1977 AMC

258 6 cylinder

A7A667C170447

Clear

O.K., to some it’s not the best looking car ever built, but it is a fairly good running example of the car that probably most epitomizes the late 1970’s “disco era” of American automotive design. Just look at those unmistakable lines! Wonder at the asymmetrical doors! (The passenger side is slightly longer than the drivers to ease entry into the rear seats.) Behold the weirdly shaped door pads with the raised sections where you would normally rest your arm (to cover up the fact that all that door glass wont fully retract into the doors!) Ponder the 258 cu. In. straight six’s disappearing valve cover! (it goes under the windshield into a small cave hastily carved by engineers into the firewall when the agreements for its originally planned engine, a Wankel Rotary, fell through and AMC shoe-horned their own, twice as long off-the-shelf engine into the shallow engine bay!) Be amazed by the choice of interior decoration and trim! (Fuzzy Navaho basket weave patterned cloth on black vinyl with faux burl wood plastic and black textured cardboard) I tell ya, it’s better than a time machine! Sure it’s a bit loud in its pumpkin/ Allis Chalmers (see decal on back of car) orange exterior and gnarly factory turbine wheels, but those features (along with the leaky exhaust system) tell the world you’ve arrived! Like all true American classic cars in need of a restoration, it does have a few issues: A) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE : It has some rust. There is some in the rear quarters behind the wheels, a few surface spots along the tops of the doors and trim pieces and the heater plenum at the firewall has holes in it that allowed engine heat to get into the passenger compartment. The passenger door has a long shallow crease in it where somebody side swiped a rake handle backing out of a tight space or a medium-sized kid. Fix the rust first, and then worry about that. The rust issues probably make this too much to tackle for someone from Southern California where they cry about how much of the original paint is missing off the underside of the frame when they consider a project car, but for a Michigan car, it isn’t too bad-remember, we salt the roads here 11 months out of the year! This car was originally purchased in Michigan, but spent it first 10 years in Georgia attending college there, then working, then back here where it was only driven occasionally and then stored in a garage until I bought it in 2001. Pacer vignette # 1: I was driving the Pacer through town one day and coming up on an intersection with a red traffic light that was about to turn green. There was also a 8-10 year old boy who had just reached the intersection as well, intent on crossing in front of me but the crosswalk light stopped him (because it was about to give me the green). As I pulled up, the kid looked at my car and started to smile and I thought was about to say something like “Gee mister, that’s a really neat old car! I hope when I get as cool as you obviously are that I’ll be able to drive such a set of boss wheels. Truly, you are living the Great American Dream!” But instead, as the light turned green and I accelerated past him standing at the curb, the little twerp first pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger, then did a change-up and stuck out his tongue, gave me TWO thumbs down, and yelled “BOOOO!” through my open passenger window! He’s probably driving some foreign econo-box now to his dead-end fast-food job, if at all… B) MECHANICAL ISSUES: It has a few, namely a leak in the power steering (just carry an extra quart of fluid to top-up occasionally. A small price to pay for the pride that will come with owning the first U.S. car built with rack and pinion steering.) And a somewhat dodgy (oh, I just realized that’s a pun! It actually IS a Chrysler corporation slush box…) transmission that needs a good adjustment regimen as it slips a bit on the 1-2 shift. Hell, toss in a filter (included in your bonus spare parts stash!) and some fresh ATF and it will probably outlast you. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about any electronics over complicating any tranny woes here; everything runs on vacuum and inertia. While we are discussing low-tech features I should also mention that it has a manual choke, which freaks out anyone who grew up on fuel injection and only read about carburetors in their history class, along with the fact you’ll have to pump the pedal a few licks to prime the intake charge to start it. Once you get that routine down pat, it starts easily and runs great, although a fresh tank of gas wouldn’t hurt it any. Speaking of gas, this car saved me hundreds of dollars on gas over the years. N, no,not because the car gets good mileage (15-18mpg, tops) but because any time my daughters needed a ride somewhere (School, the Mall, the Emergency Room ect.), I’d say “Sure, everybody get in the Pacer!” and oddly enough they would always manage to find someone else willing to burn up their own gasoline to haul them. Pacer vignette #2: Driving to work on the graveyard shift one night I spied a cop up ahead lurking in a used car lot hoping to catch a scofflaw, ala American Graffiti. I let off the gas and tried to calculate how fast I might be going (oh, I forgot to mention- the speedometer doesn’t work either. It’s probably just a broken speedo cable). As I passed him, I saw his brake lights go on as he started his cruiser up to come after me. Unfortunately, no one from the Pharaohs had chained his rear end to a lamp post and within a few blocks he was right on my rear bumper. After following me for a minute, he unexpectedly and abruptly turned around and drove away, leaving me to continue off to work. A few minutes and a couple of miles out of town I noticed a set of headlights rapidly approaching at a high rate of speed and before I could turn down a side road and kill my lights, he turned his on- Damn!, it was the fuzz again. I pulled over, rolled my window down, and cut power to the mighty 258. After a few minutes the young rookie sauntered up to my door and asked “Do you know why I pulled you over?” “No.’ Said I, thinking to myself that if he didn’t know either, maybe he shouldn’t be wasting my time. “Well,” said the kindergarten cop, “I just ran your plate, and I may not know my antique cars, but I know this isn’t a 2000 Dodge pickup registered in Madison Heights.” Well, he did have me there. I thought for a minute and then it dawned on me: I am using license plates from 1976 with a ’77 tag as historical plates (Michigan allows you to use plates from the year your car was born as your specialty plate as long as no one is using that combo already. If you have a matched set like I did, you’re golden.Oh, you’re also not supposed to use the car for mundane stuff- like, say, going to work- while plated as such, but hey, I wasn’t there to TOTALLY educate the rookie.) I explained that maybe my now 30 year old plates match a current standard license plate that had recently been issued to that down-state dirt hauler and perhaps that’s where the confusion stemmed from. I mean there are only so many numbers available and eventually they are going to come around again, or so the lottery commission would have you believe… He seemed a bit skeptical, but then he asked “What is this thing anyway?” I explained to the novice that it was an AMC Pacer, the pride of Kenosha. “Do you have any kind of paperwork on this thing?”He inquired. I produced the registration and insurance papers. “Thanks.” He said and trundled back to his car where he sat talking on his radio for about 10 minutes. Finally, I heard his door open then slam and saw him coming back. “This thing is called a “Pacer”?” he asked. “Yep.” I said. “Made by a company called American Motors?” he queried. “Yep, but they’re out of business now. Chrysler bought the remains just to get the Jeep brand and then they…” “O.K., O.K., I gotta go. You have a nice day.” He interrupted. Then after he took a few steps back to his car he turned around and said “Excuse me, but did you repaint this like this, or is this really an actual color they used back then?” B) Interior: It actually is in pretty good shape. Of course the plastic door pads are cracked, have you ever seen any that weren’t? Luckily, this only affects the front doors. The rest of the insides are clean and aside from some wear on the pull-straps and a half broken hood release knob (still plenty of knob left to grab, and the backwards opening hood does so smoothly) It has that “Navajo Basket Weave” interior and those inserts are in pretty good shape with one small hole in the passenger front seat that looks suspiciously like a cigarette burn. (Nobody smoked in it while I owned it!) By the looks of it, I don’t think anybody ever sat in the back seat. The carpet is kinda loose and wrinkly in spots, it might have been replaced early in its life but more than likely that may just be an example of acceptable 1970’s automotive industry fit and finish standards. It is surprisingly roomy and quiet, and there are no blind spots when driving. The A.C. needs to be recharged to make it cold, but the huge windows roll down easy enough for a good breeze. The original AM/FM stereo radio is of typical pre-digital, disco era quality. The rear view mirror fell off the windshield and is somewhere under the passenger seat. That came off when my oldest daughter took her first highly illegal under age driving lesson. Her first act upon sitting in the driver’s seat was to “adjust” the mirror by ripping it off the glass and bopping herself in the head with it. I kept it that way for sentimental reasons. That and I never remember to by that little tube of glue whenever I’m in the parts store… Pacer vignette #3 Late one hot, muggy summer night I thought I’d grab the Pacer and go to the local 24hr. grocery store and grab a box of popsicles. As I pulled up in front of the store, and being a Gentleman, I stopped at the crosswalk stop sign to allow three young ladies to cross in front of me that were exiting the store and heading to the parking lot. As the first lass walked in front of my headlights, she looked at the Pacer and gave it a puzzled look. As the second gal walked by, she gave it the classic double-take (to be fair, she may have been looking at me, I am as handsome as I am Gentlemanly…). But when the third girl walked by, she looked at the car, put her hand over her mouth and said “OH. MY. GOD!” That just confirmed what I always thought. Chicks dig Pacers. So there you have it. Do you need a great car that stands out? Do you want a car that attracts compliments (Weirdly, I get “Nice GREMLIN!” a lot) when you’re out cruising? Then this car is for you! A little work and you could have a real nice car Of Course, there is NO SHIPPING on this beauty. You gotta come get it here, in Davison, Michigan, at our mutual convenience. I work 6 days a week so you’ll have to call or e-mail to arrange pick up. I’ll deliver within 50 miles south of here, or 100 miles north of here. You could drive it home, but it has 30 year old tires, belts and hoses and you probably will have to make a few pit stops and plan on an extra day or two to get home- if at all…..Nigerian princes must pay in full with cash (U.S. dollars) before removing car from my possession. Hopefully I’ve covered all aspects of this classic, but if not, please feel free to email me for more info or pictures. Local bidders can come out gently kick the tires, sling some B.S. and test drive if desired on late afternoons. UPDATE!!!!! UPDATE!!!!! UPDATE!!!!!!! UPDATE!!!!!! UPDATE!!!!! Yes, eagle-eyed Pacer aficionados may realize that I tried to sell this beauty a few weeks ago in ebay, but it failed to meet my reserve, so I’ve lowered it to ZERO! That’s right, It’s gotta go, so the highest bidder gets this classic. I also had several folks claim they woulda bid higher if it just had a new water pump installed, so I put one on, just for you- now get bidding!