My FH5 Log: An American Welcome

Forza Horizon 5's Horizon Holiday series update brought back four American-made machines in the stable; three classic muscle cars and a limousine. Let's get to know about these four American oddballs while we're at it.

Obtained from the Wet Season playlist is the AMC Javelin AMX. The variant is known to be "the closest thing you can buy to a Trans-Am champion". It's got a 401 cu in (6.6L) V8 engine producing 335HP of power while mated to a four-speed manual, which is not much by modern standards but in the era of muscle cars, it's downright glorious to get tempted at.

Obtained from the Storm Season playlist is the Plymouth Fury, the infamous car as seen in the Stephen King masterpiece, Christine. First launched in 1956, the Fury is a sub-series of the Belvedere and when improved for the 1958 model year, it sports a 350 cu in (5.7L) Golden Commando engine with two four-barrel carburetors producing 305hp of power with ten more for the fuel injection option, which was sadly recalled. There are various Plymouth models at that time aside from the Fury to use the Golden Commando engine.

Obtained from the Dry Season playlist is a Cadillac XTS that was converted into a limousine by Royale. Based on the XTS flagship sedan, the folks from Royale, a Cadillac Master Coachbuilder, spent countless hours converting it into a limousine fit for high-profile personalities. It comes in two different versions such as the normal 70-inch version and the five-door 70-inch version.

Lastly, it's the AMC Rebel "The Machine" that was obtained from the Hot Season Playlist. This car was originally introduced as a sub-model of the Rambler but AMC went ahead and call it The Machine. Built for the road and for the drag strip, The Machine is powered by a 6.4L V8 engine producing 340hp of power while mated to a 4-speed Borg-Warner manual gearbox and AMC Twin-Grip differential. 

Having obtained those four returning machines in the game, it's time to give these Horizon Holiday prize cars an American welcome. Roll the tapes.

This is what you call "an American welcome".

Enjoy your new rides, boys and girls, because as 2023 kicks in, be ready for January's FORDZATHON series update featuring Ford-related challenges, returning Renaults, and the arrival of an MG6 that Britain didn't get.

Until then, have a happy new year, and keep on driving.

Forza Horizon 3: Pace Yourself

Another barn find is located deep within the depths of the Australian landscape but sadly, no one ever knew where the latest barn find is located at...until now.

Today, I set off to see the next barn find hidden somewhere in the Land Down Under but there's a major catch as demonstrated to the latest Forzathon event this weekend only. The task? Complete a Race in an AMC car to receive a Barn Find Rumor. Now that's the catch I am curious about and for anyone trying to hunt down the next barn find, they have limited amount of time to do so because if they don't act within this weekend, the mysterious barn find rumor will be lost forever...ish.



The AMC I got here is the Javelin AMX, the variant known to be as "the closest thing you can buy to a Trans-Am champion". It's got a 401 cu in (6.6L) V8 engine producing 335HP of power while mated to a four-speed manual, which is not much by modern standards but in the era of muscle cars, it's downright glorious to get tempted at. Anyway, no time for chitchat because I got a mission to complete...



After finishing the race with the AMC of my choice, I got the location of the Barn Find in question...



It is two miles away from the Yarra Valley Festival Site and it's time to get some digging.



Time to unload the barn and find out what that is...



Isn't that the car from Wayne's World?! That's right! It's the AMC Pacer, the first wide small car! Built in response to the global energy crisis of the 70's, the AMC Pacer was meant to be powered by a rotary engine like the ones from Mazda but it turned out to be thirsty and dirty so they hastily re-engineered it and put it a much bulky 3.8L 6-cylinder unit. It returns with 18MPG of fuel economy, which isn't sounds fuel efficient for a compact, a 0-60mph time of 14 seconds and top speed of 105mph.

Despite the poor performance for a car meant to be in tune with the times, the width is the Pacer's turning point compared to its relatively short length. The main idea about this car is to have the handling quality of a compact car while delivering a spacious interior and it works. Once more, the door on the passenger side is wider than the driver side, allowing easy access to the back seats.

Due to its bizarre egg-shaped design, most mocked this car as an "upside-down bathtub" but that doesn't stop garnering supporters such as stuntman Evel Knievel, country singer Conway Twitty, and Brigitte Bardot. In terms of movies, the Pacer got featured as the Murph Mobile from Wayne's World as well as inspired Cars 2 character, Acer, one of the baddies.

The AMC Pacer was discontinued in 1980 and its unique platform couldn't be adapted to other models so it was shelved before it was taken over by Chrysler in 1988.

Anyway, that's enough storytelling because the Pacer's too interesting enough to be told so let's take it out for a spin and live to tell about it.



Although the Pacer is a terrible car in the real world, it remains one of the most iconic cult classics in American car culture as well as movie junkies everywhere and in the world of Forza, it's somewhat legendary if you know what I mean. Anyway, you got to hurry, ladies and gents, you got the whole weekend to get this car while you still can!