A Seriously Slow Subaru

The Steeple Times

5 years ago

A Seriously Slow Subaru – 1970 Subaru 360 police car to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s on 1st to 2nd May 2020 as part of the Elkhart Collection in Elkhart, Indiana – Quirky Subaru police car to be sold at auction; unlike anything Colin McRae drove it’s as slow as a snail.

Quirky 1970 Subaru 360 police car to be sold at auction; unlike anything Colin McRae drove it’s as slow as a snail

Advertised quite accurately in the United States as “cheap and ugly” by its importer Malcolm Bricklin, the Subaru 360 was the first car produced by the Japanese transport conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries.

Exempt from normal safety standards because it weighed less than 1,000 pounds, the car was branded “not acceptable” because of safety concerns and lack of power, but now one of the few left – many were “tossed overboard” off boats or “shredded to pieces” due to their unpopularity – is now headed to auction via RM Sotheby’s in May.

The car to be offered by RM Sotheby’s is nothing like the vehicles that Subaru later created in terms of their abilities to drive at speed; in the 1990s the company became renowned for its wins at the World Rally Championships courtesy of the likes of the late Colin McRae MBE – the Subaru 360 would not have even have got off the starting block in such rallies.

The fibreglass monocque construction car to be sold, an example from 1970, comes in the form of a police car complete with the livery of the New Zealand Ministry of Transport. It has a siren, light bar and included also are bobby hats according to the auctioneers.

They will offer the vehicle as part of their single owner Elkhart Collection sale on 1^st and 2^nd of May in Elkhart, Indiana and remark: “[It’s] unlikely to catch any speeders.” Like most of the 230 cars to be auctioned, no reserve set.

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