(first posted 9/17/2015) When a small, inexpensive car-based ute is introduced to Australia, it tends to enjoy a pretty loyal following. However, it happens so infrequently one does wonder if the success of the Proton Jumbuck and the Subaru Brumby was just a coincidence, or if there is indeed an enduring desire of many Aussie consumers towards this niche product.
Brumby was the Australian market name for what North Americans knew as the BRAT, a brumby being an Australian term for a wild horse. It enjoyed a much longer life here, being discontinued in 1994, seven years after its axing in America. Stricter Australian Design Rules had killed the aging ute and it would have been prohibitively expensive to re-engineer the Brumby, especially considering the Brumby’s price-sensitive appeal.
A low price was one major drawcard for Brumby buyers, but it was also the overall ability of the trucklet that earned it so many loyal fans. The Brumby was popular in rural areas, particularly with farmers: the little Subie made a handy farm tool with its modest ground clearance and on-demand four-wheel-drive, activated via a lever on the transmission tunnel.
Performance and load-carrying ability wasn’t earth shattering: the Brumby had a 880 lb payload, and its 1.8 carburetted flat four pumped out just 81 hp and 97 ft-lbs. Fuel economy also wasn’t spectacular, but the Brumby still earned quite a following. Many of these little utes provided hundreds of thousands of reliable miles over many, many years. The only bugbear that is mentioned by Brumby owners is the need to replace the CV joints every so often.
Australia never received the Brumby’s spiritual successor, the Baja. The kind of people that bought the Brumby probably wouldn’t have been impressed with the plusher, more expensive and larger Baja anyway.
Was the Brumby’s niche success only a result of it being a niche product from a niche brand? Could a car like this succeed in today’s Australia from a brand like Toyota or Ford or even from a higher-volume, more mainstream Subaru? Considering small trucks like the Toyota Hilux and Holden Colorado have gotten much more refined and sales of the Holden Ute and Ford Falcon ute have been on the decline for years, perhaps not. And in North America, a product like this was destined to be a very small player, even if a President did drive one.
Was that front brush guard stock? Might have done better in rural US with that.
That might be a roo bar, no idea if it was standard. I’d love to have one for driving in central Virginia, where the deer population seems to be on a par with the human population.
Not standard – I’ve seen a few without. But in country areas, most have them. You don’t want to hit a roo without one.
Wonder how long before roo bars (or brush guards) are made illegal due to pedestrian safety concerns? Sort of kidding, but the way regulations get made these days, you never know. These BRAT’s were quite common in the US in the ’70’s, at least on the West Coast.
No chicken tax meant no back seats for the Brumby. No back seats meant no kick steps in the quarter panels behind the doors to aid climbing into the bed.
Its illegal to ride in the back of a ute in OZ. Been that way since the early 80s.
BRATs had jump seats from the start in the US, which was in 1978. Did the Brumby ever have jump seats?
I can’t remember ever seeing jump seats over here.
Me neither. Pretty sure it was US-only.
I would assume that the only reason the U.S. version had jump seats was to try to get around the chicken tax.
Regarding it being illegal in some places to ride in the back of a pickup/ute: It is illegal because there is a law specifically saying that you can’t ride in the back of a pickup/ute, or is it illegal to ride in a vehicle anyplace where there is no seat/seatbelts? (I’m asking this question rhetorically; I realize that the answer may be different in every single jurisdiction.) To the extent that it’s the latter, these had seats with seatbelts in the cargo bed. The real question may be, is a manufacturer allowed to mount seats in the cargo bed of a pickup/ute? During the era when these were sold in the U.S., the answer (at least in the U.S.) was apparently yes.
I recall one of the crucial details regarding the BRAT was that the rear-facing jump seats were not removable, which made the “passenger vehicle, not a truck” claim more plausible. This despite the setup seeming ridiculously unsafe – the jump seats’ passenger’s head was usually higher than the roof. Nonetheless, you could take a saw and/or saw to the seats and permanently rip them out, which I suspect many owners did. There was carpeting back there too.
make that “saw and/or blow torch”
Some US models (the Brat) that I’ve seen had jump seats for extra passengers.
“Australia never received the Brumby’s spiritual successor, the Baja. The kind of people that bought the Brumby probably wouldn’t have been impressed with the plusher, more expensive and larger Baja anyway.”
You are correct. The Brumby/BRAT while smaller had a good size bed and could actually be used for work related things(such as hauling things) the Baja was worthless for that(sort of like those big assed Nissan Titan quad cabs with what looks like a 3ft bed)
I enjoy the photos on CC mainly for the cool cars like this BRAT but also for the different types of topography, weather and architecture. A lot of my car guy friends are into design and appreciate good architecture too.
That new condo complex is right up to the minute architecturally and also in terms of marketing. I guess it’s universal that modern developments have some pretentious sounding name like “Impressions” or the “Quest” shown here. A quest to where? There is a lot of that style in LA right now and I like it, despite the annoying names.
I’ve never been to Australia but think I would like it. A whole new world of CCs I’m sure.
I think Quest is a brand of serviced apartments. I’ve done countless marketing campaigns for building developments including coming up with names for the project. In the past, the name would disappear once the building was sold out, but I’m noticing a trend for permanent names just as in the days of way yore.
Don, you work in marketing? I had no idea! Marketing grad here.
And I love seeing old apartment buildings with names. Just the other day I had to laugh when I saw the exotic name on a building near my friend’s place: Indooroopilly Shoppingtown Apartments. Don’t get me wrong, I love that shopping centre but why would you name apartments that?
You’d like my childhood home then. A three-storey Spanish-mission style block named Santa Fé. (45 Mitford St, Elwood, Vic.) Next door was a simplified one called Las Palmas. The whole area was full of ’20s-’30s style buildings with names.
Good to hear Quest is a brand name and not the name of that building. It reminded me of that Amy Schumer where she checked into the hipster hotel and the elevator was called Soar.
I love those names you see on the older buildings. It’s when they name a complex or planned community that it gets annoying out here because often there is an “at” in the name like The Colony at Newport Pointe.
And it’s so clichéd when the “at” becomes “@”. I can’t wait for that fad to die.
This.
Subdivisions always have such corporatized twee-sounding phony names — “The Mews at Fox Woods Chase” or somesuch. It’s like they have a computer somewhere spitting out random combinations.
Oops, someone has beaten me to it, there’s a subdivision name generator website:
http://lewenberg.com/sng/index.php?number=5&submit=Generate+names
I love when the name and building don’t match. My place is in a sort of California Bungalow/Craftsman style building complete with palms and tropical planting. It’s named after a barren icy Scottish island…
The 1980 1.8 OHV Brumby I had was a good cruiser and very capable off-road with a dual range gearbox but it was not great at climbing hills as the noisy pushrod flat four was low on torque, as was the 1.8 OHC engine in the Leone. When that engine was turboed it was a different story and the Leone Turbo and the Vortex (Alycone) were ‘fliers’
I think the Brumby’s real Achilles heel was body rust which was a major issue with all of them, hence you don’t see many around today lol
When I was able to buy one they weren’t heavy duty enough to fit my needs. Now one would work just fine. If they are rated to tow a ton, that is. Oh well, think I will keep what I have.
Those 3rd gen Brumbys were the last mostly because the Leonie was discontinued and engineering a ute solely for the Aussie market wasnt worth the cost, Great little utes though they will go almost anywhere though on the black cracking clay of western NSW the small wheel arches are a pest with having to remove the wheels and clean out the guards every few miles in the wet, that and rust was the only downfalls Ive seen with these.
Been a long time since I’ve seen one of these. Someone was selling a rusted out one for parts on my local craigslist not long ago.
I like the name “Brumby” so much better than “BRAT”. If it had been so-named in the U.S. and had lasted past ’87, Subaru could have sold the Brumby alongside the Justy!
These were once common sights in New Zealand, but they seemed to rust spectacularly after a few years – they were probably frequently driven in muddy conditions on farms and not cleaned afterwards. I reckon they were so popular because they were quite stylish compared with the competition – the El Caminoesque sloping B-Pillar, the frameless glass, and the T-tops were all distinctive.
Survivors sell for quite stupid amounts too and all feature rust.
…well they were certainly ‘power-free’ if people like cars like that ..lol perhaps with a set of pedals to get up the hills would have been just the ticket with these
How about a 1982 ad featuring Ruth Gordon?
Awesome! If it’s good enough for Maude…
You can run, but you can’t hide, Harold!
This was a robust vehicle which was also very popular in Israel and almost the standard tradesman ute back then. We too had them on offer until 94. They are now coveted as collectors items and those which have not been flogged to death by the Bedouins (who love them) are starting to command higher prices. Here are some in typical Israeli surroundings (Israel is full of eucaliptuses, originally imported from Oz in order to help draining the swapms (yes)) – from the Israeli Subaru Club’s forum (in Hebrew…).
Sorry – here’s the link: http://www.subaruholic.co.il/showthread.php?t=4405
My grandfather had a couple of these at least, including one from very close to the end because he jumped on the chance to buy one of the last new ones. The ironic thing is that his trade-in was in good condition but within 6-12 months the new ute was covered in dents. The ‘new’ one had a bullbar like above, I think the earlier one had either a different bar or none, I can’t remember despite that being the first vehicle I drove.
I can’t remember my age exactly, but I couldn’t reach the pedals, so Grandpa started the ute off in first gear, low range and then hop in the back to feed out grain for the sheep while I steered as per his instructions. Occupational safety galore – at least it was safer when I wasn’t there, he would do the same with more dismounts to do the steering himself.
Fuel economy was poor because it had a 4-speed trans only, no overdrive so it revved too high on the highway, not a bad thing with the lack of power anyway. I remember one trip with the ute loaded with a mobile sheep yard and shearing gear, it was back to second gear going up one large hill.
His brother still has his Brumby and it is the classic old-farmer ute in as-new condition because he was basically retired when he bought it.
A cute little trucklet .
I imagine these would be perfect for fence patrol/repair .
Do they really have trouble going up steep hills or just need to go slowly in the low range ? .
-Nate
Off road ability is limited by the passenger car type ground clearance and small tires with a relatively tame tire tread pattern, the 4-wheel drive became useful in winter to deal with slippery surfaces. Low range still helps because crawling over an obstacle can avoid contact via suspension compression, I’ve wished for that with my ute, plus the gearing certainly helps with the modest engine output. These didn’t have a centre differential.
Having said that, over 20 years ago when the area flooded, my grandfather got stuck trying to access a remote part of his property, he told me he had water over the hood at times, and my uncle in his Toyota Landcruiser HJ75 pickup got stuck trying to get out to him.
Mine was okay on rough farm paddocks and on high snowy passes and ski-fields, but another little 4WD I also had was better.. that was a late ’80’s Mitsubishi Mirage/Lancer Spacewagon with an electric centre diff lock and a really grunty 1.8 engine ..i had two of these ..one petrol and the other diesel ..both had more power than the Subaru boxer ..heaps more, especially the petrol Spacewagon which was almost the equal of the Leone turbo for cruising and overtaking power
Currently, the BEST in the world is the A45 AMG (for the above capabilities)
The only trouble I can remember my grandfather having with his was getting back onto a steeply crowned road after flattening some grass in the drainage ditch that was preventing water from flowing properly (it was about to go somewhere he didn’t want it to instead), twice the vehicle slid sideways across the clay shoulder of the road back down to the bottom of the ditch before regaining the bitumen on the third try, just shy of hitting a marker post.
(/inserts tongue into cheek…) I’m not sure the A45 is the best for rough farm paddocks and high snowy passes, I had a ride around a racetrack recently in one, not surprisingly they are pretty quick!
🙂 true.. yes, exactly, the A45 AMG will be as quick as anything else around on wet or snowy surfaces that are essentially ‘flat’ and hard and just normally cambered ..but forget the quicksand bogs, soggy marshes and wet farm track deep mud-filled ruts and trenches..lol
I still want one of these, I am certain the US models had jump seats to avoid being taxed as a truck and making them to expensive for the market.
I always thought the jump seats would be in the way of your cooler.
Many of the U.S. model BRATs had the jump seats removed, as no one in their right mind would ever want to ride back there more than once. In most places it is still not illegal to ride in the back of a pickup truck, or if it is illegal, it is rarely enforced. When I was a child (admittedly this was the early sixties), a friend’s father would routinely take 8-10 of us to baseball practice in the back of his old Ford pickup. While not as common today as then, you don’t have to look very hard to see people riding in the truck bed, especially in small towns and rural areas. Actually if you are up against the back of the pickup cab you are shielded from the wind and it is not unpleasant to ride there, at least for short distances.
I can attest to this generation of Subaru having a taste for CV joints. After the 5th time that happened to my ’83 GL Wagon, I traded it off. Subaru makes a good car, but they always seem to have one persistent glaring defect like the head gasket issue.
I remember the Subaru Brat. I was too young to drive at the time. But I remember admiring the truck (ute). I find it more attractive than the Baja. 🙂
In my mind, I can see this Car in “My name’s Earl”.
Ex-wife transportation.
🙂
I’d buy a Brat if I could find one in decent condition. I’ve always preferred it over the more recent Baja.
I recall these being quite popular with sheep farmers in Scotland, and that you could stand there and watch them rust.
Nowadays if you see one it never leaves the farm as it has no hope of passing an MOT ever again.
My question is, why you were standing there watching sheep farmers rust?
And why did the farmer fail the MOT? Emissions? Excessive play in the rack? Shocks, lacking control?
*I admit that comma was cheating.
The ream of the tightarse farmer, (transl. “the farmer”): cheap to buy, don’t have to service it, doesn’t break, will outlive religion.
They’re actually a bit cool to drive, with a throbby flat-four, no weight to speak of, rack steering, and fully independent suspension, that latter being a bit unique for utes. They’ll buzz along at 85 mph for longer than seems reasonable, and carry more than they should when you get there, before squelching that load across unlikely terrains to get home.
A thoroughly bloody useful little bugger all round, in other (rather Australian) words, which pretty much made the good name for the company hereabouts.