Here’s a double-or-triple change of pace—a 1978 AMC Pacer, ever a niche car, now rendered even more obscure by having been turned electric and further adapted with a system to create recharge by harnessing air created by the movement of shocks. The latter system is now off the car, but safe to say that this 1978 AMC EVA Pacer has endured its share of engineering experimentation. The current owner restored it and seems to have had his fun with it. He speaks of a show that he attended where the car scored high in judging. But that was way back in 2015. The Pacer has been stored in a climate-controlled space since then. Now it can go to a new mad scientist. It’s available here on eBay with a current bid of $6400 and not having met its reserve.
Doesn’t everyone who grew up in the 1970s have a Pacer story? Mine happened when I was living in Peterborough, Ontario. I had tickets to the Peterborough Petes hockey game one night. I was excited to see my future NHL heroes. I was more excited because someone was going to drive the then-new Pacer around on the ice between periods. I remember hearing, “That thing looks like a goldfish bowl,” and I had to admit, it did. But over the course of time, the quirky has become the adorable.
The Pacer came out for the 1975 model year and lasted until 1980, selling over a quarter-million units. Various models would have been equipped with mid-sized 6-cylinders or even a 304-CID V8. Electric Vehicle Associates, out of Cleveland, converted about 100 gas Pacers to electric power, renaming them “Change of Pace” models. This vehicle has gone only 75 miles, 50 in the hands of the current owner. He says it goes 60mph.
Should you pull the trigger on this one? If you’ve already got a standard Pacer and a Levi’s edition Gremlin, this this would be one more for the collection. But this car may or may not be roadworthy for any sort of trip, as the battery range is undetermined. Plus, what are you going to do with it if and when it doesn’t fire up to go on the trailer to head to the show? If you’re an electrical engineer or a particularly adept tinkerer, then you’d be OK putting the multimeter to work. At least the owner has installed a modern electric vehicle controller and offers a laptop to program it as part of the deal. If that doesn’t scare you off, maybe this is the next adventure in your automotive journey.
I’d rather drink a tank of gas with a straw than deal with that battery mess .
@Bud Lee Would like to see you drink a tank of gas.
This car is called the change of Pace Pacer. This is a legit one of one. I happen to know this car.
To clarify some history. Most of these were sold to electric companies to promote electric vehicles. When sold were dismantled and incomplete. This is the only complete with it’s original system
The person who bought it new owned a company in Cleveland Ohio that had the tech to convert and add a system to charge the batteries. Like todays hybrids. The company was quickly bought…..and forgot about.
The owner packed up and moved out of state and retired. He took the Pacer with him since he just bought it. At the time it only had 27 original miles. The miles from driving it around the complex. What is unfortunate is he put a tarp on it and never moved it since moving to his new home.
The current owner has done a monumental amount of work. It has 6V batteries. The motor is Otis elevator power. The Pacer was chosen for the conversion due to it being small and overbuilt. The wagon was the perfect choice.
Most looking and commenting have NO clue what they are looking at or how important this car really is. I feel ebay is a poor choice to list it for sale. BAT is the way to go.
Pushing the weight of that many LEAD-acid batteries, this thing probably gets a range of 100 feet. A proper (and much more expensive) conversion would have been to use lithium batteries. At least the car would be relatively useful.
It should be noted that the current owner who restored the car knows about batteries more than any commenter on here. It’s his business. His business one of the only that does independent testing.
Be that as it may the science of lead acid batteries has changed since the 1970’s as everyone knows. Is it possible to power the car with less better etc? Yes.
His choice was to restore the car as it was built. Be that as it may say what you will. Joke about it. It is still one of the lowest mileage Pacers in the world.
I… um… uh… well, I just don’t think so. But an “E” for effort!
This one also extends it’s range by using Unicorn farts and fairy dust. Hopefully, the owner didn’t disconnect those options.
An interesting museum-piece relic of the “Crap Era” of electric cars. Other than the seller’s “modern EV controller” this has more in common with a pre-1920 Woods, Baker or Detroit Electric than it does with even the lowliest first-year Leaf.
I had a ’78 Matador station wagon the same color. Paid $500 for it in ’94 or ’95. At a car lot. It was just as ugly.
“Current bid…current owner”. Well played.
Will they only take cash or can I charge it?
Glad to see I’m not the only one super disappointed to find out this thing didn’t have a 304 and a 4 speed…
Is that a gas heater under the hood? That’s hurting my brain.
This might not be a bad choice of a car for a conversion. My first conversion was in the early 80s. Was a FIAT 850, DC motor from a forklift and lead acid batteries. A really poor choice of a car.
My current conversion is a Karmann Ghia, AC motor and Li ion batteries. A good choice and a lot of fun.
Not that much has changed for conversions since the 80s or the 1900s for that matter. The main improvement is that you can buy more components and more is known.
A good car for a conversion needs to have the room for all the bits like the batteries, controller, converters, etc. It also needs the payload capacity. The FIAT did not have either the room or payload capacity. This car has both.
Regardless of which batteries you choose the distance you go rule of thumb is weight in lbs / 10. So if you have a 3000lb car it will use 300watt hrs per mile. Add more batteries to go farther adds more weight and you need more batteries. Li ion batteries weigh less which is a plus.
The AC motor is an improvement because it is lighter, runs cooler, has regen braking, is more efficient, and is more programmable.
I like the conversion because it is quieter, doesn’t drip oil, smells better, and most of all it is so fun to tinker with. As to the idea that it requires less work I do not agree. There are always wires that were run so that they chafe and short or other things that I find over time. It is a great hobby
To me an AMC fan would have a piece of history and it would be a blast to drive around and customize. The folks at VW shows love the Ghia and are always asking for rides. Then again VWs are known for being customized and the folks are accepting.
I had a guy come to look at my 81 Ford Durango I had for sale once. He said he was choosing between that and a Peugeot and some other car if I recall correctly to do a conversion on. He didn’t choose the Durango ute even though it had a nice space to put the batteries in the stow away behind the seats. Or there was even a void space where the spare tire would have been for the Fairmont which in the Durango was sealed up by the fiberglass bed.
If one were a technology collector, or a small technology museum, this would be a good buy.
There’s some interesting information about these “Change of Pace Pacers” on the web, including newspaper photos of the only (this one) station wagon, which originally had some promotional lettering on the sides: https://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?50748-AMC-Pacer-EVA-Change-of-Pace-1977
AMC Pacemaker.
Sad to see non-thinking comments. If people didn’t think out side the box how would anything new be invented or improved on? I was working in the lab that made the GM Impact Electric car, lessons learned there helped us get to where we are today, with much to be improved on yet.
And yet, “Impact” was probably the worst name for a car, ever.
A change to lithium or gel batteries would be good, get it dialed in and it would make a good around town car. With the level of the restoration you would not have to do anything but tinker once in awhile. I’m weird but I think it is kinda cute, tint the windows a little to keep the heat down. I’d drive it.
Lookit that freakin’ fuse!
Yeah, and when those fuses pop you know it. Like a gun shot.
Heard of a bonehead who put his traction fuse in the passenger compartment. When it popped his ears didn’t stop ringing for days.
It ended with reserve not met.
Reserve not me? SHOCKING!
(look..somebody had to say it….)
Yes, the bids came up short
To much resistance
Yep, nobody wanted to take it ‘ohm…
The car’s obscurity impedance-d the bidding.
Oh well, I tried.
This is the Pacer Wagon…..the sedan was the Goldfish bowl Pacer.
We had several of these Pacers as they were company cars. I remember the blue Wagon was fairly peppy on the road. Never looked under the hood
so don’t remember what engine it was.
Never would have bought one, but these were free….so it was ok.
This beauty is still out there? I’m shocked that none of these ‘lectric car fans wouldn’t be out bidding each other in a frenzy to take this car home and perfect it.
It will cost you well over a grand just to replace the batteries
To give you an idea in my Ghia it has a small 14.6kWh Li ion battery which cost close to $7k.
A conversion takes a lot of commitment, and it is so much fun.
Did electric cars back then have a/c or even a heater?