1973 AMC Ambassador and AMC Pacer Q: Dear Greg, I own a 1972 AMC Ambassador Custom Brougham 4-wheel-drive sedan. Would you please let us know how many were produced that year? Also, your feelings on the AMC Pacer? — David Price, New Jersey A: David, in 1972 AMC produced an estimated total of only 15,000 Custom Brougham hardtops and sedans, in two- and four-door designs. In 1974, AMC produced 17,901 total of the Ambassador Brougham model — again, this number is estimated by AMC.
Now to the AMC Pacer. This was to be AMC’s “breakout” all-new compact car, but it never happened. Produced from 1975 through 1980, the Pacer was built around a spacious, four-passenger cabin and looked a bit like a bubble when finished, with lots of glass everywhere.
It was as wide as a full-size luxury car of the era, and Car & Driver and Road & Track magazines gave it some praise, even calling it one of the 10 best forward-looking designed vehicles. With the actual design beginning in 1971, the Pacer was to originally utilize a Rotary Wankel engine, but the extra costs involved, and the fact that we were in a gas crisis in 1973-75 didn’t help matters, as the Rotary has never been known for its fuel efficiency. Instead of the Wankel Rotary, AMC decided to use GM-built 4-cylinder engines, but that deal also dried up, leaving AMC with no other choice but to adapt its inline 6 cylinders, in 232- and 258-inch versions.
Later in the run, a 304 V8 joined the fray. The first year of Pacer sales w.
