The Roto-Pacer

[Chuck Most]

The Pacer was originally designed around a Wankel rotary engine in development by General Motors. Man, imagine how awful that would have been... a rotary engine developed by Generic Motors... Anyway, GM pulled the plug, and AMC was left holding the flaming bag of dog poo... basically, the car they'd been designing as a home for the engine, the car that became the Pacer. One day I got to thinking, why not put a rotary in one? One MPC '78 reissue, one incomplete Tamiya RX-7 roadster with it's nice intercooled turbo 13b, and a little mumbling and cursing under my breath at the work bench got me to this...

 

 

[charger74]

That is really nice ??

[Edward Gore]

Nice! I dig the rusting effect as well.

 

 

[wrecker388]

Neat! Nobody would ever expect to see a Wankel Rotary in a Pacer. You have crazy cool creativity Chuck!

[Jonathan]

As a RX-7 owner, I'm both offended and mighty impressed. 

Really nice work, I think this is a hoot!

[slusher]

Nice touch on the engine and idea Chuck! Have to give you props on the build. 

[Foxer]

superb idea !

love it!

[mikemodeler]

Another creative masterpiece, complete with weathering! Love it!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Love it. Great conept. Beautiful job of weathing.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

 cool project idea,  nice job. 

[Jantrix]

That's awesome Chuck. I dig it.

[ChrisR]

NEAT!!

[Mike C]

Cool. I like it. I watched a show about the Pacer recently on YouTube. GM was going to put the Wankel in car that became the Monza too.

[carman1]

neat  !

[rv1963]

Great idea, and I never new the Pacer was designed for this engine from the start.

[Intmd8r]

Love the "24hrs of Lemons" vibe you got going on here....

I'd totally rock that at the local autocross track!

[JTalmage]

Great looking build! I was thinking the same thing... totally something you would see at a 24 hours of LeMons race!

[Chuck Most]

Thanks guys. 

I'm glad people are picking up on the LeMons element- I was trying for that kind of "vibe". 

[Zoom]

Nice little car.

[espo]

Great build. I like the idea of the 24 hrs. and the weathering. As an aside on the rotary engine GM issue. GM was going to put that engine in the Chevrolet Monza when it came out. If you can find one that hasn't rusted away look at how high the transmission tunnel was in that car. That may be why it was so easy to put a v-8 in one later. Mazda did get it right after they got the seals to stop leaking oil into the combustion chamber. No low end torque but hang on once they got wound up. Again a great build.    

[Intmd8r]

 No low end torque but hang on once they got wound up. Again a great build.   

One of the best events held at the Toronto Indy street track several years back was the World Challenge Trans Am cars (dont' remember what the series was called then).  The one class had a privateer with a tube chassis and fiber glass Gen2 RX7 body on it.  The factory powered Jag and LSX powered C5 Corvette hadded the privateer his backside in the corners, but the RX7 held its own on the straights.  Remember he track anouncer saying that this little car would rev to 12,000RPM all day long.  Belived it did, as it was easility one of the LOUDEST cars there, including the Indy/Cart cars.  The sound was as unique as it was loud too.

[espo]

One of the best events held at the Toronto Indy street track several years back was the World Challenge Trans Am cars (dont' remember what the series was called then).  The one class had a privateer with a tube chassis and fiber glass Gen2 RX7 body on it.  The factory powered Jag and LSX powered C5 Corvette hadded the privateer his backside in the corners, but the RX7 held its own on the straights.  Remember he track anouncer saying that this little car would rev to 12,000RPM all day long.  Belived it did, as it was easility one of the LOUDEST cars there, including the Indy/Cart cars.  The sound was as unique as it was loud too.

I had two personal experiences with Rotary engines on the street. I used to work in new car dealerships. As such I was around many different cars. One day they sold my demo so that night I just drove the trade-in as I was going out to dinner that night. It was a Mazda Cosmos with a 5-speed. I was headed north on Hwy 101 going to San Luis Obispo with light traffic. That night I got lucky because I completely ignored the speed limit and I can tell you I was amazed. It was faster than the Supra I had been driving. A couple of years later I was working at the Mazda dealership in Seaside Ca. and one of the mechanics in the shop had a Mazda pick-up that had a Rotary from the factory. He had reworked an RX-7 engine for it and it was a terror on the highway. I have always wondered why the engine never  became more main stream.

[lucky 130]

GM installed a Wankel  in a Monte Carlo in 70 or 71. They drove it around N.Y. city. After three trips around the block they had burnt the tires completely to the steel belts and decided it was not worth the cost of refinement. Any way that is what Car& Driver reported back then.................