But when you figure the Pacer was never supposed to HAVE the Jeep engine, the lack of interchangability makes a lot more sense. It was *supposed* to get the fancy, new, rotary engine in *front wheel drive* -- a configuration, I might add, that does not exist domestically even to this day. Remember, too, that the 40Mil included not just the initial work, but all the re-tooling and re-engineering to PUT that I-6 in there -- ain't cheap. They couldn't even use a 4cyl, the car was too heavy! Even with the 6, it's a relative dog, but the cornering is wonderful (for the time) and the ride is nice so the straight-line laziness was kinda easy to overlook. I had always wanted to do the FWD thing to a Pacer and if I could find a decent coupe body (I have a wagon), I'd carve FWD into it (perhaps a 3.8 gm setup). In the doing, I'd carve out the huge tunnel, too, front seat AND back. It would be very cool, IMO, and be slackjaw impressive to any other Pacer owner -- it'd look like it was always supposed to have looked ;-) Flat floors, and wide open spaces. Or, I might ditch these Pacers altogether. There's an old farmer with an old fastback Marlin (67 or so?) about 4 miles from me. I might see if he's emotionally attached to that thing. It didn't look all that bad, really. Might drop a 460 in it just to be different. L. > -----Original Message----- > From: BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Eddie Stakes > Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 8:22 AM > To: Ken Ames; AMC, Rambler, Nash, Jeep and family > Cc: baadassGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [BaadAssGremlins] Re: Pacer motor mounts oddities > > Seems like a odd thing to spend $40 million on development > and production of the Pacer > which shared few parts with anything else AMC too....just a > couple years before AMC had > spent $40 million buying Jeep from Willys you know. > > So AMC got away from mode that made them > successful.....interchangability of > parts.......in the 60s, and much spent for glass, sheetmetal, > dies, pressing, molds, > rather endless here of what things unique as the Pacer > itself. And Matador coupes. And > Marlin lessons not learned before them. > > Not knock on Pacer, Matty coupes or Marlin, it is just that > AMC was top of game with > getting away with 'new' models with cosmetic changes. How > many of you remember AMC > mentioning that "they were going to introduce a NEW model > every SIX months" in 1970? > > By 1971......you had 3 different Gremlins; 7 different > Hornets; 3 different Matadors; 3 > different Javelins; and count them.....7 different Ambassador > series. Total *23* models to > choos from in your nearest AMC dealership. Easy as looking at > back of your NOS 1971 full > line color catalog and see choices! So subtle and not so > subtle changes made a new model > for AMC...easy as 'base' to 'DPL' to 'SST' for instance. > > For all customers price ranges. That was marketing genius in > my humble opinion, sort of > what you see companies doing now, making smaller cereal > boxes, or concave bottom of glass > jar of peanut butter......looks same, costs same at store, > just uh, getting LESS product. > New & Improved! That's the Spirit Thing, lend a hand! As > Gomez would say....... > > $40 million. I could hang with Charlie Sheen for a night in > Veags and his girls with that. > Eddie Stakes > 713.464.8825 > eddiestakes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > www.planethoustonamx.com > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BaadAssGremlins/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BaadAssGremlins/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: BaadAssGremlins-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx BaadAssGremlins-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: BaadAssGremlins-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/