Word: pacers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...have the decency to tell the board you would refuse the increase?" The dapper Chapin replied, "We are not going to discuss my cost of living." Another shareholder, Jerry Fylonenko, said that car buyers he had talked to variously described A.M.C.'s squat, glassy Pacer as "a fish bowl, a candy machine or a pregnant roller skate." Overall, though, the mood of the meeting was less one of anger than of sad resignation. Said Shareholder Bert Sampson: "The stock is so far down now [4⅛ at last week's close] that there is no point selling...
...past two years, mercurial motorists have shifted again and are now buying bigger cars, which is hurting A.M.C. Management mistakes have added to the damage. Introduced in 1975, the Pacer could offer only a disappointing 17 m.p.g., but its unconventional looks probably put off buyers even more; sales have never matched expectations...
...model run, Chapin plans some changes. A.M.C. will introduce a new luxury compact to compete with such cars as the Ford Granada and Dodge Aspen, and will give the Pacer a peppier engine. The Gremlin already comes with an option of a fuel-miserly four-cylinder power plant. The company, Chapin told shareholders, remains committed to small cars; he prophesied that the U.S. "will be a small-car nation by the 1980s...
...nearly did him in. They invested in a nightclub, and he gave her a '76 Pacer, "TV and sound" equipment, "a wardrobe worth thousands," a $7,500 bond and a $9,000 bank account. He also bought her brother a new truck and her mother a color-television...
Starting off 1977, the industry's only real problem is excess capacity to make small cars. Both GM and American Motors have been offering rebates to tempt buyers into ordering models like the Vega and Pacer, and Ford Chairman Henry Ford II has complained publicly that his company must build more small cars than it wants to in order to keep the average gas mileage of its fleet within federal standards...