9 AMC Pacer

Perhaps best remembered for its cameo in the 1992 film Wayne’s World, the Pacer went on UK sale in late 1975 with not quite the press fanfare AMC’S British distributor would have liked: ‘We Test The Pacer (and Wish We Hadn’t),’ read Motor’s February 1976 coverline. The two-door hatch was launched as an ‘economy’ car in the USA, but the Pacer’s failings were brought into sharp relief when it crossed the Atlantic. Costing £5413 – nearly £1900 more than a Ford Capri 3.0 Ghia – the Pacer’s anaemic 95bhp 3.8-litre straight-six struggled to propel it beyond 90mph, and only then if you were prepared to slash its already woeful 16mpg thirst. Then there was its size: at 172in long and 77in wide, it matched a Ford Granada’s length and a Rolls-royce Silver Shadow’s breadth. Factor in an even larger passenger door in LHD form that became a form of entrapment for luckless RHD drivers if something parked too close, and it was no surprise that only a handful of Pacers was sold here. Anorak fact UK cars were converted to RHD by way of a chain linking the steering wheel to the column, which led to a slightly ‘remote’ feeling at speeds of above 50mph…