Sandwiching a Subaru

• 
• 
• 

So you liked yesterday’s camp Jap – ‘the bulletproof Subaru of the future past’? This is its base vehicle – Subaru’s original Kei-car with its typical air-cooled two-stroke 360cc engine. It’s the car that spread Subaru’s wings to the rest of the world – well, that was the idea at least. It wasn’t particularly heralded in the US – unusual marketing spot here saying ‘Because it’s cheap and ugly, a little Subaru goes a long way to make you happy’; dramatic consumer report here.

This press shot appears to be taken in Australia or New Zealand and even there it was a very small car, sandwiched in between a Morris Oxford and lhd Ford Zodiac. As in America, sales were very slow there, but the Japanese loved it. They lovingly called it Ladybug and bought the 299cms long car en masse to use it for everything from school run to road trip to Mount Fuji. A very feminin affair? Perhaps, but at least one scarce survivor is owned by a Lexus chief engineer nowadays. Good man.

(Words and archive picture Jeroen Booij)

Kommentar abgeben...