I have a bit of history with Utes, having owned one myself.
This was found at a gas station during a fruitless attempt to get lunch at a burger joint one afternoon. As I sat at a light, trying to decide on my next stop, I saw our featured car across the way. My hunger forgotten, I waited on bated breath for the light to turn green, finally pulling into the mostly empty station.
The owner was nice enough to let me take some pictures as he cleaned chalk off the windshield. He explained that he had just purchased this 1978 Brat at an auction yard and was waiting to use the carwash down the road, as it was very busy at the time we were talking. He mentioned paying only $400 for it and lamenting the purchase somewhat, as he already had too many projects to worry about.
I must admit, it looks like a fun car. I very much doubt I would want to sit in those back seats with all that water flying everywhere! The size was impressive, as it seemed to be no bigger than my Bronco II.
The seats in the back look like something from an arcade game, or maybe a carnival ride. The white camper top was a factory option as far as we could figure, seeing as it had Subaru branding on it.
I’m not sure what a Chevy dealership badge is doing on here, but looking up the dealership, it was one of the biggest in Texas, starting out in 1971. I couldn’t find too much info on it, but perhaps it sold Subarus too at one point?
All in all, I’m happy the burger joint was closed that day, because I always love finding unique cars. I hope he fixes it up, or that it is sold to someone who can.
Great find. Pretty rare these days. I would have bought that for $400 as well. Most likely this Brat was sold at a Chevrolet dealership as a used car.
Those rear seats were a “feature” purely to avoid the chicken-tax. It’s a bit surprising to still see them in there.
IIRC, Ronald Reagan had one at this CA ranch and loved it. It’s been restored and is at his museum.
I’m surprised the seats are still back there! Every Brat I have seen has had the seats removed.
Under the rear seats is a large metal bracket they is welded to the bed, visible in the pics here. Removal of the seats is easy, removal of the bracket a bit less so. It was different in the next generation of these.
Cool find!
I hope somebody restores it, under the dirt and neglect it looks rust free and complete. There’s a few BRATs in my neighborhood, some running, and one mounted on an engineless Jeep chassis that advertises a local weed shop.
The second generation BRAT had recessed steps in the side for rear seat access but they still weren’t very useful.
I really liked these! When they came out, they were the only Subaru I liked. I thought they were kinda cool—really cool for a….Subaru!
I liked the jump seats–from the factory, and legal!
There was one in the parking lot at my jr. high school. MUCH to my surprise, it turned out, the librarian owned it. Not the stereotypical lady with glasses…no sirree…
Our librarian was male.. I’d say 40-something, big (as in former football player), gruff, burly…grey slacks, white shirt, sleeves rolled, every day…he didn’t’ take any crap from the kids. One time, he actually slapped a football player who talked back –we were shocked (and half the kids probably enjoyed it). The (big) boy started crying, as the librarian took him by the arm and walked him to the office. On Long Island!… Nothing happened to the librarian that I know of…
I wondered how he fit in behind the driver seat. These were small cars–my friends mom had the similar wagon and sometimes gave us a ride after school, and I could barely fit at age 13
The librarian story is my favorite!! Nothing like that could happen in 2020. I like that he didn’t take any mess.
Exactly – he probably ran the quietest library in the county! No need to go “Shhhh!” – just a look would do the job. 🙂
I forget the librarian’s name, but yes, when he was in there, you bet it was quiet.
He was the “Soup Nazi” of school libraries. Unlike Seinfeld’s character, he did not raise his voice–but also, unlike Seinfeld’s character, he was…an imposing figure. He had the face and build of some one not to be messed with–he looked mean. (but he did smile on occasion). Apparently he liked books. The kid he hit was a smart-aleck–big football player used to getting away with things. This guy did not go around striking us, but still…THAT was a shocker.
I stayed late after schoo one dayl, and as I exit the building into the parking lot to walk home, I see the owner of the brand new BRAT (I had previously noticed the car in the lot before–they were relatively rare, and I was 9th grade car geek) It was our big, imposing librarian– I did not see that one coming either…. apparently, the big man liked the small car/truck.
Good to hear from you again, Pioneer!
Oddly enough, you’ve stumbled onto another car similar to one of mine- Back in the eighties I flipped a BRAT almost identical to this. I remember it was anvil tough and very easy to work on, but “anvil tough” also described the driving dynamics.
I didn’t make much on the transaction, and it turned out my customer didn’t understand the concept of “Buyer beware.” I’d been clear that the maintenance history was unknown, but that did not dissuade the buyer from calling me multiple times post sale, and I ended up replacing a fuel pump to get him out of my hair.
Between the buyer hassles on this car and title paperwork issues in general, I decided car flipping wasn’t for me.
I love the Subaru Brat. It will forever in my mind be tied to the intro to the ’80s Saturday morning show “Kidd Video”.
The Sephardic Israeli father of one of my elementary school classmates drove this to bus pickups and drop-offs, his seven and nine year-old daughters in the jumpseats, in the middle of the winter. They lived three miles from the elementary school parking lot where the parochial school special bus loitered before its fifteen mile run to the Orthodox day school near the Concord Hotel in the Borscht Belt. Sometimes they missed the bus and he would head down the Quickway in the Brat with Chana and Miriam in the back, in an old-fashioned Catskill winter.
My brother-in-law had a Subaru BRAT. He loved it. Daily driver until the end, which came one day as he pulled away from a toll booth on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The rear suspension pulled loose from its rusted mountings. That was the end, unfortunately…it was a fun and useful vehicle.
The only reason he was able to keep it that long, until the terminal structural failure, was that the owner of a State inspection station let him pay for a sticker without the car being looked at. Says a lot for Pennsylvania vehicle inspection.
They didnt come with the rear seats here and were called a Brumby as was the OZ market Subaru ute most expired a very long time ago either from terminal rust or the engine just quit, Friends asked about rebuilding the little flat four in their 79 wagon in 84 as it was burning oil quite badly it was close to a grand just in parts alone, they just kept pouring in oil 80,000 kms 50,000 miles and it was stuffed.