Happy Halloween - the AMC Pacer

Since it is Halloween, I'd though I'd do something a little bit different, so I set out to find some pictures of ugly cars instead of beautiful ones. Voted one of the ugliest cars ever (and worst as well) by far, is the AMC Pacer. One automagazine even reported: "We drove the AMC Pacer - and wish we hadn't". On the front cover.

Produced by American Motors Corporation from 1975 until 1981, the Pacer was supposed to be a small and very frugal American car. The Gremlin (an earlier model), had already been quite successful, so hopes were quite high for the Pacer.

Designed by Richard Teague after watching an American Football game, the Pacer was rather special: one third of the car was made out of glass, the passenger door was 10 centimeters wider than the drivers door (which made getting in the back easier - except in the UK), and with rather weird dimensions. It was shorter than a Volkswagen Beetle (about 30cm), but it was nearly half a meter wider - in fact, the Pacer was wider than a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, so getting in and out of one in the parking lot proved to be a bit of an ordeal.

As I said, it was meant to be frugal, but it was far from that: because of the glass, the weight was substantial (about 1500 kg), and the last-minute engine change didn't do it any good either. AMC decided to swap the initially planned wankel-engine for a six-cylinder. They even went for a V8 a few years later!

The second oil crisis proved to be too much for the Pacer, and AMC went broke a few years later - and the Pacer took most of the blame for it.

Despite all this, it was a rather popular car back then, and due to its appearance in a few movies, the Pacer even got something of a cult status. Ugly duckling or misunderstood motor? You decide.

Chrysler PT Cruiser

Several years ago, a co-worker of mine got his new company car and to my surprise he had opted for something completely different (given the fact that Alfa Romeos where the car-du-jour at that company): a Chrysler PT Cruiser. It would be the first PT Cruiser I'd ever seen.

Launched in early 2000, the PT Cruiser is a 5-door hatchback, particularly recognizable for its retro stylings. Personally it always reminds me of the 1930s Ford Coupe that features prominently on the cover of ZZ-Top's "Eliminator", even though these are entirely different cars.

In 2005, Chrysler even released a 2-door convertible PT Cruiser, but I've rarely ever seen one. The only ones I've seen so far are the originals.

A small bit of trivia before I leave you with todays picture set: do you know what the abbreviation PT stands for? It actually has a double meaning: first of all it means Personal Transport, but it is also the abbreviation for the name of the original retro concept, the Pronto Cruiser.

Seat Léon Cupra R

The basic Leon is a small family car made by the Seat car company, which is part of the Volkswagen Group. This of course explains why the car shares several components with for example the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta, the Audi A3 and TT and the Skoda Octavia.

Currently in its second generation, the Leon was released in 2005, and features a new design (by Walter de'Silva), a style which was first seen with the Seat Altea.

Most engine types of the Leon service their all-round family car purpose, but there are two particular engines which stand out: the 2.0 TFSI Cupra (237bhp), and the top-of-the-range 2.0 TFSI Cupra R (261bhp), with the latter engine being the same as in the Audi S3, the Golf R and the Scirocco R.

The Cupra R has a limited top speed of 250 km/h, and can reach 100 km/h from a standstill in 6.2 seconds! Mind you, the Cupra isn't slow either, it does the same sprint in 6.4 seconds.

Toss in 18" alloys, red brake callpers, an oval exhaust, sport seats, drilled-aluminium sports pedals and lashings of Cupra logos, and you've got yourself a very nice set of wheels!

Theme - Exhaust closeups

It's time for another theme post, and this time the rear of the car is where it's at - to be precise, today's set is a set of pictures of exhausts. Some side exhausts have been thrown in, just to be different ;)

Enjoy!

... Mercedes Benz CLS ...

... Daytona Coupe Le Mans Edition ...

... Shelby GT500 ...

... HS Motorsport Audi A1 ...

... Cadillac CTS V Coupe ...

... Audi A7 Sportback ...

... Brabus Mercedes Benz SLS AMG ...

... Mercedes Benz SLR Black Arrow ...

... Mazda - Burning Exhaust ...

... Aston Martin V8 Vantage ...

... Holden Coupe ...

... Seat Leon Cupra R ...

Lancia Thema

During my commute home in this last day of the workweek, I saw a Lancia on the road and decided to post a series of pictures of one of the Lancia models today. When I started looking through my stack of pictures for Lancias later on, I found several pictures of the Lancia Thema.

I was a bit surprised to see the similarity between these Lancia Themas and the Chrysler 300C (to which I already dedicated a pictures series in the past). After a quick Google I discovered that the Chrysler 300C is marketed in Europe as the Lancia Thema, something I hadn't known nor realised until now.

After discovering this, I must say that I find it rather odd then, that there are so many Chrysler 300Cs around here, and yet little to no Lancia Themas...  If you'd like to compare them for yourselves, here are fourteen pictures of the Thema.

... and one superwide wallpaper ...