I remember the Pacer well. Came about the same time as the Gremlin.
While we were dating and early in our marriage my wife had an AMC Hornet. That car was a small tank. She had a close encounter with a tractor trailer (somehow the steering when bananas briefly) fortunately she wasn't hurt. The car was totaled.
Around 1962 my folks bought a 9 passenger Rambler wagon. Nice car, it had an issue when we moved to Virginia from Western PA. It would always break down as we crossed the Mason Dixon line. Never a problem going north