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| Malcom Bricklin, and the Subaru 360's in America. |
| Almost from the start of production in 1958 Subaru cars have been exported. However, it would be an entire decade before Subarus would be marketed seriously in the United States. The first Subarus imported were probably the 450 models, not the 360. In the mid 1960's several people were importing Subaru sambar trucks and vans. The most interesting of these would be those imported by Bill Cheesebourg. Cheesebourg imported bare sambar chasis so he could fit his own body on and make dune buggies. An importer in New York was importing the complete sambar truck and van, and another distibuter in Chicago was also selling Subaru Sambars. However all of these people only imported very small quantities of these vehicles. Then in 1968 Subaru gave sole importation rights to Malcolm Bricklin and Harvey Lamm, who had agreed to buy and sell 10,000 subaru cars. They set up Subaru Of America and began selling the first cars in 1968. Malcolm Bricklin had been selling Fuji Heavy Industries' scooters up until 1968 when production ended, which is when he decided to step up into the car market with the Subaru 360. The biggest selling points were the $1,297 price and the 66mpg gas economy. In 1969 the subaru 360 was joined by the Young sport, which cost an extra $69 and the Subaru Star (FF-1). For a short time Subaru 360 sales began to pick up due the cars low purchase price and exceptional economy of operation. However it wasn't long before trouble came, automotive magazines had already pointed out the Subaru's shortcomings, but Consumer Reports declared the little 360 entirely unacceptable. CR rated the Subaru 360 Not acceptable after finding that the rear hinged doors would blow open, if opened at 20mph. They also somehow managed to take 37.5 seconds to reach 50mph, when other writers got times as quick as 10.5 seconds to reach the same speed. Subaru 360 sales dropped. 1970 was the last official model year for the Subaru 360 in the United States, but some dealers still had subaru 360s around their lots in 1972! Many dealers ended up selling the cars for much less than the $1,297 price to get rid of them. Some dealers sent their 360s back to SOA, and there were even a couple that rented a barge and dumped them into the pacific ocean. All in all just about 10,000 subaru 360s had been imported during the three model years they were available. Malcolm Bricklin left SOA and took with him hundreds of unsold Subaru 360s. He took his Subaru 360s made a small dirt race track, and charged people $1 to take a sedan around the track for a lap against the clock. Bricklin invited Nascar drivers to come and try out his track. Soon he had Bruce Meyers (the guy who made dune buggies out of VW beetles) design a plastic body with perimeter bumpers for him since the sedans got pretty beat up after a while, since many people found it more entertaining to run them into the barriers than it was to race against the clock. However some people who owned Subaru 360s weren't having so much fun. Parts were hard to find because the dealer network has been set up so poorly by Bricklin, and many dealers refused to service the cars altogether. Luckily, a club for owners of Subaru 360, vans, trucks, and sedans, was formed in 1979. The Subaru 360 drivers club has been a resource of parts and help for Subaru 360 drivers for over twenty years. Today the 360 is being seen as a collector car, rather than a cheap throw away, and many have been restored and returned to the streets. |
| once again, I'm not sure about a lot of the information on this page, so if you know better inform me via e-mail at winnderfish_falls@yahoo.com Also, if there is anything important I left out, e-mail me too. Thanks. |
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| this is a 1969 deluxe sedan, in the original (and only) color available for that model: white. |