A late-model Pacer can be spotted at about 0:15 in this Nissan European car ad.
Chevrolet Volt, 2008.
In this ad, which aired during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, an orange Pacer is at the gas station at the end of the commercial.
Thanks to Kevin Tanner for the sighting.
O'Reilly Auto Parts
, 2007.
A cop pulls over a driver in an AMC Pacer and states that nothing is wrong, but tells him where to get auto parts.
Thanks to Steve Danser for reporting this sighting.
Dell
, 2007.
This commercial for the Dell Inspiron 1420 focuses on the customer's ability to customize
the color of their laptop case to their his personal taste, by featuring different groups of
people with different color "fetishes", and laptops to match. The red laptop is paired with a
girl and an elderly couple riding across the desert in an early model red Pacer coupe with
beige interior, looking at a map on the laptop screen. As the Pacer drives by, the caption,
"Available with Long-Range Wireless" appears.
Thanks to Charlie Gravelle, Brian Holz, and Parker Rome for this Pacer sighting.
YouTube: US,
Germany.
Star Choice Satellite, 2004.
"A customer service rep was talking to a guy on the phone. The dialogue went exactly as follows:
Customer Service Rep: At Star Choice we have over 370 channels you can start with the essentials for
only $26.99 per month and you can upgrade from there.
Customer: Cool. But how about my own renegade cop car?
An AMC Pacer done up like the Starsky and Hutch Gran Torino with the guy rolling around over the hood
and trying to dive in through the side windows but getting stuck.
Customer Service Rep: I'm afraid you're on your own with that one.
-Charlie Gravelle (also reported by Alexander Banks)
Y Do You Think (anti-smoking campaign), 2004.
"There's a kid in the commercial sleeping in a green Pacer during a thunderstorm.
He gets out and climbs a pole in the rain. The Pacer can be seen clearly throughout
most of the commercial." -Cassidy
Don't Trash California, 2003.
"I just saw an anti-pollution commercial that featured a guy in a real pretty
Pacer wagon throwing trash out his window. Not a real flattering portrait of a Pacer
driver, but the car looked great." -Jon Eisen
Library of Congress, 2003.
"A pizza delivery guy driving a Pacer pulls up to someone's door. The customer
starts asking all kinds of questions... and the idea is that if he went to
the LOC site and learned history, he wouldn't be delivering pizzas." -Aaron Schwartz
Blue Cross of California, 2003.
Part of their "power of consistent coverage" campaign. There are brief scenes
from each decade. In each one, a teenage kid walks into the kitchen and says,
"Dad, I wrecked the ___." For the 70s, the blank was filled in with "Pacer". Dad
says, "Are you OK?". Kid says, "I went to the hospital. Blue Cross took care of it."
Burlington Coat Factory, 2003.
A family is watching home movies from the 70s. The videos show the parents, mom
pregnant with their first child, standing in front of an early model Pacer with a
roof rack. At the end of the commercial, Dad exclaims, "That car had a crankin'
8-track!"
Gigante (Mexico), 2002-2004.
"'La familia Peluche' is a comedy series of a family always getting into trouble. They drive a late model
Pacer covered in cloth. All of the actors also appear along with their Pacer in commercials
for Gigante, which is a Mexican Supermarket chain."
-Mauricio Jordán Márquez
Eggo, 2002.
"[In a] Eggo Blueberry Waf-Fulls (waffles with toppings inside the waffle) commercial,
there is a red Pacer Coupe." -Jake Perkins
Best Western, 2002.
A red Pacer can be seen in one of their ads. Thanks to Nolan Dehner for spotting this one.
Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) (Mexico), 2002.
"In this spot appears a young man with long hair, and all of his clothes from 1975.
A voice says: 'If you are not actualized in anything, you need your 'credencial electoral'.'
Of course, the young man drives a beautiful Pacer, a symbol (I don't know why) of all
nonactualized things." -Dr. Rafael Téllez Girón
Dairy Queen, 2001.
"In a Dairy Queen commercial, the two people are driving an AMC Pacer kinda
a brownish red color with a velvet color interior."
-John Lobel
Campbell's Chunky Soup, 2001.
"In a Campbell's Chunky Soup commercial featuring Kurt Warner, a maroon Pacer
drives by at the very beginning of the commercial."
-A. Hart
Kinko's, 2001.
"In a recent Kinko's commercial, the front end of a Pacer can be seen somewhere
in the middle (this commercial is in black and white, so it's easy to spot)."
-A. Hart
Dodge (Mexico), 2001.
"I recently saw a Pacer on TV, in a commercial of the new car Athos
by Dodge (however, the car is made by Hyundai). On a dusty road, a Pacer
fails. The driver sadly sees her trouble. An Athos arrives and save the
people, and goes away leaving the pacer in the desert."
-Dr. Rafael Téllez Girón
Garnier Cosmetics (France), 2001.
The commercial "is for a shampoo [called] Fructis. Three gorgeous women go
from a gray Pacer at the airport Charles de Gaulle in Paris. They will take the
plane. They move their hair in all the directions. The film is very futuristic,
very purified, very in agreement with the style of Pacer, a little as in the movie
'Gattaca'. The producers contacted me when they finded out my web site. Unfortunately,
my car wasn't available at this time and gave him the address of another owner in
Paris."
-Christophe Salvaing
France Telecom (France), 2001.
This commercial was for "its cellular card phone product. A woman is on the
carpark of a mall with her daughter. She is loading bags into the trunk of her
maroon Pacer (this is the Swiss Silvio's Pacer). Her husband arrives and says to
her, 'That's enough -- I'm leaving you.' She doesn't look surprised. Then another
man with almost the same face arrives and says, 'What did he want?' 'Nothing..."
she answers. It is to communicate on the cellular phone card Mobicarte 'without
obligatory engagement' and the possibility to change the subscription as you like."
-Christophe Salvaing
Parody of France Telecom commercial (France), 2001.
"This was a parody movie featuring MY Pacer. The famous European TV Canal Plus
rented my car last weekend for a parody of the Mobicarte commercial. The woman is
Monica Lewinski, the first man is Bill Clinton and the second... the brand new
President of the USA: George W. Bush. Like you can switch and change the cellular
phone card as you want, you can do the same with the President when you are Monica
Lewinski! (A little bad taste isn't it?)"
-Christophe Salvaing
Kellogg's NutriGrain Bar (Mexico), circa 2000.
"A man is on his way to work in his early model orange Pacer, which looks to be in mint
condition. He has lots of kitchen appliances in it and is cooking breakfast. In a red
light a bus appears on his right and in the window there is a woman eating the granola bar."
-Mauricio Jordán Márquez
Burger King (Canada), 2000.
It was "about kids trying to remember the specials, and in this one the
kid got out of red Pacer which was showing rust through over the front wheel
arches." -Charles Patterson
Lexus, 2000.
A Pacer is featured in one of Lexus' "ever missed a great opportunity?" ads.
Some teenagers are sitting in a garage in the mid-70s, and one
of them is showing his friend a silicon chip, trying to convince him to
contribute to the $300 they need to raise for their new venture. The
friend balks, saying that he has "plans for the cash." After the
Lexus pitch, the friend drives back up to the garage in a red Pacer,
boasting about his new 8-track player.
Kraft Parmesan Cheese, 2000.
"A pizza delivery man pulls up to a house in a '78-80 AMC Pacer
painted up like a pizza delivery car. When he goes up to the house and rings
the doorbell, you can see the Pacer in the background quite well. Anyway, a
giant pizza opens the door and the man hands him the cheese."
-Matt Kessinger
In 2007, Buzz McEntire chimed in, "That was me in that commercial -- the pizza delivery guy.
They let me drive the pacer in it, too. It was a lot of fun."
Nordstrom, 2000.
"I just saw a TV ad promoting the latest clothing sale at the exclusive Nordstrom
chain of stores. It features a young female driving a Pacer. It shows her pulling
up to another car all excited and happy. Then the camera shows her taking a
highway exit and we can see she pulling a whole rack of clothes behind her Pacer!
Does this mean more 'upscale' exposure for the Pacer??"
-Christopher Ziemnowicz
Tim Hansen added:
"Breezed through Nordstrom's in Mall of America yesterday (passing through
Minneapolis) and on the third floor, bigger than life, are two monstrous
signboards depicting the back of a Pacer laden with Nordstrom's bags. I was
a bit bummed about them closing the Chrysler Corp. exhibit last December
(was hoping to sit in a PT Cruiser), and Mom says; 'Hey, look at that!' I
say 'Hey, that IS a Pacer!' Made my day, I must say."
Thanks also to A. Hart for reporting
this famous Pacer.
Register.com, 2000.
"I was watching TV today and I saw a new commercial by register.com. In
this particular commercial, there were a few scenes where you saw two women
painting up an [early model] AMC Pacer with '70's style graffiti (i.e. peace
signs, LOVE, etc.)."
-Matt Kessinger
Thanks also to A. Hart for reporting this famous Pacer.
Image courtesy of ArcticBoy.
Jones Intercable, 2000.
"Our local cable company (Jones Intercable) has been running a commercial
that goes like this: A guy is driving along the road in his yellow Pacer
and is pulled over by a cop. As the cop approaches his drivers window the
guy says 'Is there a problem Officer?' The cop says 'YOU bought a PACER!!!
The most butt-ugly car ever made and you ask ME if there is a problem!!!!'
The copy proceeds to pull the guys keys out of the ignition (with a rabbit-foot
attached to the key ring) and takes the keys back to his motorcycle and
opens the apartment behind the seat and throws them in with about a dozen
or so more sets of keys. The camera then scans up along the highway and there
[are] about a dozen PACERS parked along the side of the road!!! Then the logo
'Jones Intercable' comes up on the screen and they say 'Jones Intercable ______'
(haven't caught the third word) -- 'NOT a Pacer'. What do you think about that?
All I could think of was it is more publicity for our cute little cars and
'Where did they get all those Pacers?'" -Peggy, via Charles Patterson on the
AMC Pacer mailing list
Editor's Note: This commercial sounds remarkably similar to the classic
Speedvision Psychocop Pacer commercial produced several years ago, available
for download on the
Audio/Video Pacers.
DirecTV, late 1999.
The pizza delivery car in this commercial is an early-model red Pacer sedan with a
large pizza slice attached to the roof.
Chrysler Canada, summer 1999.
am/pm (convenience store), summer 1999.
The subjects of the commercial drive into the am/pm parking lot in a baby blue
pre-1978 Pacer sedan.
Coca Cola Credit Card, 1999.
"It features some teen-age boys running in and out of a
mini mart, arms loaded with goods. They throw their cache in an orange Pacer coupe which
is equipped with a moon roof. After several trips back and forth, they zip off on a quick
getaway, and the voice-over touts the convenience of a Coca Cola credit card. Who knows,
they might have even bought their Packed Pacer with it?"
-The AMC Pacer Club Pacer News,Vol. 7, No. 2, 1999
News channel, 1999.
"I'm not sure if it's a local commercial to my area or not,
but it's a brief news commercial that says 'You're not still driving the
same old car' (shot of a red Pacer coupe w/ roof rack driving a highway).
'Why watch the same old news?' (shot of news reporters)."
-Shaun Boyd
Geico Direct, 1999.
"Geico has some rather humerous commercials...
this man jumps out into a street singing 'I'm so happy!' and all of a sudden
he's in a parade, right behind him is a red/orange 75-77 Pacer coupe."
-Shaun Boyd
Starburst Candy, 1999.
"Three or four boys are at a gas station, one is purchasing
the candy inside the station while the others wait outside by the pumps.
Two girls driving a car drive by, and they call out to them 'Hey!' while
they drive on. When you first see the girls, you can only see they're
driving a yellow car, it's a shot of only the driver's side window. But as
the shot changes it shows the view from behind the boys, and in the
background you see a blurry yellow Pacer roll by."
-Shaun Boyd
Pokemon Game, 1999.
"There apparantly is a new Pokemon game for gameboy, one in
which you and your pal Pikachu are teamed up catching various pokemon
together. In the commercial, there are cartoon Pokemon creatures
superimposed into real-world shots, and in one case there is a group of
Pokemon hanging around a junkyard, and while the boy and his animated
Pokemon investigate, they notice a large number of the creatures in an
orange Pacer coupe, and they use the crane + magnet to pick up the Pacer
full of creatures and move them." -Shaun Boyd
McDonald's (Mexico), 1999.
"A stupid man put his Pacer on the [railroad tracks] and allows the train
[to] crash [into] the car because he is absentminded eating a McDonald's hamburger."
-Rafael Téllez Girón
Lucozade (Mexico), 1999.
"A young man appears as too weak. He drinks a Lucozade,
and in the final scene of the commercial, the Pacer appears
detained but is moving up and down and flashing its lights."
-Rafael Téllez Girón
Phoenix Suns 30th Anniversary, 1998.
The commercial shows basketball players playing on an outdoor court at various
points in history, and during one of these shots, a red early model Pacer coupe can be seen as one
of the cars parked at the side of the court.
NAPA, date unknown.
A teenage boy laments having to drive his parents' cars, a green Gremlin and a
red early model Pacer coupe.
This was part of a series of Coors Lite's "built for making great beer" advertisements
on the radio. The commercial goes something like this: "A 1975 AMC Pacer? (Insert here a
'honk, honk' that sounds nothing like a Pacer.) Built for... well, we're not exactly sure
what that was built for." And it proceeds to blather on about Coors Lite being built for
making great beer.
Ciniplex Odeon (movie theater commercial), 2001.
"The theatre was a Ciniplex Odeon and the commercial was in the preview section.
It was a commercial for the theatres gift certificates. A dorky guy keeps on knocking
on a decent-looking girl's house and offers her everything from chocolates to kittens.
She always just shuts the door in his face. He finally goes up and another dorky-looking
guy is in the house with her and he flashes his gift certificates and the original dork
is again shut out. He sadly walks down the sidewalk and gets into his amazing red Pacer
wagon with the bubble hood."
-Bill Davenport
Pepsi - The Joy of Cola (print advertisement), 2000.
This print ad featured the interior of a 1979 or 1980 Pacer (so identified by the later
door-pull design). Is the driver upset because she's spilling her drink, or because she'll
be soiling the interior of her beloved car? We like to think the latter, of course...
Incidentally, the ignition is in the lock position and the shifter is in park, so it certainly
makes one wonder what supernatural force is causing this whole scenario. Thanks to Bill
Davenport for the picture, and to Glen Hoag for identification details.
