“No rust or bondo,” those are the words of the seller of this incredibly nice-looking 1975 AMC Pacer. Yes, 1975 was the first model year for this (dare I say it?) (oh, what the heck) iconic car. Other than a couple of small paint flaws, this is one clean car. The seller has it posted here on craigslist in San Francisco, California, and they’re asking what seems like a “reasonable” (for 2026) price of $10,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Tony P. for the tip!
Man, this is one nice-looking car, and I don’t know if I’ve said that about a Pacer since I was barely a teenager and wanted one when they first came out. I think it would still be fun to own one, especially an X in similar condition to this beauty. The big debate is: the classic two-door sedan with curved rear glass, or the somewhat more useful two-door wagon that doesn’t have the curved rear glass?
We’ve seen these cars before; I think I counted 15 AMC Pacers from 1975 being shown here on Barn Finds over the years. Some have been almost perfect, and some have been… well, not perfect. The seller has provided a lot of great photos, including an engine photo (!), but oddly enough, there isn’t one photo showing the front of the car at all, not even a glimpse. There is also not one photo showing the rear cargo area or underneath.
Look at that interior, though! Sure, a manual transmission would be icing on the cake (for the record, we grew up calling it frosting, not icing), but I don’t see one flaw inside this car at all. Maybe a deep cleaning of the seats would be the only thing I’d do; otherwise, I’d have this car at so many local car shows that people would roll their eyes when they saw me driving in, aaaaagain. As expected, the back seat looks perfect.
Dang, check out that clean engine compartment! This surgically clean AMC 258-cu.in. OHV inline-six would have been rated at 110 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque when new. This one is backed by a Chrysler-sourced TorqueFlite three-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels. The seller says it runs and drives great, and I can’t imagine one looking any nicer for this asking price. I know that we used to buy these all day long for $5,000 or less, but that was a decade or two (or more) ago, and today is today. $10,500 seems reasonable for this nice of a car that would draw as big a crowd as this car will, 99.9% of the time you stop for gas or groceries. Any thoughts on this one?
Wow, this is a really nice Pacer! It is well equipped, totally OEM, and super clean.
Tilt wheel, too.
What a neat looking car! Having grown up and lived in SW Mississippi and now living in EC Louisiana, I don’t recall having ever seen one in person. This neck of the woods has been pretty much known as Ford and GM country (some MoPars but mostly Ford/GM). I had sorta forgotten about these interesting little cars – my apologies. Makes me want to cue up that great John Denver and George Burns movie “Oh God”. I think that I will do just that. In the meantime, here’s to that cute thing going to a great new home!
I live in South Texas and need A/C otherwise the car would be in my garage at this price as it’s in such good condition.
People in the 70s who bought those greenhouses without air, soon regreted it. That 258 looks too tightly packed to work on, the engine compartment was designed for the ill fated GM rotary. Still, a nice car for the day, the first time I drove one I was impressed with the visibility from inside.
My Jeep dealer in Virginia will not order anything without AC..
Lets cruise and pick up chicks.
This is a very surprisingly clean Pacer. The X is a nice trim level, and it sure looks like there was a heavy hand with the check boxes on the order sheet back in ’75 with this one. The AMC rims really dress these up a notch too.
I had a ’78 Pacer wagon I bought almost new. I wanted a wagon with a stick shift and it was too late in the year to order one. Our local dealer found one that was being used by an AMC service rep. I had to wait until it 4000 mi. on it before they would sell it. It had a 232 six and a 4speed stick, great car to put all of my camping gear in, and still 25-30 mpg on the hiway. We went to Florida that August with no A/C, and it was HOT. I was 20 then and didn’t really care. Great cars.
This car is supposed to have air conditioning. All Pacers without A/C had no dash vents. My guess is it was removed due to failure. My 1977 had no A/C in Pennsylvania and it was just as uncomfortable as any other car without it. It is a great looking car and I would love to have one again, but the other half of the household would have a conniption.
I know that song! 😂
This one is so nice. A/C could likely be reinstalled with modern parts. My first car was a ’75 Pacer without air, I can confirm it is as hot as Hades in the summertime.
Vintage Air system would probably work better than the original set up.
Makes me automatically think of Wayne’s World except without the blue paint job and flames on the sides! LOL
A really sharp-looking Pacer. (Now, I’m surprised I would ever say that, but somehow I don’t think they look near as strange as I once thought they did.)
Thanks SG, good write-up.
I think when the Pacer came out in 75 It’s shape was a shock to us all. Nothing else looked like it. After all the jellybean shapes of the last 30 years the Pacer now almost looks good.
Is this baby still for sale? What a hoot!!! Carry on Garth!!!
Fun fact: AMC called their Chrysler sourced automatic transmission “Torque Command”. Anyone remember that?
The decimal point seems off by a lot.
I was entering art school to become a car designer* just as the Pacer hit the market. I remember a news release wherein an AMC executive stated the Pacer would be ‘the next Mustang” in its popularity and sales numbers. To me, Pacer WAS the future of downsized cars. Its advertising won awards. I still think the Pacer is beautiful (different does not equal ugly) and, if not for some misguided packaging, could have been very successful. This is a gorgeous car that expresses all the beautiful aspirations of AMC’s go-for-broke ethos for survival. (*I became a graphic designer instead)
No other car could make that sandwich.
Nice. Should sell fast. This is the Pacer no one ever thought about when they ran their mouth with all the usual Pacer banter. Trimmed up right, like this one, they’re really neat looking. Most were beige, poopy light brown or baby blue with unflattering dogdish hubcaps and never waxed. The black, bright yellow, Basin St. blue (I know, that’s Mopar’s name) and metallic olive green were some of the cool colors I remember seeing around on Pacers. Some funky two tones too!
I guess I’m in the other camp. I have always thought these were the most God awful ugly cars, I ever laid eyes on. Don’t get me wrong, this is a nice example and is very clean, but I still find them ugly. The Gremlin X was a much better looking car (I use that term loosely). Obviously, there are many people who liked the looks and usefulness of the car. I guess that’s why there are so many flavors of ice cream.
Kinda ugly, but great visibility!
i would pay 10k for a gremlin before i would on 1 of these. no thank you.
All that glass looks like the cabin could get real hot, real fast.
Back in the late 70s, we pulled the front subframes out of these in the wreaking yards as steering and suspension in some 30s and 40s street rods.
My wife saw this vehicle on a car lot and loved it, she had a 75 Ford Gran Torino Brougham and begged me to trade in the Ford and get the Pacer, I did and she loved it, she railed at the 360° vision and ease of getting the carriage for our 1st daughter into the hatchback, plus it was super easy to drive and parallel park, long story short she drove it for years and years, actually was a decent vehicle just ugly.
My wife saw this vehicle on a car lot and loved it, she had a 75 Ford Gran Torino Brougham and begged me to trade in the Ford and get the Pacer, I did and she loved it, she railed at the 360° vision and ease of getting the carriage into the hatchback, plus it was super easy to drive and parallel park, long story short she drove it for years and years, actually was a decent vehicle just ugly.
I dated a girl, back in the early 90’s that drove a Pacer wagon. I never rode in it. I couldn’t..just too strange. The car was too.
Sorry fellas I am holding out for a nice Gremlin….
We are always being told that aliens were/are among us. Looking at this Pacer, this was their contribution to mankind back in 1975. It could be worse.
What I loved about the Pacer, from the very beginning, was such visibility and full-sized interior passenger accommodation, in an economical compact car. Brilliant thinking; sadly, people didn’t like its looks. Though I imagine that you were “dead meat” in an accident.
Ha! We don’t have a “Best Comments” section, but if we did, these would make the list!
I owned a 75 Pacer X. Took it to Hawaii for 3 year6and even brought it back to Texas. Loved that car
This one is gone. Did one of you buy it?