AMC Pacer: Epic Automobile Flops

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AMC Pacer "Bubble Car"

List of Epic Automobile Flops | You are Here: http://hu1st.blogspot.com/2011/12/epic-automobile-flops-amc-pacer.html

Well Preserved Pace in Europe

Its initial design idea was started in 1971. The car's unusual rounded shape with massiveglass area greatly contrasted with the three-box architecture with squarish slab-sides of the era.^[1] The Pacer was described as "the seventies answer to George Jetson's mode of transportation"^[2] at a time when "Detroit was still rolling out boat-sized gas guzzlers."^[3] The large amount of glass led Car and Driver to dub it "The Flying Fishbowl".^[4] Introduced in 1975 as the "first wide small car", the Pacer was meant to be a wide roomy small car. It  ended up being a short car that was too heavy for efficient 4 cylinder engines. It was  behind the times in efficiency in times of the gas crunch,  even if the car's style looks almost contemporary or even elegant after the age of jelly-bean blob cars and true stylistic horrors like the Pontiac Aztek or Malibu Maxx. It was initially designed for a Wankel rotary engine that never materialized, so it bulged even more to fit a 6-cylinder, and grew yet another bulge to fit a V8 and a wagon version which looked only marginally less odd. It was too bizarre for most tastes in looks. Sales were good the first two years before they fell dramatically, as sales of Hornet and Gremlin derivatives continued to sell until the late 80s. The Pacer's "fishbowl" body style is a readily recognized icon of the 1970s.^[5][6]s in movies like Wayne's World and the Spirit of '76, and earned a supporting villian role in Pixar's Cars 2. It is still a relatively inexpensive collector car which won't be mistaken for anything else.