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The AMC Pacer is a two-door compact automobile that was produced in the United States by the American Motors Corporation between 1975 and 1980. Design work began in 1971. The rounded shape and large glass area were unusual compared with the three-box designs of the era. The Pacer's width is equal to full-sized domestic vehicles at the time, and this unique design feature was promoted by AMC as "the first wide small car."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=AMC Pacer Statistics and Fun Facts )〕 The Pacer was the first modern mass-produced, U.S. automobile design using the cab forward concept. The Pacer's rounded and aerodynamic "jellybean" styling has made it an icon of the 1970s. The May 1976 issue of ''Car and Driver'' dubbed it "The Flying Fishbowl",〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Pacers in Print )〕 and it was also described as "the seventies answer to George Jetson's mode of transportation" at a time when "Detroit was still rolling out boat-sized gas guzzlers." ==Design== American Motors' chief stylist Richard A. Teague began work on the Pacer in 1971, anticipating an increase in demand for smaller vehicles through the decade. The new car was designed to offer the interior room and feel of a big car that drivers of traditional domestic automobiles were accustomed to, but in a much smaller, aerodynamic, and purposefully distinctive exterior package. American Motors called it "Project Amigo" as a fresh design "featuring a body style not seen before, using the latest technology, and exceeding upcoming safety regulations." ''Car and Driver'' magazine noted that "AMC said it was the first car designed from the inside out. Four passengers were positioned with reasonable clearances and then the rest of the car was built around them as compactly as possible." The shape was highly rounded with a huge glass area, and was very unusual for its time. ''Road & Track'' magazine described it as "fresh, bold and functional-looking". Development was under Product Group Vice President Gerald C. Meyers, whose goal was to develop a car that was truly unique: "...everything that we do must distinguish itself as being importantly different than what can be expected from the competition..." Even before its introduction, AMC's Board Chairman Roy D. Chapin, Jr. described "It will be a visibly different car, maybe even controversial ... It's an idea that represents a transition between what has been and what's coming. Today versus tomorrow." ''Popular Mechanics'' wrote: "This is the first time in the history of the American automobile industry that a car manufacturer has said in advance of bringing out a new product that some people may not like it." A number of futuristic ideas were explored by AMC. However, the automaker lacked adequate resources to build components from scratch and needed to use outside suppliers or adapt its existing parts and use its production facilities. Unique for a comparatively small car, the Pacer was as wide as a full-size American car of the era. American Motors did not describe it as "cab forward", but the Pacer's layout included wheels pushed to the corners (short overhangs), a relatively wide body, and A-pillars moved forward; the windshield was placed over part of the engine compartment. Contrary to myth, The Pacer was not widened six inches (152.4 mm) to make room for the rear-wheel drive configuration. The editor of ''Road & Track'' asserted that front-wheel drive, as well as a transverse mid-engined configuration, were among "various mechanical layouts...tossed around by the idea people at AMC", adding that "it's unlikely they ever had much hope of being able to produce anything other than their traditional front engine and rear drive, using components already in production." The introductory 1975 AMC advertising and literature proclaimed it as "the first wide small car". The width was dictated partly by marketing strategy—U.S. drivers were accustomed to large vehicles, and the Pacer's occupants had the impression of being in a larger car—and partly by the fact that AMC's assembly lines were already set up for full-size cars. Teague's low-drag design, which predated the fuel crisis and the flood of small foreign imports into the American market, was highly innovative. Its drag coefficient of 0.43 was relatively low for that time. Teague even eliminated rain gutters, smoothly blending the tops of the doors into the roof—an aerodynamic detail that, although criticized at the time for allowing rain onto the front seat, has become the norm in today's designs. Also unique was that the passenger door was four inches (101 mm) longer than the driver's. This made passenger loading easier, particularly from the rear seats; and they would also tend to use the safer curb side in countries that drive on the right. An entirely fresh approach was also taken by AMC engineers with the Pacer's front suspension and engine mounting. It was the first U.S. small car to isolate the engine and suspension system noises from the passenger compartment. The entire front suspension was mounted on a crossmember isolated from the frame extensions by heavy rubber bushings. It is also different from all other AMC cars with the coil spring between the two control arms, seated at the bottom on the lower wishbone arm and at the top in the suspension/engine mount crossmember. The rear suspension was also isolated with a special tool required to press the one-piece bushings in and out of the mounting brackets. Other aspects of the Pacer were designed for ease of service, including the dashboard and instrument panel using a minimum number of easily accessible screws and featuring removable cover/bezel without the need to disconnect the speedometer cable and access to the light bulbs. The Pacer's design was ranked as equal with the new Aspen-Volare compacts as the most serviceable in the industry. The Pacer became only the second American car after the Ford Pinto in production cars in the U.S. to feature rack-and-pinion steering. The system was mounted low at the front of the crossmember. The body was designed with the aim that structural lines protected it from hit damages, and AMC engineers claimed that they succeeded in more than 50% of the car surface. In the mid-1970s, the U.S. government mandated major safety improvements for vehicles starting with the 1980 model year. These included front-end crash testing, side crash testing, and rollover testing, as well as the installation of bumpers that would resist a impact at the front and at the rear. "Full-circle body protection was designed into the Pacer, starting with the energy-absorbing bumper mounts" through upper and lower box-section rails on each side extending back to the front pillars, as well as from the bases of the pillars behind the doors, the box-section members in the body floor curve up and back in past the rear wheel houses. The Pacer was designed from the start to meet the expected stringent safety specifications. The low belt line and window design afforded the driver with outstanding visibility. The Pacer had laminated safety glass in the windshield. The articulated front wipers were hidden when in their parked position, and a rear wiper and washer was optional. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler persuaded the government that they were not financially viable to modify existing production cars to comply with the new regulations, and that instead each company would be put to the enormous expense of producing new, safety-compliant vehicles. Accordingly, the government requirements were reduced, which led to the deletion of several safety features from the production Pacer—for example the roll bar over the passenger compartment, and the bump in the roof that accommodated it. The design of the Pacer was strong for a small car, making it solid and heavy with protection features that included strong and massive bumpers, as well as wide B-pillars that factory information bulletins described their "roll bar like characteristics." Even with the Pacer's large glass area, passengers are not near the windows because they all bow out from around the occupants. The Pacer's wide stance also makes it stable and provides a unique feeling when inside the car that gave credence to the marketing phrase used by AMC that "you only ride like a Pacer if you're wide like a Pacer."〔 The editors of ''The Motor'' described the "more you study both the general layout and the detail features of the Pacer, the more convinced you become that the men who dreamed it up and decided to make it actually do drive around in crowded cities and consequently realise from their own experience that the traditional big barges are less and less easy to navigate through our streets."〔(''The Motor'', p. 36. )〕 ''Car and Driver'' road testers noted the Pacer's "smooth and quiet ride can probably be attributed to a front subframe that isolates the passenger capsule from engine, suspension and steering loads" making the car "eminently stable and controllable, with its rack-and-pinion steering and wide track." The Pacer's remaining safety features were not strongly advertised, and seldom influenced a potential customer's purchasing decision. The car's extra weight—due in part to the safety equipment and the abundance of heavy glass—hurt fuel economy: production models tested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave in the city, but or better on the highway (depending on driving habits and transmission), thanks to aerodynamic efficiency. Originally, the car was designed for a Wankel rotary engine. In 1973, AMC signed a licensing agreement with Curtiss-Wright to build Wankels for cars and Jeep-type vehicles. (The agreement also permitted Curtiss-Wright to sell rotaries elsewhere.) Later, AMC decided instead to purchase the engines from General Motors (GM), who were developing them for use in their own cars. However, GM canceled development in 1974 for reasons that included durability issues, the fuel crisis, tooling costs (for the engines and also for a new product line designed around the rotary's ultra-compact dimensions) and the upcoming (late 1970s) U.S. emissions legislation. It was also thought that the high-revving Wankel would not suit Americans accustomed to low revs and high torque. General Motors's change of plans left the Pacer without an engine. American Motors took a calculated risk and introduced the new model. The company's over commitment to the project resulted in entrapment with so much money and effort in the car's design.〔 Engineers hastily reconfigured it to accept their existing straight-six engine. This involved a complete redesign of drivetrain and firewall to keep the longer engine within the body dimensions designed for the Wankel, but allowed the Pacer to share many mechanical components with other AMC models. ''Newsweek'' noted the "Pacer's primary competitive drawback is gasoline mileage: AMC offers only six-cylinder engines and the car gets only 18 miles per gallon in city and suburban driving vs. 23 mpg or more for some four-cylinder competitors." The "outside of the box" thinking incorporated by AMC in the Pacer as the first "wide, small car" attempted to capture a revolutionary change in marketplace. However, a radical departure from what was accepted by consumers as "good styling" was a risky strategy. Only the largest firms can stick with a radical element until it "grows", and the automaker’s dominance in the marketplace may eventually establish it as a standard feature.〔 However, the styling research axiom no longer applied by the late 1970s that if a car with some controversial styling was liked by at least half of the potential market segment; then chances were good that this feature was a differential advantage for the manufacturer.〔 The AMC Pacer incorporated many controversial styling and design innovations that led to its market failure after five model years.〔 American Motors created the Pacer by identifying emerging trends and design technologies, but it faced a small window of opportunity since a product that comes out either too early or too late can fail even if the opportunity was there initially. A further complication was the purchasing dynamics and the Pacer's design was focused on maximizing the internal sense of space, while the market focused on external dimensions. Many of the attributes the Pacer incorporated became the goal of all manufacturers in the two decades that followed.〔 With an uncommonly wide and short body for a small car, the Pacer’s design is still considered controversial while its powerplants did not contribute to fuel economy. Nevertheless, "the foresight by Teague and AMC was correct" with approaches to meet the evolving U.S. government regulations covering automobiles (such as the Highway Safety Act of 1970 and the new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).〔The ”1975 AMC Pacer” display tag at the Antique Auto Museum at Hershey, PA. viewed in March 2009.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「AMC Pacer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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