There seem to be an awful lot of really nice looking cars coming up for sale lately. This 1975 AMC Pacer D/L is yet another one in a series of nice AMCs that we have seen recently here. This example can be found on Craigslist, or if the listing goes away the photos and text can be found here. It’s located in Mechnicsburg, Pennsylvania with an asking price of $$6,500. Believe it or not, that number appears to be right on according to Hagerty’s value system. Pacers are hot right now, get them while you can. Thanks to Rocco B. for sending in this beauty!
I seem to get into trouble if I go off the deep end when referring to the condition of certain vehicles as being too nice. Muscle cars? No problem. Of course those are always “too expensive” but fawning over them is perfectly acceptable. A car that’s more likely to be made fun of, such as an AMC Pacer is, that’s where the trouble usually starts brewing. It’s impossible for any rational adult to look at this car and not be in awe of the condition, whether they like the particular car or not. This Pacer looks like it’s about as nice of an example as a person is likely to find, at least in this price range.
With that huge greenhouse it’s nice to hear the seller mention that the AC is cold. As great as this Butterscotch-colored car looks in the photos it isn’t quite as museum-quality as it may seem. The seller mentions that this Pacer “was repainted prior to our ownership, paint is holding up well. a few small bubbles in paint.” At least the “Floors are rust free”.
This D/L has the Navajo-inspired interior which originally came on early D/L, or De-Luxe, models. A woodgrain dash was also a part of the De-Luxe model. Kudos to the seller for including an area of the Navajo fabric that needs help, on the driver’s door panel. The passenger side door panel looks good.
This is AMC’s 258 inline-six which would have had 110 hp. Most of us know that this car was originally going to have a Wankel rotary engine but AMC agreed to use a coming-soon GM-designed rotary engine, but when that project was scrapped in 1974 the company was already too far into development to stop. The seller talks about the maintenance work that has been done on this car: “New radiator, all new hoses and belts. ball joints, brakes and calipers, 4 like new tires, Power brakes, Power steering, steering rack replaced, new Alignment 2017. Great tour car. Drive it home.”
I’d say Wayne or Garth would capture this car best, “Excellent!” Party on!
I think these are great little cars. When I was a teenager (oh so long ago) a friend at church had one she let me drive. It was three on column and a lot of fun to drive. Really like the Navajo interior.
I wouldn’t be caught dead driving one of these. LOL Gotta be the ugliest, most rediculace thing ever built. There’s a reason they used one for Wayne’s world. They were a joke! LOL
“I wouldn’t be caught dead driving…” — well that explains some of the driving techniques being used today!!
And what is “rediculace”? Is that what they called the Garters that teenagers used to hang from their rear view mirrors in the 80″s?
Not picking on you…. Your post just amused me for some reason. Maybe it’s just the adult beverages consumed. Thanks!!!
That is seriously hilarious!! Thank you for the laugh. “Rediculace”
you talk ugly what about pontiac aztecs or the chev avalance pickup with all that crap plastic cladding all over it! thats ugly!
BINGO!!! You hit the nail on the head with that comment.
Steve, does it make you feel better making fun of what you don’t care for? Many of us owners do love them and I don’t believe we’d make disparaging remarks about whatever you like. Car people are supposed to be more civil toward each other.
Rediculace?
Lol. Lol.
Good thing I don’t give a rat’s patoot about your irrelevant opinion.
Do you honestly think anyone cares about your opinion, genius? If you don’t like the car, why bother clicking or commenting on it? And learn how to spell…
This would be sweet with a 401 in it!
It’s sweet with a 258 in it…
Agreed, this example is truly in remarkable condition. These things have attracted some sort of cult following, for the life of me I can’t figure out why.
Nice condition even for a Pacer, I guess if us Ford guys can love our Pintos and GM guys can love their Vegas we should let the AMC guys have their love of their manufacturers ugly duckling. Go for it if you love it.
Love it or hate this USC’s fantastic find; great colour and interior finish on this one, a rolling time machine.
Well done. Unique and realistic even now.
Fill the hole back in. Let’s come back in 100 years…..
Say what you will about the styling, these are really good driving cars.
I had one for a while and I was very confortable in it, which is the most important thing to me.
This car has been for sale at Hershey the last 2 years, the fish hanging in the rear window tipped me off. Its in really nice shape. When I first saw it I thought it was a survivor but like the sellers says its been repainted. I was tempted
Well, you better be a “people person” if you drive this, because it will draw a crowd wherever you go. Personally, I would love to drive something like this in my little town in Colorado. Odd vehicles show up all the time at the grocery store. I think, the reason a lot of these are showing up, is, if you do the math, the people that probably bought these cars new, who would be in their 80’s now, are passing, and the kids don’t want it( or need the cash for the nursing home bill, more accurately) and I bet there’s still a bunch of these in garages across America. Looks like a pain under the hood, and it is still an old car, so it will need something but not any worse than anything today. I couldn’t justify the price, but it is a great find.
This is a fantastic engine—my family has had a 1978 Concord with the 258 since new, and it’s not a rocket ship, but the engine is practically bulletproof. Roughly 100,000 km on the odometer and counting.
It is a pain under the hood. It was designed for the little rotary that never got built, so they crammed the engine into a space it was never desingned for. Of course, I’m probably not telling most of you enthusiasts here anything new…
Really cool example of these. I’d keep it as-is until it needed something and then I’d seriously consider resto-mod. But, that’s just me…
The Gremlin Custom, another AMC product, was offered with a VW 4 cylinder 2 liter engine from 1976 to 1978, it has a similar weight to a Wankel engine, that may fit the Chrysler TorqueFlite 3 speed + reverse auto trans in Gremlin.
Some European users of AMC Pacer installed a Chrysler 2 liter engine, or even a Diesel, same as some owners of NSU Ro-80 put a Ford V6 under the hood or even a Mazda Rotary, giving a bit better mileage than the NSU Wankel, but the Pacer 6-in-line engine, 232 or 258, had a weight around 240 kg, 530 lb, 91 or 110 HP; while a 2 rotor NSU Wankel, equivalent to 2 litres, 115 HP, weights 101 kg, 223 lb, final result is good.
The Gremlin 2 litres is 1161 kg/ 2560 lb, the Pacer 6L is 1361 kg, 3000 lb, with any Wankel engine, just the engine weight difference, 140 kg/ 90 lb will noticeably improve the AMC Pacer performance. Automobile-catalog indicates a city fuel use of 13.7 lit/ 100 km for the 1977 VW group 2 litres engine Gremlin Custom, and 19 litres/ 100 km for the 1977 AMC Pacer 258 auto trans having probably same gearbox.
For those who think Pacers are ugly, have a look at what BL produced at around the same time..!
IMHO, the AMC model would have made sense as a FWD platform. Unfortunately, there was no money in the Kenosha company’s piggybank to develop new driveline technology, and simultaneously meet crashworthiness, exhaust emissions and CAFE requirements.
I gotta say that I like it Beatnik, but I like the Pacer also. Not sure what that says about me. I enjoy your comments! Take care, Mike.
Sorry, cool, but not even close,, :)
@ Beatnick: Austin Allegro Vanden Plas. The luxury version
The very one. There are a few Allegros and VdP versions still around NZ, along with the ultra-exotic Austin Princess.
Beatnik,
Ahhh yessss, the Vanden Plas Princess version of the Austin Marina. At least it looks great from the inside, with the 100% leather interior, real wood dash [fascia] and door cappings, as well as folding picnic tables in the seat backs!
That reminds me of a joke I heard years ago in England:
A young schoolgirl walking home from school is approached by a man driving in a car. He offers the girl a ride in his car, but she refuses & keeps on walking.
He pulls along side the young girl again and offers some candy. Again she refuses and continues walking.
He tries again, offering a very nice doll if she will get into his car.
She stops and in a very angry voice shouts out her answer:
“I told you if you bought a new Austin Marina, Daddy, I wouldn’t ride in it!”
I would dd that….nice survivor
This is the third great one I’ve seen lately. I was not aware that it was Wankel prepared. The GM Skyhawks, Monza, and Starfire were made to use their Wankel that never got made. Was the Pacer going to use the GM Wankel? Why didn’t they use the V6 like the rest when it didn’t happen?
I read, AMC had an agreement with Curtiss-Wright to build the Wankel. When they backed out, they did turn to GM, but GM cancelled all plans in ’74 for the rotary, leaving AMC with their pants down, and GM probably couldn’t spare any V6’s, and AMC had warehouses full of 258’s.
Too bad AMC sold the tooling to Buick’s V6 back to them
I worked for an AMC dealership back then. The rotary plans had been shelved long before the introduction date. When the pre-public announcement was made to the dealers, we were advised to expect the VW-Audi water-cooled 4 cylinder by 1976. When that fell thru, rumors suggested the Renault 4-cylinder engine, but there was too much work to change the engine to work with RWD.
And about that paint color;
Those of us at the dealership called it “Baby s**t brown”.
Hate to say it, but there’s one of these with 4500 miles on it being auctioned on that other site where the bidding is north of 11K right now
I remember working in a rustproofing shop in the late 70’s and I still have nightmares about removing those ridiculous one piece, barn door size, hump back brittle plastic door panels in these. My boss was a gem at selling our services to all the local dealers and the AMC sales staff would sell the carp out of Pacers and rustproofing. Worse, we had to drive them from the dealer to the shop and back.
Gah…car PTSD
The Pacer had some problems when they came out but it was a car like looked like no other. Now all cars look about the same and about the same color. Most of the car shows I go to are limited to pre 73 but if that wasn’t the case I’d buy a pacer to restore or retro mod
I’ve had two Pacers and a V8 Gremlin and liked all of them. The Pacers drove and rode great. The Gremlin, with the 304, surprised a lot of people.
One thing that I have never done is criticized anybody’s taste in cars. I think we all need to stick together.
I drove a 304 Pacer sedan (a ‘78, I believe) about ten or twelve years ago, and was quite surprised. the Mustang is my first love, but I’ve lived with an AMC Concord in the family since I was 8, and love AMC’s of all types.
I was 17 years old when these came out, couldn’t believe how goofy they looked. Now they look kinda neat to me. But like Doc Holiday said in Tombstone, my hippocracie goes just so far. Lol
Bought one used in 78-79 for my wife as her first car. She drove it for many years. If I remember the mpg sucked and the passenger door is longer than the drivers door. But plenty of room in it due to being so wide and great on the highway. Haven’t seen one on the road in years.
I had a 1978 Pacer with the “unburstable” 258cid. I bought it during my first winter in Ohio and, coming from a warmer clime, I didn’t think to check the antifreeze level of the coolant — never needed to where I was from.
Well, in my ignorance, one -10 degree day I drove it until the engine wouldn’t “take-the-gas” anymore. It started to smoke and I could feel the onset of engine seizure as the car rolled to a stop. The temperature gauge needle was by now going around for the second time.
After having it towed to a heated garage and letting it heat-soak for a day to melt the iced-up coolant, it started right up (albeit with a little bit of piston noise) and I drove it for another 53,000 miles without any issues at all.
Try that with your fancy Audi, Porsche, Cadillac, or whatever and then see what it costs you!
Incidentally, the Pacer had a 4 speed transmission and, with good snow tires fitted, was the best car I’ve ever had on the snow-covered brick streets we have around here in the winter.
I used to pop the old girl into 2nd gear, keep my foot off the accelerator, and then idle my way up or down any street I wanted to and it was kinda fun watching those GM FWD monsters going sideways and biffing curbs as they attempted to navigate those same streets.
Yeah, wish I still had a Pacer — if only for the smiles (or were they smirks?) it got from the neighbors.
RB
RB
One of the fugliest cars ever made Perhaps the not the worst but up there. Yet for some reason that escapes me, I would not only own this particular one I would baby it and lovingly polish it and maintain it and smile while I drove it. Good heavens, what has happened to me ?!?!?!
You’ve developed good taste.
not 80s, 70s now Rube…
Ugly is ugly sorry AMC guys, I am a Ford and GM guy. I will admit that Pintos and Vega’s are absolute Junk.
The 2001 two seat thunderbird along with Bronco ll and the Mustang ll were all very very pour garbage remakes of nice cars.
Pontiac Aztec is hard to look at.
Ford Probe is another one that Ford would like a do over on.
And there really is no excuses for Chevy Citation’s or Ford Maverick’s……but you have to admit this AMC Pacer is the absolute Ugliest thing that you could be seen in. Even uglier then modern day Nissan’s (which is saying a lot)
Ford Probe. Ford Escort. Did no one at FORD’s marketing department think of the innuendo with those names? Or maybe they did, and signed off anyway.
It doesn’t have direct connection to the AMC Pacer, but an Spanish site: ‘Milanuncios’, is offering a NSU Spider Wankel Engine (498 cc, single rotor, 50 HP; liquid cooled) and its gearbox https://www.milanuncios.com/recambios-de-coches-clasicos/motor-nsu-wankel-278020724.htm the last offer to seller, Alberto from Palencia, was 1’000 €. It’s not my engine, I have no interest in it but as putative buyer. Good bargain!
this is exactly what I want and then noticed the date 2018. any more like this in 2022?