source: Mecum and Cars&Bids So what if the Pacer got a second chance, and came back to life as not only something acceptable, but actually cool? What if the spirit of the Pacer had returned in, of all things, an AMC sports car? Welcome back to AMC What If?, a semi regular series where we look at alternate realities for American’s last independent automaker. With American Motors always struggling to be profitable in the domestic market, the last thing they should have done was to make a competitor for the Fiero, a car that General Motors killed after a few years due to disappointed sales. Naturally, AMC would throw logic to the wind and build just that. Here’s how it might happen. In the early eighties, Renault not only had a partnership with AMC but also with the automotive division of the legendary Matra conglomerate. This partnership resulted in the Renault Espace, arguably the front drive minivan that beat the Dodge Caravan to market (and was unarguably much cooler).
source: netcarshow However, Matra was known also as a maker of aircraft, sports cars and even competition machines, having created Formula 1 cars and built winners of the 24 Hours of LeMans for three years straight.
source: wikipedia and wikimedia Matra must have been begging Renault for the chance to make a new version of one of their classic sports cars of the sixties like the mid-engined Matra Djet or 530.
source: Bohhams and Petrolicious Of course, Renault already had Alpine as its official sports car division, so that avenue for Matra was likely closed in France. Still, the concurrent Alpine (which had windshield wipers that tried to fight each other) was not really suited to American sales and likely never stood a chance at being federalized. However, there was nothing to stop Matra from helping AMC/Renault create a new car just for America. Presenting the 1984 AMC AMX, a revival of the name of the Javelin-based sixties pony car. Similar in size to the Fiero, with this new car Matra would have pushed the wheelbase slightly longer to allow for a miniscule back seat area. The entire FWD Renault Fuego engine (the later 2.2 but with a turbo), transaxle and suspension would be moved to the rear wheels, as the Fiero did with a Chevy Citation drivetrain. Up front, Matra would have grabbed the front suspension components from the R5 Turbo to complete the chassis. But what about the bodywork to cover this creation of former race car engineers? Here is where the Pacer gets its revenge. AMC design master Dick Teague would look at his team and give one nod. Suddenly Eye of the Tiger begins to play, and the comeback montage begins. First, a dried-up old scale model from the early stages of the Pacer development would appear on a studio table. Clay chunks fly though the air as the modelers shave about 30 percent off of the old car model’s height, keeping the aircraft-style doors and glass back area and creating a surprisingly close replica of the Porsche that Tom Cruise dumped into Lake Michigan. The width would be accentuated with slightly flared fenders, and the wraparound taillights and signals would remain to pay tribute to Wayne and Garth’s car. The 928 stole much of the Pacer so to be fair the AMX would steal Porsche’s side windows and phone-dial style wheel design for themselves (but those aren’t Porsche wheels I used, as you Parts Bin Puzzlers can let me know in the comments below).
Up front, the clay modelers chop off the protruding ‘bug eyed’ Pacer headlights on the nose, replacing them with partially exposed rectangular units and a thin grille. However, hitting the light switch would make the sealed beams rise up and create a reasonable approximation of the old Pacer’s nose. Teague would have looked at this detail and smiled like George Peppard at the end of an A-Team build sequence- all was good.
The nose is actually slightly taller than that on the Fiero which allows for a useable frunk. There is also a cargo area behind the engine, below the glass hatch:
The ‘rear seat’ of the AMX would obviously have been a joke if you were a human with actual legs (similar to the one in the Lotus Evora or Maserati Merak), but it would have provided ample room to dump your briefcase or backpack and some grocery bags. Combined with the trunk AND frunk, the AMX would easily surpass the cargo capacity of a Fiero and a Toyota Mister Two combined. One bizarre detail; the mid mounted engine would need to get air, but instead of obvious intakes the trailing edge of the side windows would feature slots that allow air into intakes in the upper rear door jambs. The left and right doors are the same length (unlike the Pacer), but they are still rather long to help with access to the rear ‘seat’.
It’s a stereotype to assume that a French designed sports car would possess an unusual interior, but not surprisingly the AMX would have just that. As a tribute to Matra’s aeronautic experience, the dashboard is styled to look like two aircraft wings. The edges of the ‘wings’ would have ‘aileron’ style flippers on the driver’s side to control turn signals and wipers, adjacent to little gumdrop style controls for secondary functions.
source: aviation stack exchange One interesting feature that SAAB offered was called Night Panel, whereby you could extinguish all of the instrument panel lights except for the speedometer for distraction free night driving.
source: saabplanet However, how could such a concept work for daytime use? Matra would have developed F1Focus, a system that puts speed and tach readouts dead center and ancillary gauges flanking it. Don’t want to be distracted by that extra information? The side pods can retract into the dash together if you press down on them; any message that requires the driver’s attention (i.e low fuel) would release a catch and pop the side gauge pods back up again. A flip down door over the clock would darken that feature if you chose to, plus make a tiny storage compartment.
The new AMX likely wouldn’t have beat the MR2’s Toyota-level quality, but it would have edged that car out for usability, comfort, and performance. Matra must have had the skills to make those chassis components into an at least somewhat competent sports car. Compared to an early four-cylinder Fiero, the AMX would likely have been a revelation and taken much of that market share. Sadly, that wasn’t much market share to begin with.
Exciting halo car that it might have been, there is no way that this could have helped to save AMC, and it is likely that it would have hastened its demise. Still, somewhere the Pacer would have been smiling down if the design language it was so derided for came back from the dead, bearing the name of one of the coolest AMC products ever.
1984 AMC AMX
Base Price: $13,100 As Shown: $14,850 Options Shown on Photo Car: Convenience Pack (power windows, locks, and mirrors) Leather seating surfaces ‘Vortex’ alloy wheels and Eagle GT tires Cassette player with premium sound upgrade
Drivetrain: 2200cc SOHC 4 cylinder, turbocharged (Fuego) 148HP 5 speed manual transaxle
Chassis: Double wishbone independent front suspension MacPherson strut independent rear suspension 4 wheel disc brakes Rack and pinion steering
Performance (US model): 0-60: 7.8 seconds Top speed: 138MPH
all illustrations by The Bishop
And funny how I always forget the Laser, instead remembering only the Daytona; I chalk it up to the Daytona’s longer life and Dee Dee McCall driving one on Hunter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMmDE8nUMOU
First thought Countach, but those were more recessed IIRC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Besse
Though a series of mechanizations that surely involved drug dealing, boyfriend managed to get a friend to buy the car, keeping the title in his name while Beckie and boyfriend (heh) made weekly payments. This worked for at least a couple of months until boyfriend wrecked the car and got arrested for possession at the same time, this breaking his parole. Apparently, according to Beckie anyhow, car-owning friend suddenly became an asshole over the whole deal to the point Beckie quit and gave nobody (in the office anyhow) a forwarding address.
Now none of this reflects directly on the Daytona as a car, but it has always flavored my impression of it.
WTF?! Why on earth would Beckie even think you would co-sign on a loan for her boyfriends car? Did she really think you were such a gullible fool?
I love it. Shut up and take my 14 grand.
Love the design proposals, but you’ve got some technical details to explain.
Also, the Fuego did not sell nearly as well as hoped. I think this would have done similarly in the market. It addresses a segment that didn’t pick up until later, and didn’t last very long.
But if it was anything like the Fuego Turbo, it would be a total riot to drive. I can’t tell you how many parking brake J turns I did or how many passengers I terrified while doing them with that little red monster.
Of the cars I’ve owned, the Fuego is very high on the favorites list.
People like to poke fun at the Pacer. It was even a ‘Wayne’s World’ car. But there was actually a great deal of ingenuity, vision, cleverness, and creativity to the design and execution. You have to admire AMC’s pluck, for having the guts to do something different, to take the kind of risks the Big Three would never dare to.
Much has been written about the Pacer. Here’s one interesting story:
https://mailchi.mp/1229acb8faf7/antique-autos-first-wide-small-car-gms-1956-predictions-watch-the-great-race
And I would love…LOVE for some company to do an 80s interior like the one the Bishop designed here with modern materials and features.
Now other variations could have been interesting. You touched on minivan. a Pacer styled minivan would be an interesting exercise. AMC was shoving Jeep tractor parts under Eagles, could have been, but would have been lazy. How about a 3 row seven seat Pacer SUV? They could have called it Sports Dome.
In the end I think this all ended up in the Renault Fuego. I’ll at least give that a slow clap.
Second, I think Teague would have been proud of the AMX. I’ve always had a weak spot for the Pacer and AMC generally. Parts of my Jeep TJ were designed by AMC, and even though it says Chrysler on the manufacturer’s plate, I feel like I’m keeping a little piece of AMC alive every time I start the TJ.
Not true. Around 1984, Renault figured they could likely sell around 2,500 Alpines a year in the US and did go through the process of federalizing it. The plan was to sell it in late 1987 as an ’88 model. It was to feature increased safety, emission controls, and pop up headlights. Unfortunately, Renault wound up giving up on the US market right at this time, and only 21 US market Alpine GTAs were made. Half were sold to French costumers while the rest were used as test mules for Alpine’s next car, the A610. http://lautomobileancienne.com/alpine-gta-us-1987/
As far as your 80’s Pacer concept, I really like it! It would have made a quirky competitor to the Fiero and MR2. It has a pretty sleek design and the interior sounds pretty crazy, though I doubt it would have held up well, given the less than great plastics AMC/Renault tended to use at the time. And it wouldn’t even be that far fetched of an idea, seeing that AMC had produced a handful of mid-engined AMX/3s back in the early 70’s. It would have been a nice nod to the past.
Glad you like the concept! As I mentioned, I think the quality would have been better or equal to the Fiero. However, no contest with the Toyota- an MR2 that wasn’t thrashed and lived in the Southwest is probably still running today.
Also, one of the original Pacer designs had pop-up headlights, but it didn’t survive the many focus groups AMC used when developing the car.
Now, how about a Pacer shooting brake?
The one view I did is not helping to show the way the wheel arches would flare out (particularly in back).
And, yet, it is….beautiful, and I want one….
It’s got an AMC protection plan on it, and you like the looks, I say buy it….can you see my plaid sportcoat as I try to sell you this thing? What will it take for you to drive this thing off of the lot today?
