1978 AMC Pacer D/L from North America - Comments

I love my Pacers.Coupe with non raised Hood looks best. The only thing I wish for AMC is a swap of names with the Gremlin.The Exhausts come loose at manifold, So add lock washers and extra nuts.My well tuned Pacer runs beautiful, with gas prices I would like overdrive, but that's all cars. Treat them good, greased, Armor All them, prevent rust, close and open doors nicely and NEVER Demo derby.

Did you know, everybody, that AMC's 4.0 inline 6 engine was used by Chrysler after their buyout of AMC until 2006? My father's got a 2004 Grand Cherokee, and it uses the 4.0. It's a lot more durable than most anybody in my family expected.

Also, anyone here heard of Collier Motors? It's the last functioning AMC dealership anywhere on Earth, and has its own article on Wikipedia. It's really quite an interesting story- stubborn doesn't even begin to describe the folks at Collier Motors.

I always wanted a Pacer. So in 2008 I bought one on (Ebay). It had only 59.000 miles on it. Best darn little car I've ever owned. And I have owned a lot in my 62 years.

The car is everything I had hoped for. It drives great and is very smooth. I also drive a 74 International Travelall. It too got a lot of hogwash comments. And the so called comments about rust. Have they looked at the other three manufacturers, they also had rust. If people don't like the Pacers then just keep quiet. There are plenty of us out there who dislike your cars too. I wouldn't sell my 1978 AMC Pacer for a new car. That's no lie.

The Gremlin was the first American made car to be considered a sub-compact by 1970 standards. The Falcon was the first compact American made car, but it is 20 inches longer than the Gremlin. Even some AMC people will argue that the Nash Metropolitan was the first sub-compact American car but it was made in England. I have no idea what it would be classified today. If I would have to guess, the Gremlin would be a midsize car and the Falcon a full size car.

The Rambler and Falcon were compacts; the Gremlin was the first American SUBcompact.

As for V8s, AMC designs were all original, except for the first generation that came from Packard. FAR sturdier than many of the Ford V8s that one previous commenter insinuated they were ripoffs of - junkyard AMCs rarely need to be bored, they have a very high nickel content that actually will damage some machine-shop equipment.

Folks generally knock AMC without direct experience - that, or they actually had one and had a bad experience with it, which happens to ALL cars at some point.

The AMC inline-6 is definitely one of the top 3 engines America has produced, frequently going 300,000+ miles with no overhaul (the 4.0 can also easily be stroked to a ~250 HP 4.5L with the addition of a crank, rods, and pistons from the older 4.2L/258 cu. in. engine).