I always thought this Renault ad was brilliant.The company produces an odd-looking car (I’m being kind) and the ad agency was trying to make an odd-looking car desirable !
“If the Minaj is too big for you, we also offer the Kardashian midsize line, one of which is a convertible! If you want some more flash, there is also the Beyonce’, our best sports car ever! Visit your AMC dealer today!”
Classic Marketing 101: when trying to sell something undesirable, show T&A instead. Does it work? Tell me, without scrolling back up, what color is the Pacer? Now tell me, is she blonde? What color is the dress? What did you remember? See, it works. And you will remember the ad, if not the car.
I posted it because it was funny and because it is the antithesis of the classic VW ads. Which would make you take a car more seriously, the ‘Lemon’ ad or the ‘Ass’ ad posted here 🙂 Those sold steak, this sells sizzle – although I think a Pacer would have been a very tough sell for use on those narrow Parisian streets and well, it doesn’t have much sizzle to begin with.
A Pacer in Paris would sell for about the same reasons that a Citroen sold here in Cleveland. Somebody with a bit of money and the desire to have something that nobody else in the arrondissement has. There are those who follow trends, and those who boldly go where others do not.
I would love to know who bought these. Presumably a Pacer was pretty expensive in France, and usually when Europeans make the effort to buy an American car, they buy an “AMERICAN!!!” car, not some weird small car that isn’t small.
At least the Cleveland Citroen would typically have had certain capabilities unavailable from Detroit. Yes the Pacer had a style all its own, but that was it, apart from a remarkable ability to burn fuel.
Just out of curiosity, I’d love to see the sales comparison for Citroen in the US vs AMC in France. I can see Jeeps finding a home in Paris and elsewhere, but Gremlins and Pacers? Then again, who knows what people will find intriguing, as you say.
When I lived in Guatemala City, C.A. in 1976 my brother in law was a local Customs Agent and thought he had to impress so he bought a new four door Matador in 1974 ~ BIG 258 CID i6 engine and three on the tree….
I had to work on it occasionally and drove it a few times, nice but not fancy in any way .
He really thought he’d hit the big time, driving a big American car .
-Nate
MarcKyle64
Posted August 1, 2017 at 11:48 AM
Matadors are nice cars, and durable with that big six. The 258 was as tough as the slant six
-Nate
Posted August 1, 2017 at 10:43 PM
Yes, it was until they used it in the Concords with a crappy plastic valve cover that was a bear to make leak proof .
I personally like the Matadors .
There was one pissed off AMC worked though who deliberately left the lower left ball joint nut loose on _Police_ spec. Matadors and there were numerous crashes and a factory TSB .
The big 401 V* was quite the stormer too but had very poor bottom end oiling leading to lots and lots of three year old Matadors & Jeeps for sale with rod knocks, this during a gas crisis (fake) so gas guzzlers were a hard sell even when running well, near impossible when needing a $1,800.00 engine job .
I well remember L.A.P.D. racing around NW L.A. after gang bangers in 401 equipped matador black and white radio cars ~ very impressive .
It’s as if the Pacer is an unruly dog that has stepped upon the train of her dress.
On second viewing, anyway. On initial viewing, where is the Pacer again? Attention is drawn to an altogether more pleasing shape in a different part of the frame.
I like oddball cars. But not a pacer. I do however find this one interesting. Oh yes, in answer to an above post, I guess red as the colour of the pacer in the ad and all other questions right on.
Jean-Charles, the French importer of the Pacer, managed to get a few A-listers interested in the new AMC back in 1975 — among whom, Brigitte Bardot. Hence the ad. They couldn’t get Bardot to pose for them, so they did the next best thing and drew a Bardot-like derriere. Viz the pic below, taken a good 15 years earlier (in an MG, I believe)…
Jean-Charles managed to shift 2000-3000 Pacers in France in 5 years — not a bad score in those days. I’m not sure GM sold half as many Corvettes in France back then.
“Yes dear, it does.” 🙂
Must be a French thing
I always thought this Renault ad was brilliant.The company produces an odd-looking car (I’m being kind) and the ad agency was trying to make an odd-looking car desirable !
Not a Renault ad. The Pacer was produced through 1979. Renault agreed to invest in AMC in December, 1980.
Mike,
Uncle Mellow was referring to the YouTube video regarding the Megane with protruding ‘butt’, not to AMC Pacer.
Megane is just another example of French avant-garde tradition…
To each his own, perhaps?
British ad agencies are clearly obsessed.
looks like any day in Los Angels to me….
-Nate
And the kids these days think that they invented the well-rounded posterior…
“AMC proudly returns to the market with the voluptuous 2018 Minaj!”
“If the Minaj is too big for you, we also offer the Kardashian midsize line, one of which is a convertible! If you want some more flash, there is also the Beyonce’, our best sports car ever! Visit your AMC dealer today!”
And here is the Pacer’s generous bottomed German cousin.
Not quite the same thing, but please indulge me (ca. 1940):
“Philco. For the husband who wants to wind up sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Love it!
“Hello, State Farm insurance. How many I help you today?”
“Um, I need to file a claim. A 50-foot woman just sat on my Pacer.”
hehehe
“Not as bad as the car you were driving yesterday did” he said with a smirk. A full recovery is expected but rehabilitation may take several years.
She got that boom boom that all the boys chases.
Classic Marketing 101: when trying to sell something undesirable, show T&A instead. Does it work? Tell me, without scrolling back up, what color is the Pacer? Now tell me, is she blonde? What color is the dress? What did you remember? See, it works. And you will remember the ad, if not the car.
Color? Car?? Yes, White. (scrolls back) well, who’s going to notice a Pacer?
That’s easy, the car was white.
–goes back and looks–
Oh.
Did the Pacer become a bother by driving onto her dress?
Or did she “beget” the Pacer from one place or another? Does the Pacer color help with that assignation?
How would ad agencies function without mind-altering substances?
The Pacer needed a girdle.
Don’t know what you haven’t yet enjoyed…
I think that Renault is FUGLY but it’s French so whatever .
-Nate
Not really. That fat butt speaks for itself, elle n’a besoin d’une Pacer pour ça.:/
Let’s do a quick survey, for the lady’s butt on Pacer ad. yay for too big; nay for not too big.
I voted nay. It was just right 🙂
I like big trunks (and hatches) and I cannot lie…
Yes, _BUT_ ;
it matter a lot how said size is carried…
Not all big butts look nice .
-Nate
I posted it because it was funny and because it is the antithesis of the classic VW ads. Which would make you take a car more seriously, the ‘Lemon’ ad or the ‘Ass’ ad posted here 🙂 Those sold steak, this sells sizzle – although I think a Pacer would have been a very tough sell for use on those narrow Parisian streets and well, it doesn’t have much sizzle to begin with.
A Pacer in Paris would sell for about the same reasons that a Citroen sold here in Cleveland. Somebody with a bit of money and the desire to have something that nobody else in the arrondissement has. There are those who follow trends, and those who boldly go where others do not.
I would love to know who bought these. Presumably a Pacer was pretty expensive in France, and usually when Europeans make the effort to buy an American car, they buy an “AMERICAN!!!” car, not some weird small car that isn’t small.
At least the Cleveland Citroen would typically have had certain capabilities unavailable from Detroit. Yes the Pacer had a style all its own, but that was it, apart from a remarkable ability to burn fuel.
Just out of curiosity, I’d love to see the sales comparison for Citroen in the US vs AMC in France. I can see Jeeps finding a home in Paris and elsewhere, but Gremlins and Pacers? Then again, who knows what people will find intriguing, as you say.
When I lived in Guatemala City, C.A. in 1976 my brother in law was a local Customs Agent and thought he had to impress so he bought a new four door Matador in 1974 ~ BIG 258 CID i6 engine and three on the tree….
I had to work on it occasionally and drove it a few times, nice but not fancy in any way .
He really thought he’d hit the big time, driving a big American car .
-Nate
Matadors are nice cars, and durable with that big six. The 258 was as tough as the slant six
Yes, it was until they used it in the Concords with a crappy plastic valve cover that was a bear to make leak proof .
I personally like the Matadors .
There was one pissed off AMC worked though who deliberately left the lower left ball joint nut loose on _Police_ spec. Matadors and there were numerous crashes and a factory TSB .
The big 401 V* was quite the stormer too but had very poor bottom end oiling leading to lots and lots of three year old Matadors & Jeeps for sale with rod knocks, this during a gas crisis (fake) so gas guzzlers were a hard sell even when running well, near impossible when needing a $1,800.00 engine job .
I well remember L.A.P.D. racing around NW L.A. after gang bangers in 401 equipped matador black and white radio cars ~ very impressive .
-Nate
“It’s too wide!”
It’s as if the Pacer is an unruly dog that has stepped upon the train of her dress.
On second viewing, anyway. On initial viewing, where is the Pacer again? Attention is drawn to an altogether more pleasing shape in a different part of the frame.
Girl: Zaftig
Car: Roly Poly
I can’t image the ad would have been any better if the girl had been Roly Poly the the car Zaftig.
I like oddball cars. But not a pacer. I do however find this one interesting. Oh yes, in answer to an above post, I guess red as the colour of the pacer in the ad and all other questions right on.
“Honey, Does This Pacer Make My Butt Look Too Big?”
Pacer..? What Pacer? Baby, you look fantASStic !!!
😀
Jean-Charles, the French importer of the Pacer, managed to get a few A-listers interested in the new AMC back in 1975 — among whom, Brigitte Bardot. Hence the ad. They couldn’t get Bardot to pose for them, so they did the next best thing and drew a Bardot-like derriere. Viz the pic below, taken a good 15 years earlier (in an MG, I believe)…
Jean-Charles managed to shift 2000-3000 Pacers in France in 5 years — not a bad score in those days. I’m not sure GM sold half as many Corvettes in France back then.
Nice .
-Nate
I built that pacer.
1980