I got out of the Navy in 1979 I needed a car. I bought an AMC rebel at auction from the US forestry service. After about a year I needed a transmission for it so I went to the junkyard and yanked one out of a Pacer. It was a good trans. I drove that thing for several years without issue.
Wow that Van wasn’t bad looking at all
Have you ever considered a Honda Insight episode? You mentioned liking weird cars. They just discontinued the latest version.
0.56 your going to have to bend your rule soon. Your going to run out of vehicles to showcase eventually. You have the best vids!!
I never understood why AMC built this car alongside the Gremlin/Spirit. They were too similar. My father purchased a 1981 AMC Spirit brand new in 1983. It was white with blue interior. It had a 4 cylinder with a 3 on the floor and no AC. Dad didn't own it long. It had tons of small issues. It's amazing AMC lasted as long as they did. They had to rely on cheapskates like my dad to buy 2 year old new cars.
1:35 worst family sedan it’s the daewoo lanos
1:35 Best family sedan toyota tercel, i love that car even me having 13 years old
The AM VAN reminds me of something FIAT could produce.
It's nice to see my comment in the video I'm not sure if my original comment was deleted or not since the reupload happened so I'm saying it again
How are you going to report MOC??? Thank you for the re-upload!
As someone born in 1997 I understand why guys like you and Doug DeMuro try to stick to an ‘80s or later’ rule but I gotta say 70s cars are my favorites
As someone born in 1984 I don't understand why he won't do pre 80 cars lol. I didn't even know he had that rule lol
Doug DeMuro is a hack. His “quirks and features” is mostly things he just doesn’t understand or know anything about. His car knowledge is not factually accurate and is more like reading a Wikipedia article about a car, while being in, on, or around said car and pointing at it. Insert a snide Reddit-esque opinion here and there, and BOOM!! Popular “car guy” channel.
I would love to see Toyota Celica and Supra from the 80s .
Be sure your Pacer has air conditioning. All that glass let’s a lot of sun shine in on hot days.
Another great video. Keep them coming.
Have you done one on the X body Citation?
Forever AMC.
💙
Do a video on the Ford Explorer sport trac pickup
That needs to be done with the Explorer.
@@johnnymason2460 but it was its own individual model, it competed with the Chevy Colorado and dodge dakota
You're pretty adamant about this.
@@anthony_rivera4735 Actually, it was based on the Explorer SUV. Ford still had the Ranger to compete with the Colorado and Dakota.
@@AR-ed3xw Unlike the Mustang Mach-E which is not based on the Mustang at all, the Explorer Sport Trac was based on the Explorer.
best family sedan: ford taurus. how can it not be? lol
Yayyy you did it!!! Love it!!!
Worst family car of the 80’s? First Gen Holden Camira. One car of the year one year and lemon of the year the next because they’d already started rusting away.
Party on Wayne
Party on Garth
It's Wayne's World! Wayne's World!
Party time! Excellent!
It sucks you had to re-upload this video.. over a sub sandwich commercial.. I've been subscribed since the beginning! Love your work. Unfortunately some stupid copyright stuff came up.. but you still managed to still bring it back up. Great video.. even though I never owned an AMC vehicle ever. And probably never will, just not my style. As a die hard Alfa Romeo owner.. I still watch your videos, to enjoy the past of cars that were great.. could have been good, and ones that were bad.. probably the best 80s / 90s car ...Honda Accord.. boring, reliable, I just wish over my lifetime I bought one.. a 1993 Ex coupe 5 speed as a daily and bought more exotic cars, to afford the maintenance on them.. but.. I still love my 'boring' 1986 Alfa Spider veloce.. it gets more looks than any other car I owned.. besides all my other Alfa's.. I probably lost most people by now.. but my best friend loved his 1980s Ford Taurus. . I actually loved his 1978 Cadillac Seville.. with a factory Working 8 track player!! Unfortunately the fuel injection ran a little rough.. but easy on it... it was a cruiser.. I miss them days when you got to go back and watch MeTV.. to see some beautiful cars.. most maybe common back then. . But to see some 80s / 90s today.. just rare..
Yay! It’s reuploaded, now to enjoy it :D
I went to pick up an arcade machine from marketplace and the guy had this beautiful 76 two tone pacer with navy cloth interior, in his garage. What a treat that was to see
Don't forget due to all that glass the interior would fade and plastics disintegrate due to all that UV light beating down on it
The Pacer was the original Compact Crossover, take a small car and give it more interior room and that's what you get.
Great video!
Shame AMC couldn't have stayed independent from Renault, if they could have continued refining the XJ Cherokee, and produced the ZJ Grand Cherokee, they would still be in business today I think
LOL
When I was in high school my neighbor had one of these and gave me a ride one day. I was blown away by the sheer power it had with that V8 and I immediately loved it. Plus, it's weird, so..
The grand Cherokee history please ☝️
It’s back!!
The Jeep Cherokee xj history please 🙏🙏🙏
Since you did the Pacer, you have to do the Gremlin now.
Gotta love the weirdness of the Gremlins and Pacers ..
Could you get a denim Levi’s interior?
An even weirder car... the AMC Movietheater.
I can smell the cigarette smoke in this video
Love the investigative work, cute car but was destined to fail at the wrong time to produce
Interesting to note that the Edsel line included Pacer, Citation, Ranger and Corsair. All names of which would be used again over the years.
It's a good thing that we will never see the Edsel division at Ford ever again. It wouldn't be able to use those names again.
Our neighbors growing up had two wagons.
One was Robin's egg blue and the other one was a butterscotch.
They thought they were the greatest vehicles ever made and kept them for over twenty years.
Not to mention glass is very heavy !
I love the way vehicles are covered on this channel. I hope one day he covers the gen one Toyota 4Runner. He’s pretty much done every car I’ve ever owned. Lol! I can’t wait for the new episodes. The top tens list episode sounds great!
Thanks SO much for bending the "rules" on years...and thinking more of them as a guide, not a wall.
LOVE this channel and recommend to friends...as a kid learning to drive in the '80s and lots of these cars were out there.
(A Pacer almost hit me while I was on my motorcycle...never understood with all that glass...how they didn't see me!)
I think the wagon looks nice
Another great video, thanks for putting it out!
I like the wagon better.
I grew up in the 80s and I definitely remember this car
I would to se in person that abandoned amc dealer. I wonder where it is at?
That is Collier Motors in Pikeville NC. The cars that are sitting there are for sale IIRC
Fun video. Love the clips and attributions to other TH-cam channels. @loucostabile My Car Story is a nice cameo !
Despite my objections, my future bride to be bought a brand new '76 AMC Pacer (Blue) because she was raised in a VW household and liked the semi similar bug shape ($4100 out the door from a truly shady dealership in Newark, NJ). We then married and drove from our ancestral homes in NJ and settled into Eugene, Or. where I went to grad school. I installed an in dash am/fm Craig Eight Track! And it was every bit as crappy as advertised. With only three years of ownership and about 40K the tranny began to shudder, that French (I believe) manufactured straight six churning out about 90 hp forced you to make a reservation to accelerate, the brakes never stopped their ferocious squealing and she began to overheat on occasion, so we traded it in on a '79 Mazda GLC. A novel design with real potential if the initial Wankel engine had worked out (and how many problems would that have created) it was, of course the victim of a company trying to build cars with whatever was left in the parts bin.......
Our 1978 Pacer Wagon was featured on Jay Leno’s Garage TH-cam channel. We love the car. Did a few modifications, though.
I would say Buick Regal would be the best family sedan (88-96) faster than the jdms cheaper and more luxurious than the Chevy counterparts
Nice. Love the video!
1976 Summer School Drivers Ed, 3 car choices Ford LTD which I hated because it had Power Brakes and was too big but it had A/C. AMC Matador and a Pacer. No A/C in the Pacer but the teacher let us drive around with the rear hatch up...lol.
Think the Pacer's oval body shape (sort of like an "egg" on wheels), foreshadowed general car body designs by about 25 years. The only other car made at the time like this (body-wise) was the Volkswagon.
Nothing really sold too well in the late 70s early 80s.. look at the mustang for instance... That's why they had an option for a four-cylinder room because of gas prices..
I am still waiting for you to put out the top 10 best midsize cars and the top 10 worst midsize cars videos. Hopefully those are coming out soon.
The AMC Pacer did have those worried looks, which gain attention before I was the age of 10, but Waynes World sure did remind me of them when first released. In all, the weirdest of the compacts was the Yugo, because it so European like.
The Pacer was definitely ahead of its time. You are dead on with the cab-forward comment. The Pacer definitely had a cab-forward design way before Chrysler coined that term and designed their cars with that design element in play. I do agree with a previous commenter on this video that the wagon version looked better than the funky hatchback. I wonder if the Pacer would have done better if the jokers at GM didn't pull the plug on the development of their Wankel engine OR if AMC hit up Mazada for one of their engines. Would the Pacer have been the savior car for AMC? Hard to say. Great video. Love the Waynes World reference. Waynes World made the Pacer a cool car, especially with the flames on the sides. Thanks for all of your hard work putting these videos out.
Jeez, they were ready to go with the Wankel, wow, AMC really made lots of shrewd, practical choices didn't they.
The Pacer and the Gremlin are the ugly twins of AMC of the era. Now they are icons because AMC had long turned to dust, and most cars now are soulless design for idiots. AMC were the chassis chopping specialist.
Waynes world was a good movie. One scene is that drive by with the indian statue on that building.
That is in Chicago on the south side. It still stands. Its at 63rd and Pulaski. It been there over 50 years i kn9w of. It started as a pharmacy and cigar shop. It was a eye doctor and they put glasses on the indian. Now the glasses are off and it is a dentist office and something else.
My mom had a wagon. Looked EXACTLY like the one at 7:15. It was a spectacular piece of crap.
New subscriber. I'll submit for your review the Cadillac Alante. Although a sales disaster as a current owner that gets driven most days of the week it's really an interesting vehicle with odd quirks both in it's development and design.
@ 10:15, My uncle had one just like that, with black vinyl bucket seat interior, and floor shift. About as sporty as Pacers got.
Worst Family car Daewoo Nubira. Runner-up Dodge Avenger.