Saturday, November 04, 2006

1977 AMC Pacer

Last week gkirlin and kkirlin stopped buy with this little treaure. A tiny diecast model of my 1st car in LODEN GREEN! JUST LIKE MINE! I think they found it at the dollar store. But to me, it's priceless. (Much more than the actual car.) When I die, they will be peeling this out of my cold gray hand.
The Pacer has the best visibility of any car on the road before or since. It was a fishbowl on wheels. It could corner at 70 miles per hour because it's wheelbase was as wide as it was long. I delivered thousands of pizzas in it.
What was your first car?

16 comments:

  1. here she is, in all of her glory.

    http://www.buickgod.com/picture/2565.html

    But mine was blue, and I bought it for $300.00

    Ahhh, the memories. Thanks.

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  2. Huindai Pony... It was the love at first sight... This one is not mine, but exacly like mine
    http://ginnsvt.blogspot.com/2006/11/pony.html

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  3. They really were a fishbowl on wheels.

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  4. A volkswagon bug...bubblegum blue with no working heat....."sigh"

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  5. Mine was a 1979 Toyota Corona (not Corolla) wagon, plain grey. It had this fantastically intricate grill that would, for a second, look like a mercedes in your rear view mirror. It died a horrible death after being t-boned on the passenger side at 45 mph, bleeding and leaking all over the intersection, bent nearly in half with a sudden wheel amputation. But I have a souvenir: a small piece of car-door shrapnel loged near my left knee. God, that was in the days before wearing seatbelts were required, and airbags were still some designer's wet dream.

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  6. Mine was 1965 Buick Skylark that was manufactured the same month as I was born. It had great big bouncy seats.

    Mine was the same color as thie one:
    http://www.buickclub.org/MemberGallery/Buick_B.jpg

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  7. Back to the days of my youth...

    The spring of 1970. My first car was an almost new yellow 1969 Austin Healey Sprite. A toy-like car, very small. But it could move! I got it up to 96 mph on a new interstate the first summer I had it.

    But, the rag top was a pain. You froze inside that car in the winter! The rear window became scuzzed up and impossible to see through before I had it 2 years. And it was impossible to keep the dual carburetors running in sync unless you were a great imported car mechanic.

    I finally sold it 4 years later dirt cheap, cause it was too much trouble to keep running.

    You can see what it looked like (someone else's car) at http://quicksitemaker.com/members/topless/foreign.html

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  8. Jeff - my memory of this lovely auto is from the day I split my bottom lip completely in half on a rear bumper of one of these ugly cars. We (my childhood friends and I) were playing touch football in the street, in Burlington N.J. in my grandparents neighborhood. I was 9 yrs. old. I caught a pass, was pushed from behind and knocked out cold. It was awesome!!! Until I had to go to the hospital for stiches. I've hated this automobile ever since. Funny how different one's perspective can be eh?

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  9. "the gay cuban" -- a 2 door 1990 Nissan Sentra, bought from a gay cuban... the license said "viva cuba" -- there were rainbow stickers all over the back window... great car :D except it didnt have a cup holder :(

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  10. Ooo! My first car was a Ford Maverick, too. It might have been a '74, but I don't remember exactly which year.

    It was brown and it was a lemon. Didn't like damp weather. I live next to the ocean. You can imagine the hijinx that ensued from that combo.

    My friend Dave had a Pacer. We taunted him mercilessly about it.

    But you have to admit, they did have the best visibility of any car ever made.

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  11. P.S. - EXCELLENT little diecast. g and k must love you a lot!

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  12. My first car was that damn 1998 Subaru, oh yeah, it was last year, haha, I have a new car, YAY!! It was red, and pretty, until I drove it into a bog!! I bought it for $2500, then you wanted to buy it from me cause you loved it, then I sold it, for $400, to a junkyard, I cried!! But, wait, oh yeah, I HAVE A NEW CAR!!

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  13. maybe they should bring back the pacer and market it to everyone over 70 yrs of age...you know, due to the visibility factor...probably still won't help! no offense grandmom!

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  14. $500 1980's 2-door Toyota Tercel- lt blue... Until the clutch went on it.......... Then I bought a real car.. Plymouth Laser~ blue~ best car I've ever owned! drove awesome through any snow storm~ clutch went on Forrest Ave. in Portland~ I quickly learned how to drive without a clutch!! Then my boyfriend put in a new clutch~ boy was that the best car ever! I wish I still had it!

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  15. The big Green Machine...
    It was a 67 GMC Puke seagreen pick up truck. Gear shift on the steering wheel, but I could sure clutch it on a hill. It wasn't actually mine but the only vehicle my dad let me drive during my impressionable Highschool years. By that time it was 15 years old and so not cool.

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  16. A 1977 Honda Civic CVCC Hatchback in deplorable condition but drove great back and forth from Phoenix to San Diego or Los Angeles many a late night adventure. I remember almost getting run off the road by the big rigs getting in their wake. Aahh, those were the days.

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Jen White