[Shotimes] OT Pacers was Re: This Forbes guy...

[James F. Ryan III]

Some interesting Pacer facts:


Length: 171 inches, same as a VW Dasher 


Width: 77 inches, same as a Cadillac 


Percent Surface Area Consisting of Glass: 37% 


Original Promotional Tag line: "You only ride like a Pacer if you're
wide like a Pacer." 


Common Pacer Nicknames: Pacemaker, Hamster-Mobile, White Lemon, Mirth
Mobile, Fishbowl on Wheels, Moonbuggy, Bubble Car, Space Module,
Greenhouse, Egg on Wheels, Glassmobile, Terrarium, Neon wannabe ("Hi."),
Pregnant Rollerskate, a Great Big Rolling Windshield on Wheels, Glass
Monster, Pregnant Guppy 


The passenger's side door was intentionally designed 4 inches longer
than the driver's side door, to encourage backseat riders to enter the
vehicle on the curb side. 


Original plans for design included a rotary Wankel engine but these
plans were dropped at the last minute. 


Pacer shape inspired by a football: Richard Teague, AMC chief designer,
said he got the inspiration for the Pacer's unique shape while watching
a football game and seeing a long spiral throw, observing how
aerodynamically the football sliced though the air.


Porsche 928 designer Tony Lapine has admitted that his design was based
on the AMC Pacer.
http://www1.50megs.com/tiedjej/pcto928.GIF
http://www1.50megs.com/tiedjej/rear928.avi
http://www1.50megs.com/tiedjej/928pcsmlserie.JPG


Championed and, at the same time, scorned for it's unique body design,
after dropping the Wankel engine, the Pacer didn't have many mechanical
innovations. However, it was the second American car to include
rack-and-pinion steering. Front- wheel drive was considered only early
on in the design process. The Pacer was the first car to feature
cab-forward design. 







>-----Original Message-----
>From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net 
>[mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Donald Mallinson
>Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 10:32 AM
>To: shotimes@autox.team.net
>Subject: Re: [Shotimes] OT Pacers was Re: This Forbes guy...
>
>
>AFter AMC and the Pacer were already a known dead duck, the 
>company was going under, I went to the local AMC store. 
>They had a pacer that I was mildly interested In (remember, 
>I am the one that wanted a Checker muscle car when in high 
>school!, I tend to want to adopt odd ducks anyway).
>
>I asked what they wanted for it and they said sticker price.
>
>I coughed then laughed and said: the car AND the company are 
>now lame ducks.  that sticker was not even close to 
>reasonable.  I left.
>
>That entire store closed within a year, and with that 
>attitude, why not!
>
>Don Mallinson
>Having to live with my dream of owning a Pacer crushed 
>forever........   :)
>
>George Fourchy wrote:
>> On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 21:18:56 -0700 (PDT), Ron Childs wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>"The first wide, small car." It
>>>was a wide POS with its brother the Gremlin, the narrow POS.  :-)
>> 
>> 
>> I thought it was kind of cool, actually...it just needed a 5.0 Ford.
>> 
>> George
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