'76 AMC Pacer Commercial (1975)
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- "The first wide small car."
1976 model AMC Pacer commercial featuring a vehicle with removable luxury car parts. The actor with the mustache is James Manis (known for playing Aldo Cella). Narration by John Bartholomew Tucker. Spot aired November 1975.
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Fair Use. No copyright infringement is intended. Posted for historical and archival purposes only.
The "car" on the "outside" consists of body panels from a 1974 Ford LTD
For all the history revisionists out there: This is why the Pacer was initially a success. The roomy interior in a shorter package appealed to a lot of people (I wish somebody would rediscover that formula) but sales dropped off when buyers realized the weight gain that came with the width and all that glass resulted in gas mileage that was less than spectacular.
The rotary engine would have made no improvement on MPG, though front wheel drive would have improved interior ergonomics. Ease of maneuverability in traffic and parking was I suppose the main advantage.
Also they discovered that it was an unreliable piece of junk.
My first car was a 1976 Pacer... 258 inline 6, 1bbl carb, automatic trans, A/C, ps, pb.
The damned thing weighed 3500 lbs!!! I drove it to FL in 1983... whilst my brother was getting 25mpg from his Crown Vic, I was getting 15!! This was a shocking awakening for my mom, who yet again was sold a car because it was better than the car it replaced...
During the nearly 3 years I had it, the powered steering failed, the A/C failed, the transmission leaked, a brake drum and the ignition box failed, each resulting in a tow home... and it got crap mpg. Too much broke and it about bankrupted me...
Oh, and it wasn't quiet or comfortable!!
@@steveb7310 I have a better definition for that thing. That's when America lost it's balls in the car indudstry.
I believe crossovers try to be that new formula. From the average car buyer's view, they're shorter than a comparable sedan but taller, so more room and they're easier to maneuver.
I graduated high school in 1980. My buddy had a green AMC Gremlin. We drove that thing all over the place. Good times.
My buddy had a 1976 AMC Javelin.
Good Times!!
The Wonder Years :-')
Awww, the car with 2/3 of a backseat.
I once read it summed up perfectly: On one hand, that big Pop-a-Matic bubble top gave the driver great visibility on the road. On the other hand, it also meant all your friends could see you driving a Pacer.
And if you were in the back seat and it was sunny, you were treated to the 'ant-under-a-magnifying-glass' experience first-hand.
Extremely clever commercial. On 2nd look, the Pacer was a groovy looking car.
1970s commercials were the bomb, quirky yet brilliant. Those dudes driving it look like they're on their way to a Led Zeppelin concert.
I looked at buying a used one in the late 70s but it probably hadn't been cared for like it should , and the interior had some weird touches that I couldn't embrace.
Lol, I think you need a third look
I thought that they were good looking cars. I always wondered why they were not popular.
If you were a teenager and had to drive one you woukd have been ridiculed out of school. These cars may even be linked to the first school shootings lol
It's a shame AMC didn't survive. They had some really unique cars. I've owned a few and loved them, wish I still had them.
They did survive.Thwy rebranded as G.M.
GM isn't AMC, they were a Mopar brand. They rebranded as Jeep.
I loved my 94 Cherokee. It definitely had problems, but most of them were easy to fix. I didn't realize how good I had it until I started learning how modern cars are engineered. T^T
@@jamesgizassonAMCs could be worked on. Someone ripped out my Sony AM/FM cassette player and I spent spring break 1986 rebuilding the dashboard from a dash I pulled out of a junkyard. Visible Phillips head screws rather than concealed connectors held everything together. Doubt I could have pulled that off with a GM or a Chrysler.
At least their tv channel is still around.
Yes, the voice-over is by John Bartholomew Tucker. He is probably best known for all the great voice work he did on those "Pink Panther" Owens Corning insulation commercials.
Thanks for the confirmation. =)
@@BionicDisco My pleasure -- thanks for a fun upload!
One of the most recognizable voices in 70's and 80's television. Thank you for the info!
@@TVHouseHistorian Yes, definitely one of the most distinctive and instantly recognizable voices in commercial history. He also did great voice-overs for Fotomat.
Smucker's commercials
This is the exact car I owned in 1976. Same color...same interior...
I never owned one. But I really liked them.
Is that you Danny?
@@ammocan2796 Yes. Yes you are.
Take a ride in the Wayback machine!
I can tell you're from the '70s because the only punctuation mark you know is ellipses
My mom and dad had a blue Pacer with the Levi's interior for a while, then a black Pacer X with a screaming engine for quite a while. Mom would scare the hell out of me when she angry drove that one. Had several family members that worked at the plant so had some of the interesting AMC products in the family.
did they take an AMC car out of the plant one piece at a time? didn't cost them a dime?
My mom has a gremlin with exact description too though it’s now a racing car my family loves amc cars!
This is the last car my dad owned, it was tan before he suddenly passed away in 1980, I was 11 and absolutely heartbroken.
@@TerrySlaven-zd3um Wildly insensitive time for a joke...
@@MeadeJ67 Well, burning to death is pretty bad.
@@TerrySlaven-zd3um No.
I was implying that you were being serious.
Y'all need to learn to take a joke
What color was it after your dad died?
I remember this commercial from back in `75. Wow, that makes me old.😅
When the 70’s comes tearing down the road!
I absolutely LOVED Pacers!!!!! I wanted one so much. I actually cried when they stopped making them..... 🤣🤣🤣
I owned one of these and drove it from brand new til it was 13 years old. Loved that car...and it was so cute. !!
I asked Sandra "what car was that"? ,she said "a red one'!
Party on, Wayne, and party on, Garth!
These old Pacers are a trip to sit in. The expansive glass helps make it feel like your inside of a "Space 1999" moon buggy.
At age 12 or 13, I loved this car and tried to talk my dad into buying one. He chose a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. I made him drop me off two blocks past school. I didn't want to be seen in a Pimp Mobile.
That's dumb, I think he made the right call
My dad had one too when i was a kid. It was huge but had no interior room.
In hindsight, dad knew what he was talking about
AMC was the most original US automaker even if their final product wasn't always the greatest.
I had a 74 Hornet which was a great little car (straight 6 motor) even though it had its eccentricities.
AMC took chances with design and features that the Big Three wouldn't dare.
AMC representó lo más atrevido del espíritu automotriz estadounidense, siempre tendrá su lugar en la historia.
Pacer party time! Excellent!
Rock on Garth!
I miss the variety of American-made cars that we used to have.
I miss actual CARS. It’s a big ironic how this commercial is informing the viewer that they don’t really need a huge massive vehicle. Nowadays the industry tries to trick consumers into thinking they need trucks and SUVs for regular urban and suburban life. And not in the 20th century sizes either. They need the monster trucks that come from the factory with headlights so high off the ground they’ll blind anyone still driving cars. And you can forget about those 5mph bumpers too. They’ll go right over modern full sized sedans.
@@UmmYeahOk I SO agree with you. 18 year-olds whose only hobby is looking at their cell phones are driving SUVs. When I park, it's inevitable that a huge pickup truck or SUV park on at least one side of me, so that I can't see what's coming when I back out. Thank goodness for rear cameras! Last year or the year before, I was thinking about trading and one of the manufacturers didn't even offer a car, only SUVs.
@@GentleRain21many of these kids are receiving hand me downs. It’s their parents older SUV. It’s probably their parents older cell phone too. And before infotainment centers, and smart phones, in the early 00s, it was middle aged drivers who were all over the road glued to THEIR phone. At least all the extra safety sensors make driving a bit more bearable.
I do like it though when I get a rare situation where a kid asked me about my car. I will even review dash cam footage where younger people work on it, talking amongst themselves. I think BECAUSE no one drives cars anymore, when they actually see one, it sticks out, and is cool. With interest, they may even look up to see the cars specs and current resale value.
@@UmmYeahOkGovernment policies have contributed to this. All vehicles looking alike and bumpers that can’t take a small hit: MPG & pedestrian safety rules. No compact pick-up trucks and cars: tariff tax policy and CAFE fleet MPG rules that have the perverse effect of encouraging SUV production. Complex public policy interventions create trade-offs rather than perfect solutions.
@@t23001the MPG/pedestrian safety should have applied to ALL vehicles. If you need a truck or SUV for actual work/recreation purposes, then they should have passed some sort of legislation that would require owners to register these vehicles differently. My state used to actually do this with trucks. My father even had a truck plate on his suburban, because it was essentially a truck. These current laws have left us in a world of bland unsafe gas guzzlers.
I miss my yellow 76 pacer x
At least it wasn't a Gremlin.
The good news was this car inspired all those baseball cap/golf carts that took the relief pitcher out to the mound in the 70's and early 80's.
We had a Pacer when I was a kid. I loved the big windows. Then one day were were on the Rt 6 bridge between Fall River and Somerset Mass. On the opposite lane, there was a truck with a trailer. The trailer came loose and came bounding down the bridge, bouncing off each side. It missed everyone except us. It hit us and shattered one of the big windows..
My dad had this car in the 70s and one rainy morning, he had to use his wipers. He turned on to a highway with the wipers on and they blew off when he hit 55 mph lol. AMC needed to put more effort into their cars.😊
My first car was a purple Gremlin. A few years later, i had a blue Pacer. The Pacer was actually a decent car - all that glass felt like a fish bowl but the visibility was great. My Dad sold AMC cars, and drove a Matador.
That Matador was the slug look
When the redesigned Caprice came out l remarked that the Matador designer obviously went to work for GM 😝
Very cool commercial.
Very creative.
A whole crew of designers and craftsmen must have worked hard to make that happen.
Well done. Wherever you guys are now.
Well said
The first car commercial and Pacer commercial I remember was them putting a giant sandwich in the back. I thought "wow!!!" I was probably seven years old.
The first commercial I remember was a symphony orchestra in the back seat!
Back in 2002 I purchased my first car. It was a 1975 AMC Gremlin which had only 75,000 miles on it. Over the 5 years that I owned it, I can't tell you how many people came up to me saying, "OMG!! A Pacer!" The infamy of this car is insane. I eventually sold the car to one of the guys at Motor Trend Magazine.
The Gremlin was a weird one, looked like a hatchback, but there was no hatch. You had to load things into the back via the drivers door and over the back seat. It even had that round chrome thing on the back that looked exactly like a release for a hatch, but it wasn’t.
@@PRH123 But the Gremlin did have a hatch in the back. It was only the glass though and not the whole back, which I still believe counts as a hatch back.
@@LookAtThisRock hi, just checked Wikipedia, seems they had both options: “The car was available as a "base" two-passenger version with no rear seat and a fixed rear window, at a suggested retail price of $1,879, and as a four-seat hatchback with an opening rear window, at $1,959”
@@PRH123 Oh wow! I had no idea! Dude, thanks for looking that up!
My first car was a purple Gremlin. The interior was rubber, no carpet! I loved that car. Drove the hell out of it. My Dad sold cars for an AMC dealership and had sold it to a friend of his brand new. When the guy transferred to Germany (military) he couldn't take it with him and my dad bought it back from him for me to drive. I miss that car.
Ahead of its time. Small outside, big inside.
I use that line at the bar all the time. Doesn't work either.
@@KB-ke3fi 😂😂😂😂😂
thats actually not true. the extra width was completely useless, the back seat was small even for 2 people and the trunk wasnt big either! they already had a better and more roomy compact car with the hornet/concord! the pacer had nothing going for it exept unique looks.
I had one of these in 76 one of my first cars in High school it was red with a white leather interior it was fun to put down the back seat for camping it was like being in a space bubble wish i still had it
I didn't think the Pacer was so bad looking. Now, the Pontiac Aztek--that is a whole other thing!
Aztek*
@@cebruthius Thanks. Done!
Agreed. Thing looked like a Gatorade bottle.
Yeah. The Aztek looked like a MAC truck kicked it in the ass and it stuck that way. Kinda like the old Looney Tunes.
If it had body-colored bumpers, modern lights, & modern tech on the inside no one would even bat an eyelid at the Aztek if it released today. There are some seriously strange looking cars on the road now. It released about 20 years too early.
Love that they took apart an actual car without using CGI.
you could hear the sheet metal ring...
They would have struggled to "use CGI" back then..
What an absolutely kick ass Ad!!! Loved it!!
I owned a 1975 Pacer. I LOVED it.
Simple and plain that’s a damn good commercial✅🤑
I remember the commercial with the six foot sub in the back.
That moment you remember seeing the clip BITD and think: "Damn I'm OLD".
I drove a Pacer, total blast to drive, and yes felt like a full size car. Also owned and loved a Gremlin
The AMC cars had always particular and unique designs🙂🙂
That car today is worth about 20K in average condition. A mint one is worth much more.
Crazy considering the MSRP was only about $3,500 when they were new.
$3500 in 1975 is the same as about $21k in today’s money.
OMG that's an amazing commercial. 🆒✅🏆
Those cars were very well built and if cared for are still on the road.
I remember this commercial back in the day, it was hillarious then, even better when you see it now.
I love 1970s cheesemobiles! If I had the money and space, I'd love to have a whole garage filled with them.
This is what made American cars so great in those days. It was their size! Especially when they were driven on the streets of the UK...❤
Nice looking car.
Owned a DL Pacer! Rack & Pinon Steering, 258 engine it was a great little Big Car! It shined at the Drive Inn Movies! Parked it in backwards folded down the back seat! Pillows blankets, left the car run for the AC in Houston a big plus in the summer! Either hooked up the speaker or turned on the FM stereo for sound it was great with the big back window! Hate to say it! But it was a Great! Reliable Ugly looking car! Built in America in Wisconsin! It doesn't get any more American than that! Wish I never sold it!
I thought the Pacers were so cool
That was a cool commercial!
One of the cars that defined the 1970s, that’s for sure!
I have ridden in a Pacer.
It did not have the same ride as a big old Ford.
We had a Pacer Wagon when I was a kid. I thought it was cool. My Dad HATED it with a passion. I cant remember why. We had it a few years and he got rid of it. I was hoping I'd get to drive it one day
It's funny that today we look back on those giant boat-like cars like lincolns and laugh at how large they are, but when you actually see one still around and it's next to a mid sized SUV they look tiny, they were long, but not much longer than an average SUV, nor wider, and they were very low and short. It's all about perspective.
Learned how to drive using my sister’s Pacer. The hardest part was when I took my drivers drive test and he made me do a Y turn on a narrow road. No power steering. Took a lot of work but I did it. I liked that car.
That's one genius commercial! LOL!
My late hubby called this “the clown car”, our friend had one. OMG, what a memory!
I’m still laughing!
Yep that’s why love classics. Though I love the big boxes from that era too
The notorious "fish bowl"! LOL
I would absolutely love to have one of these!!
I always thought the Pacer was kind of a Cool looking Beastie
It was fugly, but... it could park in big cities so much easier than a Lincoln or some such.
A dear friend of mine called this car (the Pacer) a "Squashed Rat". I kinda agree with her.
My aunt had one of these when I was in middle school. The back was roomy enough I could lay down in the luggage area and watch the stars while we drove out into the countryside. Great memories.
I remember exactly where I was when I first saw a pacer thinking is this the future of cars?
Party Time, Excellent!
It would be fun driving that thing down the street nowadays.
Sweeeet advert! Thank you!
My dream car: ‘78 Pacer V8 wagon with woodgrain trim. Tuned 401 with headers. Chick magnet. I’d wear a metallic leisure suit with a pronstache and a Quiana shirt.
Wagons are too easy to get.
I would much rather have a non-wagon with a 258. I'd wear a T-shirt, flannel shirt, and jeans, because that's what I do.
Add a 🎵"La kooka racha"🎵 horn and a Mr. Microphone "hey good lookin' we'll be back to pick you up later." You'll need that for your dance card will be full. 😎
@@bryguy8203 - I like your style 🤣
We had a red Gremlin with LEVI denim seats and logos, cut fit small block chevy 380 stoker, lightning rods on M22 wide ratio with 3:88 differential gears.
I remember seeing one of these when I was a really young kid and thing, "THAT is the future," lol.
And now we got gigantic cars everywhere again. History gotta repeat itself
First car I drove with power assist rack-and-pinion steering. It had some innovative features.
My Dad sold AMC vehicles back then, so I was driving them all in my teens, Pacers, Maveriks, Matador, Gremlins. Those Pacers were total ovens sitting out in the sun.
I had a neighbour that owned a Pacer. His wife and daughter called it “the fishbowl”. As a gag, the daughter and her friends made some paper cutouts of fish and hung them inside. A year or so later he traded it in for a bigger version that they named the “fishbowl wagon”.
Brilliant.
AMC, back in the day, were really willing to take style chances that the other two American car companies wouldn't. Sometimes they succeeded and sometimes they failed, but they always turned heads!
Omg we had one i dont think for long lol but we had one
I wonder what happened to those outer panels. What a cool piece of automobilia that would be.
I had one of those cars I had a 79 DL white colored one and it had a AM FM ,CB radio built in. As well as a rally steering wheel V8 Engine automatic transmission it was in mint condition
It was a fishbowl on wheels. At stop lights the car next to you can look straight down at your waist, the windows were that low.
I REMEMBER THIS COMMERCIAL.
Owned, one in high school came the Chrysler 360. Loved it called it the fishbowl.
my friend always called the Pacer a lunar rover car ... in many ways it was ahead of its time (it ironically shared some design queues with the Porsche 928) - but too much dependence on legacy drivetrains, and heavy weight resulting in mediocre fuel economy killed it's future prospects. That said, if someone gave one to me today, I would drive it til the wheels fell off. We had several AMC products when I was growing up ... a Jeep(ster) Commando, Hornet and GremlinX. Dad always wanted a Javelin, but could never justify the purchase.
To be honest, the Pacer may be quite bizarre, but it’s a beautiful car.
Classic commercial
I had driver's ed in 1989 and our fleet of cars included a Pacer, a Hornet, and a Gremlin. They were all the same color of green. That's the comedic equivalent of putting a hat, on a hat, on a hat.
Sadly so old I can remember them all too well
My Dad had a 77 Pacer that was fun to drive/ ride in-but mechanical problems were overwhelming
Why 🥺
@gennadysharov8 I'm not sure- didn't have many miles on it,Tranny/ engine problems at about 50k mileage
I wish car adverts were nearly this clever these days.
From the thumbnail I though it was a car floating in a lake full of broken cars
Imagine trying to find a back side window for that car now if it ever broke 😂
i absolutely love the pacer
I remember first time I was in this car when I was kid it was so quiet. Back in the day it looked pretty good.
Pacers rock!
La legendaria " hamburguesa sobre ruedas " que se vió mucho por acá en México también !!!
As an afult who grew up i. The 70's i never realized how revolutionary this car was .i wonder if ford ever though about. Reviv this car i bet the glass issue could be dealt with now
The moon mobile!😂
No I still think these old Pacers were pretty cool little cars and I’d still own one if I got the chance. Real shame we missed out on cars like this in Australia. Funny thing is to liking quirky cars I even liked car like the Aztek.
Clever work ! 😁👍🏼
The Pacer was cool. It’s like an AMC Matador that’s chopped off about 2/3 of its length
I remember that ad.