Worst car never – AMC Pacer (Don’t hate!)

Love it or hate it, just don’t call it “the worst.”

Every time a “Worst Car Ever” list comes out, the AMC Pacer seems to find its way onto it. Built from 1975 to 1980, the AMC Pacer is the Worst Cars Ever list’s Commander-In-Grief. Its styling was, and still is, daring and different – no melted bar of soap, utterly anonymous profile here. But when it first hit the streets half way through the 1975 model year, the car caused a sensation. AMC dealers couldn’t get enough of them to keep up with demand but still managed to move 72,158 Pacers out the door and down the road. The following year, with an entire model year in which to do it, AMC poured 117,244 Pacers out of its Wisconsin factory.

The AMC Pacer was the first car I ever really coveted as a kid (besides the fantasy of a Corvette, inspired by the Mark Hamill movie Corvette Summer) and I came THISCLOSE to getting a used one as my second car in 1988, but my mother refused to put up half the money she’d promised because she hated them. I ended up with a nice but boring Subaru sedan instead, better-suited in her opinion for shuttling around Northern Westchester, knocking on doors for the Lord!

I loved its unique look — like a mutant turtle on wheels! — and it was much roomier than most people realized for a such a small car. If I could find one in decent shape now, I’d totally buy it!