1977 AMC AM Van Concept

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MourningRIF@reddit

That thing would sell in today's market. Make it an EV and you are good to go.

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Objective-Ad-2197@reddit

Fun fact - the AMC Pacer was originally designed to rock a rotary engine, like an RX7.

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The rotary would have been way more fun than the lump it got, but given ‘70s AMC manufacturing and quality control, I can imagine it would have been a massive maintenance and reliability headache. Even Mazda had issues, and they were light years beyond AMC. It’s too bad, but I tend to think AMC made the right call.

I’d love to see a Pacer retrofitted with a more modern rotary out of an RX-8 or something.

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MourningRIF@reddit

There's no such thing as a reliable rotary. In the 70s, you would be have got 20k miles before the apex seals were toast. Now you get 50k.

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OldheadBoomer@reddit

That lump it got turned out to be one of the most respected, bulletproof engines: the Jeep 4.0 inline 6

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existensile@reddit

Eventually, with added MPFI, and if memory serves it was originally designed by IH, not AMC. Also used in the Rambler.

We used to call its front bearing noise "the Rambler knock"

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SappedSentry@reddit

nope. the AMC striaght six was designed in house. might be thinking of IH using the AMC 401 in some vehicles when they were short on their own motors in 1974 (due to a strike i think?). they called it the IH 400 when they used it.

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existensile@reddit

My bad, it was an original AMC design

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3amGreenCoffee@reddit

The 4.0L had MPFI from the beginning, in 1987. The Pacer didn't get the 4.0L.

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ZakAttackz@reddit

Well the 4.0 is just the last of that family of motors. A lot of it's parts are interchangeable, for example the oil pan gasket says "fits 1954-2006 AMC/JEEP L6" on it. You can even swap a 4.2L crank into a 4.0 to make a 4.6

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3amGreenCoffee@reddit

The Pacer came before the Jeep 4.0. It got a 3.8L I6, a 4.2L I6 or a 304 V8. The 4.0L was closely related to the other AMC I6 engines and even has some interchangeable parts, but it wasn't exactly the same engine.

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3amGreenCoffee@reddit

AMC wasn't going to build the rotary. They had a contract for GM to supply a rotary they were developing. GM instead reneged on the deal and canceled the project after the Pacer had already been designed around it, leaving AMC scrambling to shoehorn an AMC straight six into it. GM claimed the rotary design had too many problems and wasn't commercially viable.

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DMala@reddit

A GM built rotary in the ‘70s would have been a sight to behold. That is if you could even see it under all the oil leaking out of it.

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GlockAF@reddit

I’m imagining one with a blue-jeans interior like the Levi’s Gremlin https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/the-levis-amc-gremlin-wasnt-just-quirky-it-fashioned-a-movement/

But with a fire-breathing 1000+ hp turbocharged four-rotor rotary engine tucked away under the stubby hood.

It’d be as horrifyingly loud as it was cute

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SappedSentry@reddit

man, can you imagine if the GM rotary program worked out? it was going to go in the Vega, and later, the Monza. Would be so cool to have a GM rotary as an engine swap option today.

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Deceler8@reddit

A GM designed and built rotary. The same one was to go into what became the Chevrolet Monza.

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existensile@reddit

They had trouble too, and when vehicle emissions were first Federally regulated they gave up since they couldn't clean it up

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enif96@reddit

Too bad it never made it production. Looks Bad-Ass!

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SirGirthfrmDickshire@reddit

I want it so badly

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Final_Winter7524@reddit

That thing would have been dope!

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Le_Gluglu@reddit

It looks like the superego of Twingo

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Brawl501@reddit

Twingo's American cousin

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BunkySpewster@reddit

Two doors and cargo space. Love it.

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LurkerOnTheInternet@reddit

Cargo space but no engine space. I love it but it couldn't have worked as an actual car.

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OliverNorvell1956@reddit

The headlights and grill look so much like a ‘75 Vega, it’s crazy!

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ScottaHemi@reddit

i want it.

but where the heck is the engine?

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3amGreenCoffee@reddit

It doesn't have one. It was just a rolling concept, a fiberglass body over a wood frame. The guy who bought it in 2022 planned to make it functional by putting the body on a stretched CJ-7 frame, but I don't know if he succeeded.

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J3R0M3@reddit

I like it

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Loden2068@reddit

Me too

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cat_herder_64@reddit

And me!

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hoobaboomer@reddit

Me too. It looks like a van on steroids

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Enough-Goose7594@reddit

Absolutely dig it! Looks like a car I drew as a kid

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95kene@reddit

Looks like a Hot Wheels car. I love it.

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ChodeSandwhich@reddit

This thing makes me hard.

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hujassman@reddit

What in the actual... And it's 4 wheel drive too.

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3amGreenCoffee@reddit

It wasn't though. It didn't have a drivetrain at all. It was just a rolling body concept.

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hujassman@reddit

Ahhh damn. It's got the 4 x 4 sticker on the hood. Still pretty cool.

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3amGreenCoffee@reddit

The guy who bought it in 2022 planned to make it functional. Originally it was just a fiberglass shell over a wood frame. He bought a CJ-7, stretched the frame to fit the AM Van body and was going to build a real, functional 4WD AM Van out of it.

I don't know if he succeeded, but here's an article about it.

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hujassman@reddit

That's awesome!

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Sbass32@reddit

Pregnant pacer yikes.

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Jef_Wheaton@reddit

"When an AMC Pacer and a Toyota Previa love each other very much..."

I think it's adorable.

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DisposableJosie@reddit

I dunno. The Pacer and Previa may have gotten hitched, but I'd suspect this kid is from Momma Pacer hooking up with the milkman Brubaker Box.

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3amGreenCoffee@reddit

I wondered when I would see a comment about the Brubaker Box.

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DisposableJosie@reddit

Among the large library of VHS tapes from home taping, our house had 6-8 episodes of that Saturday morning live-action kids show, Ark II. That little Brubaker Box was one of the first cool cars etched into my formative memories.

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