zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
1977 AMC Pacer for a Fat $7,000!
1977 AMC Pacer for a Fat $7,000!-January 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:18

Are you large and in-charge? Well, has a tubby two-door that will let you see and be seen. So get your bad portly self over here and take a look.

Given the similarity in era, two-door body styles, and use of steering wheels, it would not be out of place to see today's contender fare as well as yesterday's , which garnered a most excellent 88% Nice Price vote.

Do you like fried food and German cars? Need something that will see you through society's…

Then again, maybe not.

, always seemingly barely hanging onto the narrow precipice of financial solvency, needed a product that differentiated it from the company's competitors. Instead of yet another new grill treatment on the evergreen Hornet, they decided to go for broke and develop- from the inside out- a radical new car that would provide positive buzz and generate sales.

The result was the fishbowl-shaped Pacer, which offered large car width with small car length, and a basket handle roofline that was eerily aped by the Porsche 928 two years later. The stance gained it instant notoriety, and the car did well in its first year, racking up over 145,000 sales. However, the car lacked the economy of its competitors, and, like Craig, its differentness wasn't universally seen in the positive, ergo sales dwindled in the ensuing years.

Originally intended to employ a General Motors-supplied wankel engine, the car debuted with the tried and true AMC straight six when GM pulled the plug on their rotary program- and hopefully refunded AMC their $1.5 million in licensing fees. This ended up being both a blessing and a bane for the Pacer- warranty claims for thousands of blown apex seals would have bankrupted AMC, but the iron six weighed nearly double that of the proposed GM wankel.

This '77 has the larger 4.2 litre six, which puts a little more pace under its short but wide hood. That's a good thing because the one barrel 3.8 had a tough time dragging around 3,300-plus pounds of Pacer. It also has the unique styling features of all Pacers including a passenger door 10 cm longer than the driver's side, and door panel "wings" to hide the glass which doesn't roll all the way down. The orange over black color scheme will be good come Halloween, and hopefully the seller will be able to find that missing ashtray, noted in the ad.

And about that ad- it reads like it was written by Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin, with oddly constructed sentences and strange word parings that make you wonder if the seller might live under the power lines or something.

So, what about that $7,000 asking price for this orange orb? Considering that's double it's price when new, and the question of the missing ashtray, is the seller on crack? That would explain the ad. Or is that in line with what you'd expect to pay for so original, so orange, and so wide a car?

You decide!

()

, or go if the ad disappears. Props to Jo Schmo for the tip!

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
I Want To Replace My Nissan Juke With Something Just As Funky! What Car Should I Buy?
I Want To Replace My Nissan Juke With Something Just As Funky! What Car Should I Buy?
Scott has been driving his Nissan Juke for about 10 years, but it is time for a replacement. He loves the fact that the car looks different, but he’s having difficulty finding something that isn’t the same old crossover or compact. What car should he buy? (Welcome back to...
Jan 9, 2025
At $7,000, Is this 1998 Toyota 4Runner Dinged Up But Not Down For The Count?
At $7,000, Is this 1998 Toyota 4Runner Dinged Up But Not Down For The Count?
The seller of today’s 4Runner claims in the ad to be in no rush to sell. We’ll have to decide if that sense of non-urgency is reflected in the price. Being miscast in Hollywood can oftentimes be a career killer. The seller of yesterday’s Simpson-bodied won’t suffer so dramatic...
Jan 9, 2025
Midnight Purple R34 GT-R On Bring A Trailer Is The Stuff Of Gran Turismo Legend
Midnight Purple R34 GT-R On Bring A Trailer Is The Stuff Of Gran Turismo Legend
The R34 Skyline GT-R is of course one of the most desirable performance cars of its era, maybe of all time. But within that subset of highly-coveted Nissans is an even rarer group — the Midnight Purple cars. And one of them recently hit . Only 546 R34 GT-Rs...
Jan 9, 2025
This One-Off Amphibious Speedboat Has A 762-HP V8 And It's For Sale Again
This One-Off Amphibious Speedboat Has A 762-HP V8 And It's For Sale Again
Rick Dobbertin is known for creating hot rods and . One of his most ambitious projects is a 762 horsepower V8-powered sports car for the water, the HydroCar. It’s been around the auction block a couple of times and it’s up for grabs yet again. Back in January I wrote...
Jan 9, 2025
The Honda Clarity Is Dead
The Honda Clarity Is Dead
I have bad news for all you hydrogen fans out there:, and Asian business site report that the Clarity is going out of production along with the closure of the Sayama, Japan, plant that produces it. It’s not just the hydrogen model leaving either. The plug-in hybrid is getting...
Jan 9, 2025
The 2022 Honda Civic Is All About The Youth
The 2022 Honda Civic Is All About The Youth
Usually, when I get a press car for the week, I look forward to getting back into my daily driver. I normally slide into the seat of my VW Sportwagen and think “oh yeah, that’s the stuff,” but when I gave back the 2022 Honda Civic, there wasn’t that...
Jan 9, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved