The Unfortunate History of the AMC Pacer - Documentary Film
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- Опубликовано: 6 дек 2013
- Behind all the jokes and insults, the AMC Pacer is actually a car with a great deal of history. It began as radical new design from an underdog company. In an attempt to combat the big, bland, boxy cars from Detroit's "Big Three," little American Motors Corporation decided to build something a little different. Their one-eyed car stylist Dick Teague proposed a small, wide car with big windows and smooth aerodynamics. Americans had never seen anything like it.
This in-depth documentary tells the true story of the Pacer. Unbeknownst to many, the car persevered through manufacturing setbacks, government regulations, and many other troubles. Featuring a ton of old car advertisements and rare footage of AMC's factory, the film helps paint a picture of the Pacer's world. Director Joe Ligo sits down with AMC stylist Vincent Geraci, author Patrick Foster, and television personalities John Davis and Pat Goss from PBS's MotorWeek. 
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I had a 76 Pacer in 1993 that I picked up for $300. I was using it as a daily driver. It was great! I think I only had to work on it once in the year that I had it. That is still the fastest car from 40 to 70 that I've ever had. It did that in about 2 seconds. My wife slid off the road and ran it sideways into a telephone pole. We still drove it for a other six months. We called it the fish bowl. 😆
Everyone laughed at the AMC Eagle and now everyone drives a crossover. The brand was way ahead of their time.
+Listening Point We just put out a new video about that very subject! ruclips.net/video/ogOhl7RbFZM/видео.html
+AutoMoments You don't happen to know where I could get new tail lenses for a 1971 Ambassador SST Coupe do ya?
Afraid not... You don't know where we could get a whole Ambassador, do you? (we want one)
+AutoMoments How much do you want to spend and what condition?
Looking for a "15 footer," a running and driving car that doesn't have to be perfect. $4,000 or less. (Until we become rich and famous from our RUclips videos...)
I am a Japanese guy who used to own a yellow 76 Pacer. Paid $500 in the late 80’s when I was in college. Loved that car.
My uncle had one back in 1982 he bought from a scrap yard for $20. He put a new trans in it and it was very reliable until I think it died in 2016 due to a tired engine but before that he never had it serviced except for oil changes and required maintenance. I don't know if he still has the car anymore but he said if it still ran he would be driving it as his daily driver still. It was a 1976 I think one of the first 100 made that year.
@Armando Silvier Unfortunately that is true
@Planet Claire Has Big Hair claire you have not had a man since college
@Planet Claire Has Big Hair you're a fucking weirdo.
@Planet Claire Has Big Hair : like WTF was that all about
My aunt bought a brand new Pacer. We teased her unmercifully but she absolutely loved it and drove it until the wheels fell off. RIP Aunt Arlene. Sorry for the jokes, but thanks for your great sense of humor about it. She gave back as good as she got, being Sicilian. :)
Best comment ever!!!! RIP Aunt Arlene
Wow, my aunt was named Aunt Arline (different spelling) and she owned a Pacer too. My aunt loved that car and I rode around in it as a kid. It was sort of fishbowl like -- and could get quite warm on a sunny day -- but it kind of fit the style of the mid-1970s.
In the words of another great Sicilian Woman Sophia Petrillo: And you Dorothy, are the biggest disappointment to hit the streets since the AMC Pacer...🤣🤣🤣...
Holy mackerel! I'm dealing with that Now! 🤣
@@kamuelalee Its possible I saw, you. I'd say look Dad a fishbowl! 🎉
It's sad that amc didn't make it. You can tell the people who worked there we're really proud of the cars they made.
They were great cars, where was their government bailout?
@@kirkprell4493 The little guy always gets stomped on.
Like AMC my son was proud of crap too, but I still flushed it.
why did the union strike just as the company had financial problems? when a ship is about to go under, don't put more holes into it. the union represented the workers yet they approved the strike?
I grew up riding in the back of Rambler station wagons!
I must say, that lime green Pacer with the white interior is awesome.
I inherited a Pacer and drove it for years after high school. It was a fantastic car. Great mileage, good visibility, lots of room to carry stuff, good leg room and it ran like a sewing machine. I wish that I could buy one like it today, without any computers in it.
My dads life was saved by the AMC hornet if it wasn't for it being built like a small tank the car that hit him would have flipped the car over a bridge. Thanks AMC.
The AMC Hornet, Concord, Eagle were direct descendants of the Hudson Hornet.
Hud Hornets were notoriously tough and were very popular among dirt track racers of the early 1950s.
@@rothhammer1492 More like, direct descendants of the Nash Rambler. All the Hudson platforms were retired in the 1954 merger between Nash & Hudson. All AMC cars are direct descendants of Nash techniques & engineering.
I never owned or drove a Pacer, but I had a Gremlin in High School. I loved the damn thing. It had a 304 V8, and
I won a lot of races in it. Other rich kids with their new 5 liter Mustangs and Camaros would laugh at me when
I challenged them-until I left them in the dust!
Awesome! It's great that you put those guys in their place.
The drag strips and street races were full of AMC Gremlins 304s smoking the 5.0 liter Mustangs and Camaros.
A factory V-8 Gremlin would be a very valuable find today!
It was called the Gremlin X.
Later guys would make V8 Vegas, and even 302 Pintos to compete. The Pintos would crack the base of the windshield because of unibody flex from the torque. The Vegas often had their inner fender wells cut to accommodate the exhaust. The Gremlin was the far better car. John DeLorean tried to get a small block Vega to market, but failed. However, there was the Chevy Monza that could have the 350 if you were lucky.
In the late 80's-early 90's guys would replace the Pinto motors with the TurboBird 2.3. Made for a really nice car!
20alphabet
No the "X" was a trim decor, My V8 was an option and by the way it badly needed a quad to really smoke the snobs. Also needed a rear anti-sway bar to "help" keep to keep it heading straight and forward under a panic / hard stop.
That was a very professionally-put-together documentary!
violian5 yes it was very worth watching.
Too bad the car wasn't
I had to stop half way through, an embarrassing time to be an American.
I wanted a Pacer in 1976 and still do. It is such a cool car, like a spaceship on wheels. We saw one about a week ago on the side of the road but it was in bad shape and they wanted a fortune for it. The Pacer is a one of a kind and will always be my favorite. Thank you for sharing 👍. Stay safe healthy and happy ✝️🇺🇸
@wnp67 I bet it was a beauty too 👍. You are absolutely 💯correct. Stay safe, healthy, and happy ✝️ 🇺🇸
I worked for some folks who had an AMC spirit 2 door hatchback we used as a service vehicle. 232 6 cylinder and a stick shift. It was pretty quick for its time. We sure went through a lot of rear tires on that car. It was a hoot to drive.
This was a very well-made video. Excellent objective history and information.
Objective? Nah. Very interesting though.
+Ted Peterson We had a '59 Rambler American, and that finished things
for us with AMC for GOOD.
Chrysler was a perfect choice to buy AMC. Chrysler has a higher profit per car than Ford or GM. That is because Chrysler does not waste any time putting the cars together, and cuts corners on costs at every turn.
Mechanics hate AMC's, because the blueprints and parts catalogs were always wrong. A car would be designed to take a Ford clutch, and that would be put into the standard parts catalog. Three months later, if GM clutches became cheaper to buy in quantity, production of the would immediately shift to the GM clutches, which were NOT in the parts catalog. IF a mechanic could not automatically recognize the part to be replaces as Ford, Chrysler, or GM, it might take 3 days of trial and error and many trips to and from the parts store to get the right part for a 45 minute repair. Usually the solution was simply to take the original dirty, nasty, broken part directly to the auto parts store to see if the parts people could identify it from visual recognition alone..
The worst thing about AMC was this: When it has an order for a fleet purchase, the line manager would follow each car down the line and personally oversee the assembly to make sure it was done correctly. And the fleet cars were sold at a substantial discount. So the individual buyer, who came into a dealership and bought a single car, in the end paid MORE for a poorly assembled car than the fleet buyers paid for a perfectly assembled car that was reliable. That sort of thing drives the individual consumer away from the company faster than the 1947 Packard taxicabs sent luxury car buyers scurrying to the Cadillac dealership..
Indeed. No one mentioned the fact that the GM rack and pinion leaked like a sieve. Independent car manufacturers apparently did not realize that mainline manufacturers will not sell their best parts to the competition. When Nash and Studebaker bought the Packard 327 V-8 engine in the 1950's, Packard deliberately put thicker head gaskets on the out of company engines to reduce the horsepower for some 30 hp over the in house Packard engines. 1950's cars had so little horsepower that losing 30 hp out of an engine was a significant loss.If AMC had actually been able to buy the Wankel engine from GM, the Wankels that GM sold AMC would have been as poorly built as the leaky rack and pinion GM actually did sell AMC for the Pacer.
Also, no one mentioned that AMC did not have good rust proofing on cars until the 1980 models. So anybody who wants a Pacer that won't rust out in 5 years of ordinary use, has to buy one of the 1800 or so 1980 Pacers.
Consumer Reports rates the Pacer as worse than the Pinto as a used car. Its 1987 used car issue did not even list the Vega or Monza, and it said the Pinto was a decent commuter car if one did not mind putting up with all the deficiencies in comfort and access. What it said about the Pacer was this: "All in all, a sad car that we can't recommend."
Buying AMC was a very smart decision. They acquired the Jeep name which has saved Chrysler.
Why does everyone think the AMC cars were ugly? Those were the best looking cars! So interesting.
+mason methot I think it's a cool car too. Then again I like the unusual stuff and this classifies as "Unusual" in my book. It's also something recognizable by a lot of people but it's still an unusual car.
Austin Lucas You could almost say it is...unusually cool...
Austin Lucas a
mason methot no they just think that the pacer and gremlin were ugly
mason methot The Javelin is my all time favorite looking car ever
This is an amazing documentary. I’ve been growing increasingly interested in AMC and other car manufacturers that no longer exist. As someone born in the 90’s my knowledge of cars such as these is very limited but my love of cars has me invested in learning as much as I can about them. And this documentary on the Pacer is definitely up there in terms of quality and information!
7:47 that girl smoking in the assembly line is so 70's.
She probably just got done getting the ol' driveshaft in the broom closet with a fellow coworker. Gotta have a smoke after some smoking nookie.
Dang, I read that as that smoking girl, NOT! LOL
That's no girl, that's a woman.
Antho M.C::: THAT one scene bought back fond memories of freedom without backlash. Fu_k today's PC, SJW, everybody gets a trophy bullsh_t!
so retro. they should allow vape now.
I am more than old enough to remember those days. My experience was that women LOVED the Pacer and the Gremlin. In fact, I bought my wife a Gremlin with the special edition Levis interior. Yes, the seats and panels were upholstered in denim complete with the little red Levis tags.
We saw a few Levi's Gremlins when we were filming this! They were pretty cool.
At that time I had a 62 Fairlane that needed interior work, so I did it in denim,
my Mom helped me w/ the sewing, it turned out so nice I added the Levi fender decals. thanks for bringing back the memory.
DAM Thats sexy They sure don't make them like that anymore
my brother had a levi's gremlin at college in the early 80's was already rusted out. i drove a '78 gremlin at work at com ed (illinois electric plant) was fun to drive...i prefer smaller/narrower cars, i've had a smart for the last 7 years...
Pook Atim Best interior ever!
My family was all about AMC vehicles. We never had a Pacer, but my grandfather owned an Ambassador, and also had a couple of Jeep pickups during the AMC era. I learned to drive on one of those. My mother's favorite car was the Gremlin, and I built a plastic model of one as a Christmas present. The Pacer could have been an outstanding car with the rotary engine, and I think the GM decision to cancel it was all about crippling a competitor.
You're not the only one that things GM had it out for AMC. That's awesome that your family owned a bunch of AMCs! We'd love to see some old pictures if you have any.
GM had a lot of plans for that rotary though, especially with the small cars they were building. But development went way over the projected timeframe and they still couldn't get it to work well enough or last at all, and they finally had to give up. In a lot of ways that rotary would have killed AMC much faster. They could have bought Buick V-6 engines from GM instead, or even sourced a decent 4 cylinder, shame they never considered anything other than the rotary for the pacer initially.
Yeah, it really was just a bad situation all around. Too bad GM could have just built a successful, reliable, fuel efficient rotary engine!
AutoMoments Nobody has been able to build a successful, reliable, and most of all, fuel efficient rotary engine, Mazda included. the rotary is a two stroke engine, which we all know is inherently dirty and a gas guzzler.
@@Oldbmwr100rs Funny that GM sold the V6 tooling & line to Kaiser-Jeep in the '60s, and AMC inherited it. GM bought it back from AMC in the early '70s and by 1976 or so had re-installed it in the original plant. The V6 ran like a V8 missing two cylinders ('odd firing') so as it was wouldn't have been a good engine for AMC. GM re-engineered it to have offset crank pins in the late '70s.
Great car company. Loved the Javelin especially!
My younger Brother had a Pacer, my younger Sister had a Le Car....both of them went on to buy a Ford Mustang (better suited for Canadian winters!) This documentary was not only enjoyable & informative -> it was a walk down memory lane for me! ~ Thx for posting ~
"Well America we did it! We made the big car small and the small car big!" - commercial in the 70's
15:48
Customers: We want fuel economy
AMC: Cramp a 5L V8 under the hood
and the competition rabbit had like a 1.6L:p
Anas Takiyudin
A V8 with next to no power to boot. The 70's detuned motors were absolutely pathetic.
How do I know this? I owned some of them! 200 hp out of a 400 ci motor is horrible.
Whenever government gets involved everything turns to crap!!! re- regulations etc.
I was at a local car show recently. There was an AMC Gremlin there. A V-8 in what was a compact car! The Japanese were powering the same-size cars with 4-cyclinder engines during the era the Gremlin was made. The once the Japanese figured out how to stop the rust through Hondas had in the 70s, AMC couldn't compete with the quality of the early 80s cars from Honda, Toyota and Datsun/Nissan.
My mom had a '66 Rambler American. It was a 2-door hardtop with a 232 straight six. Reasonably sporty, and a timeless look. They still look nice.
I owned both the 1974 Gremlin (V-8) and the 1974 Matador (V-8). I drove the Matador to well over 200,000 miles and had very few issues. The Matador had some issues with the front brakes, once that was resolved it was a very reliable car for me. The Gremlin was a "hot rod" with that 302 V-8. I drove that one to over 100,000 miles before selling it to a buddy on mine who did some engine work on it and raced it at a drag strip for a few years. I enjoyed both cars.
Renault's involvement destroyed AMC. I was one of the unfortunate owners of a Renault Alliance in '85 - the biggest piece of cr*p I have ever owned. It was back at the dealer's 15 times in 12 months for repairs for everything from fuel lines that developed 6" splits to a leaky windshield to inoperable turn signals to failed fuel pumps to brake problems - it was in the shop for 67 days that first year and Renault fought me at every step. Finally dumped the thing onto a different dealer and drove away happy in a Ford Taurus.
AMC was basically the cobbled together scraps left over after the "big three" had swallowed up most of its smaller competitors... not a formula for a great car company and it relatively short existance was generally unsuccessful, pairing up with Renault was a pretty desperate effort to stay in business.
Renault was crap, also in Europe (not the Alpine versions, btw...). It was a state owned make that really did not bother at all about quality. It is only very recently that they got their act together. Nowadays (as of 2010-ish??) their cars are of adequate to good quality.
The only car worse than a Renault was a Fiat, bar none. Had A '67 850 Spyder (cool little car), but literally fell and rusted apart. But boy it was a fun car to drive........
Renault cars were absolute garbage cars. This is why they left the US market in disgrace, as did Peugeot and Citroen.
itsmegp46 The worst cars in history are generally produced under a socialist government... such was the case in France...
The 74' AMC (AMX) Javelin with the 401 V8 was a quatermile beast.
My wife and I saw a Pacer sitting in a parking lot last week. It was a bit worn. Such a beautiful car. I hope whoever owns it is going to restore it.
Your comment reminds me of an episode of Pimp My Ride when they restored/ modernized a Pacer.
It looked great. 😀👍
Bright yellow with stars. White interior, both the seats and the shag carpet. 😆 🕺
I still remember the ad touting the car's width by having someone make a monster sub sandwich in the back seat: "No other car can make this sandwich".
I BOUGHT A MAROON AMC PACER FROM BROWNS OF BELLPORT, LONG ISLAND IN AUGUST 1976 DURING A HURRICANE AND DROVE IT HOME WITH TREES FALLING DOWN ON THE ROADS AND IT WAS EXCITING, WITH ZERO NOISE INSIDE THE CAR! I LOVED THE CAR AND SOLD IT TO MY UNCLE WHO GAVE IT TO HIS NIECE, YEARS LATER.
chingmei chen Hurricane Belie? I remember that storm
I mean Belle
Holy shit, they were going to give this thing a rotary engine!
Elliot Estes and John DeLorean were developing the Wankel engine for the Chevrolet Vega... and the Pacer
I recall the advertisements for the rotary engine - something like 'the others go boing, boing, boing while ours go hummmmmm' - but I cannot recall exactly which car that was for. Not really sure if the ad campaign was considered successful or not, but it was memorable.
Brian Smith I think you are remembering a Mazda ad
I think you're right - thanks!
The rotary is an incredible engine. But a bit of pain in the ass too. I had a Mazda RX8 rotary. It was an absolute peach! Took some getting use to. The power band is vastly different regular engines. If they can ever solve the problem of the apex seals the rotary would and should be far more mainstream. But those damn seals, when they go, ends up as a complete engine rebuild. And that's completely unacceptable. Also, disappointing fuel economy but thats a minor complaint from my point of view. Thankfully i got rid of mine long before i had to worry the seals. And because of that engine, the RX8 is both rare and cheap these days. It's going to be a future classic. IF the engine is maintained properly.
I remember seeing the first one on display inside pan airport. It was ground breaking and you have to remember that the muscle car era was ending and due to oil embargo’s, we were transitioning to economy cars. This was a nice departure from Pintos, Vegas, and VWs.
That acid green one with the white interior❤!
AMC, great engineers and innovation that had sometimes questionable executive representation. The last of the independents with the greatest of ideas. I almost cried when the Renault LeCar became AMC's main offering. Things just aren't fair in this world, are they?
the eagle wagons were highly sought for postal routes in my home town they were great in the snow and many postal drivers loved the height of the eagle damn good little car
I had a friend buy one for his mail route. It broke down constantly and he got rid of it. I'm a Rural Carrier as well and we now all drive Chevy Blazers. They are all nearly 20 years old and still running great.
My friend's grandmother had a Pacer in the late 70s or early 80s. I thought it was very futuristic. It had a lot of room, but I was about 10 years old so every car had a lot of room then. Even in Iowa, having so much window space in the Pacer meant that it got very hot in the summer.
My mother had a 76 Pacer. It was the car I learned to drive on. It is still one of the cars I've enjoyed driving the most. My friends called it "the bubble." Which was true enough, but all that glass made it easier to see what was around you. The big negative was trying to get that car to pass an emissions test, especially as they tightened. The poor little thing couldn't pass with a standard gas/air mixture. So it had to be turned all the way to "less emissions" to get it to pass, but then it was near undrivable. So then you had to turn it back to the standard mixture once it did.
I owned one. The worst car I have ever had. Rack was wore out at 50K miles. Exhaust manifold cracked. Interior falling apart. Rattled like crazy everywhere. Sold it for 500 bucks to a gal who looked just like the car. 4 ft tall and 6 ft wide. felt sorry for her.
Don't feel bad, she went on to be Oprah!!
Our family had a '76 Pacer that my Mom bought and drove for about three years. Actually it wasn't bad at all. It had an amazing amount of room and acceptable performance even though it suffered mediocre gas mileage.
If they were to make the car again, the good news is that times and technology have matured to a point where the design would succeed. For example; body panels made of light weight plastics replacing much of the steel to lower the over all weight and then replacing the old inline configuration of the engine/transmission in the car with a more modern transversely mounted fuel injected V-6 and adding a six speed automatic; which would have solved the fuel mileage and engine space problem making service easier. Further, adding a modern UV coating the glass all the way around, which would have solved the interior heating problem on hot days while protecting the interior from sun damage.
The sophisticated systems we take for granted on just about all the cars today would have greatly enhanced the Pacer. Things like four wheel independent suspension, four wheel disc brakes with traction control...etc. would make the design a winner, especially since hatchbacks with a large cargo capacity is very desirable now. Food for thought for Chrysler.
+Gil Davis Thanks for sharing! We love hearing stories from people who knew these cars personally. And what you said about newer automotive technologies is certainly right. It's amazing how far cars have come.
+Gil Davis We had one too. Powder blue. It spent more time in the repair shop than our driveway.
+Gil Davis Sorry but japanese did that and passed you on that stuff late somewhere around 70's. Game over man.
+sdry Japanese cars are not cool unless you talk about GTR/NSX/Z etc most of them are awful as hell(not that the Pacer would win a beauty contest either, but its kinda cool)
+xsbgtr wrong, ALL Asian-designed and built cars are garbage, not one of em are cool...fuck all Asian cars....
What a sympatic documentary. I once worked on a pacer here in germany that a friend of mine bought in belgium. It is a very unusual car and we had a few moments with "what the heck did they thought building it this way..?". For example you can´t take the dashboard out without removing the windscreen, which is glued in! Or taking out the drivetrain is just horrible. And Drumbrakes in front and rear...
This is an extremely well-done documentary!
All American car companies can thank the Pacer for rack and pinion steering and ''cab forward'' design (more room for people, less room for engine and transmission) and the Eagle for all wheel drive !
AMC had some big innovations, that's for sure!
They never mentioned that it was promoted as a big little car with all of that room inside. I was the (proud?) owner of a '72 Gremlin X, metallic silver w/ the almost neon blue side stripe that had every option made on it from the 5.2 ltr V8 to the rag top sliding sunroof. But was not a good car. I did like it though as it was a real sleeper.
Porsche actually copied the Pacer's taillight design for their new 944, and 928 cars.
95% of lego technic models use rack and pinion steering. Real cars aren't the only ones using this technology.
I remember seeing it as a school boy, in Onitsha, Nigeria, in 1977. What made me stop and look, was the almost wrap-around glass. The word "PACER" in big letters.
The Pacer was an EXCELLENT Car...especially the wagon! I had two of the wagons and 3 of the "turtle" looking cars....They were ahead of their time...If you have never owned one, you are NOT qualified to criticize this excellent American made car!!!
That wagon was great!
I agree! They were AWESOME Reliable cars that were very comfortable.
Ours was bright blue and named it The Fish Bowl
@Speedy rapacki it was dumped bc it was odd looking. It turned on a dime. Ours was extremely reliable and very comfortable.
I drive right by what used to be the American Motors building in Southfield MI. Just the other day I was commenting to my wife while the building came into view that you never see American Motor cars @ classic car gatherings & wondered why.
Drove by that building a few times myself, and I have been in there too. Not far from my house.
Proud 1970 Javelin 360 Owner...
Pearl white, YeaBoy!
Such a beautiful car.
Proud owner of my 1st car '75 Gremlin X 304 3 speed looking at it now Bought it when i was 19...63 now lol
Wow.. One of the coolest muscle cars ever..
LOL .. 7:48 ..lighting up a cig on the production line .. Thug life.. 0 fucks given hahahahahahah
Not just smoking - He's sitting on his can. The new American work ethic.
I had a Pacer in high school and I really liked it. It was really dependable and had a GREAT sound system.
I had a 76 Pacer X, it had an inline 6, distributor cap, points, and a 4 speed transmission. I learned my basic mechanic skills on it; you could gap the spark plugs and adjust the points with a match. Easiest car to work on, with plenty of elbow room. I would love to own one again, but getting the parts nowadays would be either impossible, or very expensive, as everything would have to be fabricated. That car rocked!
RIP AMC
F
I hate when modern videos have to throw in crap like this. In 1973 housewife's shopped husbands did not so it was just honest advertising and nobody at the time said anything about it being sexist. OK if that ad was now it would be but nobody would create an ad like that now. I was 7 years old in 1973 and every week my mother would drag us kids whopping and to this day I still don't think I have ever been in a grocery store with me father.
I had a 67' AMC Ambassador when I was in high school in the early 90's.....I loved it, had a crazy engine size, 343. I wish I had that old car back now!! White with aquamarine interior, 4 door!
In the late 80's my 1st Car was a 1972 Javelin AMX, I loved that car...
Learn to drive in 72 amx javelin my husband got in 73 and I had till 2016 love that car
In retrospective, the AMC Pacer is actually a pretty cool looking hatchback. AMC was truly ahead of its time when it introduced the pacer in 1975. To think that everyone lauded Ford for revolutionizing the car industry with its aerodynamic Taurus in 1987 and Chrysler for its innovative "Cab-forward" design in the 1990s, when AMC had beaten both automakers to the chase with the Pacer. Imagine if the circumstances were different and had the Pacer been executed differently, AMC might have lead the world in small car production instead of the Japanese and Germans.
Another sad story of the demise of great little car company. As a car lover, it tugs at my heart strings. Too bad the auto industry is so competitive, but I am glad regulations keep consumers relatively safe.
In the 70s, me and my brother use to play in this crazy round car, it looks great and feel really spacious inside, nice memories
Technically, American Motors still exists. They had a division called AM General that produced commercial and government vehicles. Ie Buses, Postal Jeeps, Army Jeeps, various tractors, heavy trucks, etc. When Renault joined AMC, AM General had to be split into a separate company because foreign companies were not allowed to be defense contractors (at the time). AM General is still around today, making the Hummer, and its replacement
I love 70's and 60's Hatchbacks, I Just love em
I have a 2002 Camaro and love the hatch back. Last of a dying breed I guess.
My Dad sold AMC/Jeep throughout the mid-70's as a part-time job. He drove a different car every few weeks. He loved the Matador, though he was always a Chevy guy. My first car was a 73 Gremlin that he'd sold to its first owner. I was the third. I loved that little car! It had rubber flooring and I drove it with abandon. I was so sad when it had to be sold because of a cross-country move. I had a Pacer later, about 1984, which met its demise off a cliff in Nevada. It was cheap and reliable, though. AMC made good cars that were underappreciated by most people.
AMC cars were produced in Mexico by VAM (Mexican Automotors Vehicles), Rambler, Gremlin, javelin, matador, all of them, my neighbor had a Pacer in 1980 and it was the most impressive car we had seen. Al of them are now considered as classic cars. Greetings from Mexico City
LOL oook
art war, I thought AMC’s were produced in Detroit, MI on Plymouth road.
I’m from Detroit and use to ride past the factory every day.
VAM only made the engines.
my mom got a matador it was bronze the paint an alloy rims were nice ..had a v8 and went pretty good i bet it was from Mexico
I learned something today.
+Tigger Smoove That was our goal! Thanks for watching!
+Tigger Smoove Me too: a wagon version *and* a V8? Didn't know that!
AutoMoments one thing you didn't mention was that the Pacer was a Terrible car to get stoned in! All that glass made you feel like every cop out there could see what you were doing!
Ha ha, never smoked in one but from the outside it was only a small step to see (imagine) it filled with water and nice little tropical fish swimming around, happy. The rest of the time we just called it ''the aquarium'' and thought we were real funny... until the next time we started to ''see'' things again.
we use to call them a fish bowl !
Was a AMC/JEEP bodyman at a dealer in Conway, N.H.[76-79]..The Pacer door weighed like 300lbs..AMC had a door hinge recall and did a bunch of hinge replace and handling the door was a HEAVY ,HEAVY door..A day in the life..
Thanks for sharing your AMC memories!
"I think we're go with a little Bohemian Rhapsody gentlemen."
At 10:52 talking about quality.....watch the production line factory fitter wrestling with a spring hit the front fender/wing with his crowbar!
That's what happens when you sell >180% your estimated demand
Xilog m
Thats funny
Excellent documentary! Thanks for posting!
Thanks for watching! Be sure to share it with your friends!
Moon river
My friend's dad bought and sold cars routinely. His mother loved her Pacer the most. It was a really comfortable ride too.
I'm sure someone must have put an RX7 rotary in one of these. I'd love to see how it drove as it was originally designed.
it's sad what happened to AMC, they made some gorgeous cars my favorite of which being the javeline
Agreed , the Javelin was an awesome looking car.
You can sync Chrysler for that
1969 AMC amx
Alpha Wolf The Guardian agreed
@WELL_HELLO MUTHAFUGGAHZ I have never considered AMC Rebel as an ugly car, especially 2-door hardtop. I don't know why. Maybe you can tell me. And what should happen to GM for Pontiac Aztek?
In the late 70's I used to deliver cars to dealerships from Montreal to Toronto twice a week. Once we had a few Pacers to drive the 325 miles to TO. I really enjoyed the ride and always wondered why the car just never really caught on.
They certainly could be comfortable cars. Thanks for watching!
The Eagle brand was the original Outback
And BMW X6 !!!!!!!
Subaru was marketing 4wd vehicles in the US at the time. But they did not have 'awd', did not have a viscous-coupled transfer case that allowed them to be driven in 4wd in all conditions including on dry roads. And they were tiny and tinny at the time.
Yes, it was.
Thanks for remembering JME R. I always objected to Paul Hogan Aussie-drawling "The world's first sport utility wagon" in Outback ads. Clearly that honor goes to the AMC Eagle, by which I mean the car (the jacked up AWD Hornet Sportabout), not the brand - that came later after Chrysler bought AMC to get Jeep and had to have a name for the passenger car part of the company, including many non-AWD vehicles. The Hornet-based Eagle wasn't much to look at, but it provided unparalleled versatility and utility w/passenger car drivability because of its unique AWD system - the FIRST true "crossover", decades before the term was coined.
When I was in the Navy in the later 1970s one friend had a Gremlin and another had a Pacer. Went all up and down the East coast in the Pacer. Great cars.
Love the AMC maker and the AMC Pacer and I am British but do love classic American cars , My fond memory of the AMC Pacer was in the film Wayne's World , dude excellent.
LOL
I love this vid! My mom had a baby blue Gremlin until she got rear ended. Then she got a dark blue Pacer. I was a little kid then, and I LOVED that car. My parents got divorced in '74-'75 and my mom packed up whatever she could in that car and we drove from MD to CA in the Pacer. She drove it for a while after the move until the master cylinder went out. It was going to be an expensive fix, so my mom traded it in and got a Renault Fuego in '82 (mom had that car for almost 15yrs! It had well over 300,000 miles on it). I cried when she got rid of the Pacer though, and watching this vid brought back a tidal wave of memories with all three cars I mentioned. There was a running joke in the family that when the Fuego got t-boned, it was still driveable and mom should've donated it back to Mr. Iacocca (aka 'Dad' to my stepfather who worked for AMC/Jeep as a mechanic) because it was so reliable, even after it's untimely death. My stepdad jokingly called the Alliance 'the Appliance'. This is a great vid that I'm going to share with my mom and I'm sure she'll have a blast down memory lane too. Thanks for making this vid, but I was a little disappointed you didn't show a Fuego. Can I get a 'woop woop' for a small re-edit? 😄
I owned a marina blue 1975 Pacer from 1977 to 1983. I loved that car. When something did go wrong with it, I was less then 1/2 a block from a service station, or Sear's Auto Center (when my master cylinder went out). The thermostat failed when I was 50 feet from a service station. In 1983 people would come up to me, and were excited to see the car. You didn't see that many on the road, even then. When I traded it in, the Ford sales manager who test drove it said it handled better than the new Mustangs he sold! I bought the Pacer used in 1977 for $2,800 with 25,000 miles on it, drove it for 6 years, and got $1,200 for it on a trade-in in 1983. It was the best deal I ever made. I wish I still owned it.
Dale S. I fwd'ed the vid to my mom and she had her own trip down memory lane. We called it 'The Fishbowl', but it was such a fun little car! 😄 When we made it to CA, we got so much attn, we didn't see many Pacers in our area. Coming from MD, it was like we did come from another planet and our little Fishbowl was our spacecraft. It was great 😆 If I ever got the chance, I'd try to find one just for the WTF value bcse you don't see them at all anymore. They really were cute little things 😊
I feel sorry for you
Fantastic quality documentary. Great job!
Nearly the last completely new cars designed by AMC. I believe the Jeep Cherokee was the last. I grew up riding in AMCs and vividly remember the experience to this day. Great video Joe!
Two door economy hatchback with a 5 litre V8 block? Oh America....
+LMLMD Only in America!
+LMLMD Lol, indeed. Just terrible combinations. Yet, eventhough the first 1975 Pacer had a 6 cylinder engine, it was still underpowered.
I honestly have no idea how american cars are so bad. They put a 5 litre V8 in a hatchback, and its slow. How does that even work?
max neale older American cars had massive displacement but lower compression ratios. The original Chrysler HEMI engine only made like 250 hp or so
@ Max Neale
The reason are: A stone-age gearbox combined with weight of about 1.6 tonnes, enormous for a car of this size at that time. The 3.8 l V 6 engine had 100 hp and the 5 l V8 about 150 hp, from which probably 2/3 only reached the road anyway. Also they had only one carburetor for such a big engine (in the beginning). How could that be efficient?
If you sell car engines on basis of displacement and cylinder count, then probably this is the result.
This is one of the best videos ever to come up on my recommended. Thnx.
I like AMC. Especially the javelin
!!! WRONG !!!!
@@gouchrcouch there are Javelins and then there are AMXs and to me the 68 to 70 AMX was AMCs finist hours!, Oh, by the way another forgotten about AMC that they didn't mention the 65 to 67 Marlin!, I like those even better than the Pacer!
@@michaelweizer7794 I've owned the best.. '70 AMX's,, 2,, Matador Blue,360,, standard borgwarner trans ,,,, black int.. '70 AMX,, 390 "GO-PAC",,, late model build with the "Torque command trans ... 356 gears in the back,,, Lime Green ,,,, black leather int... (No radio).. ;70 AMC Javelin,, 304 V8 ,,,,,, torgue command trans..(late model build) !! I went door panel to door panel with a '69 Z28 @ 2:30 AM in '91 in Covina, Ca. on/from Azua ave @ covina blvd to Grand Ave .... Yes he was pulling me @ Branacka ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 1/2 a fender ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, green lights until Grand,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, He dumped the wheel and made a left turn through the red.............. Went home told the wife about it.... About 8 days later she was reading the auto trader newspaper and saw the car listed,,, It read,, " '69 Z-28 all of those good looking goodies",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, BO!! ;73 Gremlin 258 6 ,,,, 2 brl carb,(REJETTED),,,, 3 spd trans,,, Bucket seats int......... '71 Hornet,,,,, 232 6 2 brl carb,,,,,,,,,,, 3 on the tree,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 313 gears in the back,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "NO RADIO".. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT JAVELIN WAS SCARRRRRRY!!!!!!!!!!! Warmed over cam,, freeflow exhaust,,,, Gymcanna suspension,,, P245xSR60x14's all corners,,,, 356 gears,, @ 100 mph that exhaust system just "MOANED"!!!!! A friend did the the rebuild on the trans and did a "SPORT" mod to the 727 torqueflite.. 2800 stall speed converter.. Carb was a rejetted 585 cfm Carter............................ 75's in the primaries,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 80's in the secondaries.. ( WE need to feed our Habbbbbit)!!!!!!
'68 SST Javelin 390 beautiful car to fly in.
@@brianhaney9703 yea man picked up a few in my '68, lay the seat back pussy galore.
Cars 2 made me empathise with these distinct little cars. These “lemons” made by defunct companies deserve more love.
My dad still has this car, but it doesn't run. He still has it in great condition.
Awesome! Thanks for watching!
Is its finish brown?
EDIT: I'm asking since I saw a brown one.
Summertime
Get some repairs done and boom.
Pac What's wrong with it?
Even Mazda with all their resources and bright engineers couldn't keep the Rotary engine going, it's bad points were just too hard to overcome, eventually removing it from all their models except the RX-7 line, with the RX-8 being the last, none of their vehicles today uses the engine, so for AMC to have that option kicked out from under them may have been a blessing in disguise.
It would not have been long before the fuel efficiency and emission issues, specially in that time of pre-computer controls, would have raised it's ugly head and AMC would have been hostage to GM to iron out the problems, which was having it's own issues with their production cars.
The Wankel rotary engine is a really cool novelty, and has the highest power-to-volume ratio of any engine design except the turbojet. But its compromises are just too severe to make it practical for everyday high-volume use. Sad. I own one now, but I probably won't own another, unless Mazda comes out with a Wankel/electric hybrid someday when I'm old and rich.
Titus Tucker Yep, that's true. I remember my grandad was forever rebuilding his rotary, the apex seals especially kept wearing down and caused compression to drop. Regardless, it was one hell of a motor. I heard many stories of them leaving worked v8's standing. Including one that my uncle knew who had a Mazda rotary, 260kph flat to the floor.. No one could catch him, not even the police of the day...lol(early 1980's). Heard of many others wrapping their rotary's* around trees due to the speed they were capable of. I remember when Mazda proposed a 4 rotor version, they were said to be banned in Australia before they even went into production. Deemed too powerful for (public) road use.
*Mazda Rotary or simply "Rotary" was the unofficial name in Australia for the models that possessed them.
Cat Funt How often do you change seals?
Yeah, the rx8 would spontaneous combust. Nobody has been able to master the rotary technology
Excellent documentary. Thanks for sharing.
Great film! Thanks RCR for directing me here!
I loved this! I'll never forget my best friend's sister's husband bought one as a surprise. We were trying not to laugh but couldn't keep it under control! Her sister ended up loving that car and drove it until it crapped out. Can't remember how many years she drove that car.
Hey, that was a great documentary. I love MotorWeek and it was neat to see Davis and Goss give interviws. Nice job!
+piusg Thanks! They were really great to work with.
Excellent documentary - love the intro and outro 70's disco-themed music!
I owned a 1978 AMC Pacer D/L Sport Coupe. Two tone black and silver. Beautiful car! I loved it!
My grandfather worked for AMC design for a long time. He never runs out of interesting stories about the company.
Makes you wonder what our auto industry may have looked like nowadays is AMC had as good a foothold in the market as the big three.
Also, Chrysler is starting to make AMC's mistakes in today's world.
tman008 Yeah, if AMC had stuck around, things certainly would be different today. Thanks for watching!
tman008 STARTING? Chrysler has been making those mistakes for years.
I owned a brand new AMC Pacer and loved it with one major exception. I liked the passenger door that was 4 inches wider than the drivers door (to allow rear seat access) and the amount of windows was nice too. I never demanded much power so whatever it had (I don't remember) it got me where I was going. Oh, that one major exception - front wheel alignment. I couldn't keep the darn thing to where both wheels were headed in the same direction. After three wheel alignments the guy said the only way it would stay aligned was if I had it welded in the aligned position. That is what I did and it worked until I traded it off in a couple of years never telling the dealer about that minor alignment problem.
Available with the 304 V8. A friend of mine had a Gremlin X. Swapped out the 304 for a built 401. All the AMC V8's were dimensionally identical. That Gremlin was sick.
Very well done video! So many people foolishly compare small companies like AMC to huge corporations like GM, expecting them to match up. It never occurs to them that smaller companies can't afford to do that. Instead of giving respect to the underdog, as you said, they slam the company for not measuring up to the big corporations. That's like criticizing a small, regional band for not having a huge stage show with pyrotechnics like U2 or the Rolling Stones.
I wonder what Jeep would be like today if AMC never sold to Chrysler. The 4.0 I6, and AMC engine used in Cherokee models from 1984-2001 is the most reliable engine in the world, not even Honda can match it. The Cherokee and Wrangler from that same year span are the best off roaders in the business as well. Such an innovative company
"So many people foolishly compare small companies like AMC to huge corporations like GM, expecting them to match up. It never occurs to them that smaller companies can't afford to do that."
Many people have a very silly notion that any corporation must have unlimited financial resources and can afford practically any challenge they face. They don't live in the real world. Statistically, something like 90% of new companies fail and go out of business. Even companies that are a century old have closed, because they couldn't adapt to market challenges. What happened to AMC is sad.
I wish AMC had stayed on for some not years. It might have made a much needed change in New American Cars. I wouldn't touch any Amarican car made in last 20 years. I prefer the much more reliable Japanese and Korean cars. Not even Germany with their electrical problems can beat the reliability of Honda's/Toyota's or Hyundai/Kia's.
so true
We had on in '75. It was comfortable, easy to park, built like a tank, could tow almost anything,, had minivan'like interior space, and there was room enough for....um.......a young bachelor and his date. The bigger straight six was 2 cubic inches short of the small Ford V-8 used in the original Mustang (258 vs. 260). About 12 to 15 years later, Japanese brands had styling knock-off of the Pacer. A failure? What constitutes a "success"? The Chevette?
"A failure? What constitutes a "success"? The Chevette?
No, Toyota Celica and Honda Civic were spectacular successes. Ugly AMC styling did more to kill the company than the mechanics which were good for the tiime.
So are you saying your an exhibitionist then? I don’t have a problem with it just asking.
@@moneyandtimefreedom3352 I took out the passenger seat and the space was very comfortable and private for two, except for the footprints on the inside of the windshield.
I once had a Mazda GLC, a riff on the Gremlin. But boy, could my current CR-V use the amount of window space of a Pacer! :-) But look, 20 years later we got the Saturn, and 40 years later we got those butt ugly PT Cruisers that many were crazy about, so a little uniqueness is a good thing to stir the pot once in awhile. :)
Priceless. Great vid. Best regards from the UK
Wonderful film! Well written, well produced. Thank you for the effort and the sharing. Thumbs up.
Proud owner of an AMC Eagle... loved it... Also had a Gremlin... A fast SOB...
We had an Orange Hornet loved it
I have a 1982 sw4 eagle. I get alot comments about it.
I had a 1979 Pacer. Fully loaded with leather, power seats - everything available! Bought it for $400 back in about 1989. V8 304 engine. It was surprisingly quick and fun to drive.
I had an AMC Pacer. In typical AMC fashion, there was always something broken on that car. By the time I got around to fixing what was wrong with it, something else would break. I was glad when it was totaled while it was parked.... and, no, I didn't hire somebody to crash into it while it was parked. Good idea though.
I feel like the Chevy Monza and Ford Pinto were very similar.
@@ewmegoolies Pacer idea probably came from Pinto. They just exaggerated some features like the width and the windows.
@Armando Silvier I don't know about that - my parents bought a '75 Pinto Squire wagon (with the fake wood applique and details on the sides) and a very oversized 2.8L German Ford V6. That little wagon "was the best handling car" my dad said he ever owned (of course, when he bought a car it was nothing sporty) and lasted about nine years until the interior rust (even the dashboard was metal!) and rotted floorboard took over. My mom got tired of having to scrape frost from the interior of the glass on cold mornings! This got me thinking - that fat but small Pinto wagon had the optional V6 that seemed so modern at the time but the engine was wedged into a compartment built for a four, and the acceleration still left a lot to be desired. Gas mileage might have averaged 18 MPG. As many have said about that decade in these comments, oh America in the '70s. But our Squire wagon with "blue metallic glow" paint was not a bad looking car inside or out. And the wagons did not suffer from rear-collision gas tank explosions (as far as I recall).
Nice work on this. Enjoyed watching and the memories.. Thank you.
I had 3 as a kid ! The pacer , a 4wd eagle wagon ( that went anywhere) and a spirit. All cheap at the time .
My biology teacher had a Pacer when I was in high school.
We got eight students in the back to go to a field trip!
I really am amazed at how popular amc's became through the years, after the company went under. "Looks like the underdog win's after all...!"