There are actually quite a few upgrade options for this engine, if you decide you need more ponies. NSU's RO80, an advanced if not futuristic concept by a rather small independent, was a desaster. It could reach 150 km/h.

Until now.

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Introduced in showrooms on 28 February 1975, the Pacer was designed to attract buyers of traditional large cars to a smaller package during a time when gasoline prices were projected to rise dramatically. Thanks for commenting. For benefit of back seat passengers, the passenger door is 10 cm longer than the driver's door.

I believe so.

They had planned to replace the GM engine by their own design some time later. It looked more conventional, a fact that should help it find customers who disliked the mars explorer look of the Coupe. We offer shirts on Spreadshirt and Amazon. ... itspowered by a 440ci V8 engine that has been stroked to 505ci andpaired with afour-speedmanual transmission. While being at it, the Pacer got the famous Mercedes look that was so hip at the time.

Too compact to be taken seriously by American buyers, too big to be considered a compact by Europeans. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Rotary engines weren't known to be extremely fuel-efficient by then, and the oil crisis made efficiency an important feature. In the 1970s, American Motors was a struggling company. Did that make sense? An optional performance package, consisting of stiffer springs, front anti-sway bar, floor shift and rally package (tacho and gauges for oil pressure, water temperature and battery charge) was offered. History |

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However, at an early stage the wide body with standard drive train was chosen, providing a much more spacious and comfortable interior than those of the competition while not scaring customers away with the unfamiliar front wheel drive.

The AMC Pacer... 4.3 meters of automotive innovation. I hope they just cleaned up the outside. Lately, the Pacer is seen differently: as a design icon of its time, and as what it could have been.

Ridiculed and laughed at by both.

A bitter end of a great concept. All rights reserved.

However, times are a-changing. A Pacer at a car show always draws a crowd, and not many cars have this talent. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Richard Teague, Vice President of Styling, gave it a a down-sloping hood, tunneled headlights, and huge glass areas. However, Pacer sales fell after the first two years, tho… And of a hood ornament to make the fake Mercedes look complete.

The Pacer had a V8 engine option of its own starting in 1978, but that 5-liter only put out 125 hp and had 300 Nm of torque. Mazda did get their rotaries clean and durable, though, leaving the rather high fuel consumption as only drawback. Lack of power was suspected to be the culprit. In its first year of production, the Pacer sold well, with 145,528 units. Your email address will not be published.

1979 AMC Pacer, getting harder to find, good body, original interior, factory roof rack, 6cyl auto, PS, PB, runs and drives | More Info › Country Classic Cars Staunton, IL 62088 (1606 miles from you) Solution: The 5.0 V8 was transplanted to the Pacer, which made a different hood necessary. Last modified: 2019-12-25 16:17. Here’s a partial look at that V8. While being at it, the Pacer got the famous Mercedes look that was so hip at the time. The rear side windows curve around the back where a big rear door allows good trunk accessibility. It’s a 304 cui engine that’s rated at a modest 125 horsepower, but with 220 ft. lbs of torque this Pacer should feel fairly sporty. The tiny carburetor didn't allow enough flow. The LSA V8 makes 556-580 horsepower and 551-556 lb-ft of torque with 200 cc more displacement so you can guess how wild the 3,000 lb car could be with that level of power.

Net weight of a 1975 Pacer X was no less than 1500 kilograms.

A torquey 4 cylinder engine or even a diesel might have helped, but neither was in sight, and AMC had no means to do anything against the failure of Project Amigo at this point.

But comfort was not the only reason: New safety regulations were planned, which demanded strong protection against front, rear, and side impacts, as well as roll-over security.

That may be an option we need to check out. The Pacers that got delivered in 1980 had already been produced the year before.

Suddenly in 1974 GM dropped the project. © 1998-2010 Wolfgang A. Mederle. A Mercedes W123 of 1976 weighed more than 100 kg less, but was a big, "heavy" four-door sedan with large trunk. Backing the V8 up will be a 6L80E automatic transmission, custom driveshaft, and Ford 8.8-inch rear end. The difference is Spreadshirt has more color options and sells to countries outside the US while Amazon will allow for free shipping and only US.

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The Pacer was to meet all these requirements. 1978 numbers: 7,411 Coupes, 13,820 Wagons.

Solution: The 5.0 V8 was transplanted to the Pacer, which made a different hood necessary. The X package gave the car a sporty look and feel. You are hoping the car is fully restored? Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Email | The body style was revolutionary. Follow the project’s progress on Pro-Touring. Buyers' Guide |. That wasn't caused by the weight only, but also by loads of devices intended to reduce emissions.

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It’s been slow going but we’re pretty excited about it.

Specs | Pacers look cool these days. The Pacer was a vertical take-off. The owner is installing a 6.0 L L76 V8 with a 1.9 L supercharger off a LSA V8.

It consisted of leather interior, power windows, power locks, cruise control and "various buttons that pushed other buttons" as someone put it.

The increased demand for compact, economy vehicles was growing rapidly. These problems ruined the image of the car, then the company.

The Pacer was conceived for a future that did not come. It's not only Wayne and Garth, it's MTV where Pacers co-star, in videos of the Barenaked Ladies, flash in the pan Jimmy Ray, or Eminem. From 1976 on the 4.2 was offered with a bigger carb which pushed the power up to 120 hp along with whopping 300 Nm of torque at 1800 rpm. Too late for the Pacer, which did not get much lighter even with the roll-bar removed from the design. The list of options was looong (see specifications).

It didn't help improve sales.

AMC had quite a problem, now that the new compact car was ready, and they were not able to start all over again.

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I kinda dig the dirty worn look on it. Pacer | Your email address will not be published. For a quiet ride, the engine was to be mounted in a subframe, isolated from the body with rubber bushings, and the Pacer would get the smoothest combustion engine ever, a Wankel rotary engine.

1975's numbers couldn't be reached anyway, only 20,265 Coupes and 37,999 Wagons were delivered, and that was really bad as the Pacer would have needed to sell near the first year levels for five years just for AMC to break even on the initial tooling costs. The new safety regulations were much less drastic than planned, thanks to heavy lobbying by the automotive industry. That engine was to be bought from General Motors initially.

Today, cars from the 1970s are dated technology, and many are gone for good. In the end the plans to present the new Citroën CX with rotary engine were abandoned, and the French helped themselves by updating existing piston engines.

CC-1344717 . Whether that helped improve the Pacer's looks is a matter of taste.

No changes were made for 1979, only the Limited-package was added. The heavy engines used in the Pacer not only impaired its handling, but they put more load on the front suspension than intended, which caused the rack & pinion steering to fail frequently in the Pacers built in 1975. Parts are kinda hard to come by here in Wyoming but we’re making do alright. This 1975 AMC Pacer is receiving a serious power plant upgrade.

Due to high combustion chamber temperatures, they emitted a lot of NOx, too much for the new anti-pollution laws, and GM neither managed to solve the problem technically nor politically by getting an exemption from the law for a period of time. Karmann | That would certainly add to the sleepy effect.

I’ve always though that the blister hood scoop from a 1970 Javelin would look good on these cars, and it could provide some room for the blower.