Here’s a little Indy Car racing history in the form of some really cool cars.
PPG began sponsoring the Indy Car World Series in 1980 and Indy Car pace cars became a big part of their marketing campaign.
The idea was simple—find the most outlandish concept cars the four manufacturers at the time (GM, Ford, Chrysler and AMC) could produce and use them as pace cars.
Jerry Sutherland
There were many PPG pace cars over the years, but I wanted to focus on the 1980s because they pumped out some amazing PPG pace vehicles in the 80s. I picked five from a large inventory of ultra-cool concept cars that led Indy Car World Series races.
The first one is the Dodge M4S Interceptor.
This amazing car was a 1986 PPG Pace Car came from the K-car/ minivan era at Chrysler, but it proved Mopar could do more with less in the 1980s.
The M4S had a 2.2 four-cylinder mounted midship—it pumped out over 400 horsepower, and it could do almost 200 miles per hour with a 0-60 time of just over 4 seconds. That’s fast—even by hemi Superbird standards.
The second PPG pace car came from GM in the form of the Chevrolet XT2 Concept—a 1989 PPG Pace Car.
This was another insane pace car/truck because it still looks futuristic in 2024. It was V-6 powered and it had 360 horsepower in a lightweight platform, so it could run a 13-second quarter mile—and do 0-60 in 6 seconds.
That was good enough to make the cut at PPG Indy Car races.
The third pace car came from Ford in the form of the Ford Mustang Concept for the 1983 PPG Pace Car series.
This pony car could run because it had a 395 cubic inch V-8 that pumped out 465 horsepower under its custom hood.
That was more than enough power to run with the Indy Cars as a pace vehicle.
The fourth example of an off-the-charts PPG pace car was the Dodge Charger Concept Car for the 1981 Indy Car season.
This car was more Jetsons-era than early 1980s because it looked like a jet fighter on wheels. The blueprinted, turbocharged, 2.2 four-cylinder under the hood made this car an easy choice for leading the laps at Indy Car World Series races.
The insane styling was a bonus.
The fifth car was the AMC Renault 5 Turbo II.
History tells us AMC was working with Renault when 1981 PPG Indy Car season began. This car looked pretty tame compared to the other four pace cars in this list but that doesn’t mean it was a stock Renault.
The AMC Renault 5 had a 160-horsepower IMSA four cylinder engine mounted in the rear, and it could outhandle a stock Ferrari at the time—plus it looked a lot cooler than a factory Renault.
This was an interesting era because PPG basically gave the manufacturers a blank check to build concept cars that had to be fast and cool.
PPG made the 80s look really cool—that was a huge accomplishment.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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