Ever have one of these?
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Beosystem10
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When I first graduated back in the early '80s, International Motors seconded me to their development program and as a result, I cut my teeth in their retail division. Being from a rural area, the 1600 pickup was one of the models that we were most used to seeing in the workshops. Moving on a year or three, and the DOHC versions came along, we used to get those referred back to us from other marque franchises when their timing belts failed as a result of neglect by owners who had been too used with the earlier pushrod design. They were a non interference design though, and if the o/s belt was the only one that failed they could be limped to the workshop as the distributor was driven off the n/s one. Replacing the pair carried an ICME book time of 1 hr, 40mins but we had it down to 32 minutes after the first few dozen.
It was such a shame that these rusted so badly because apart from use on the causeway - for which the pickup was too low slung - they'd go almost anywhere that a Land Rover would and many farmers never went back to their domestic 4x4s after owning one or more of these.
When I moved from the retail vehicles division into R&D on the electronics for the then-new Legacy series I liked the pay rise but always missed travelling to the farms where the original pickups would be looked after before the dealership network became better established in the late '80s. Cool little cars these were, I still have a prototype L series Turbo Coupé that I've been restoring since 2004 and might finish some time this decade.
It was such a shame that these rusted so badly because apart from use on the causeway - for which the pickup was too low slung - they'd go almost anywhere that a Land Rover would and many farmers never went back to their domestic 4x4s after owning one or more of these.
When I moved from the retail vehicles division into R&D on the electronics for the then-new Legacy series I liked the pay rise but always missed travelling to the farms where the original pickups would be looked after before the dealership network became better established in the late '80s. Cool little cars these were, I still have a prototype L series Turbo Coupé that I've been restoring since 2004 and might finish some time this decade.
im_alan_partridge
Member (SA)
When i was at middle school (85ish) i had a friend who had a Tamiya radio controlled one of these, in the same colours.
Very nice, id have one any day of the week.
Very nice, id have one any day of the week.
Northerner
Boomus Fidelis
k2j
Member (SA)
My dad had a Brat when I was in high school. It had a cracked exhaust manifold (the y pipe) and man it was loud, he'd try to wrap it etc but it always had a loud leak. I seem to remember the dealer telling him it was a flaw. He couldn't or wouldn't afford the I think 500 bones to properly fix it. It was a monster in the snow though!!
Beosystem10
Member (SA)
Post-austerity, badly paid UK farm managers Si! We never got them with the Brat name here, marketing considered it too interesting for a market that had only just adapted to the notion that there could be a farmers' vehicle available that wasn't built out of Dural on a strengthened copy of a Jeep chassis, in Solihull by old men in brown store coats, and the first few hundred carried the International brand so as not to confuse the early adopters with the Subaru name on something bigger than their only other car to have been sold here before then, the 360. Even by the time I was working for them, many people were still suspicious of anything Japanese in origin (their loss really) and especially if that anything was powered by an engine that looked exactly like a ripoff of the one found in the Bradford-built Jowett Javelin and Jupiter range. That some surviving Jowetts now have Subaru engines and that the bellhousing patterns are compatible say all that need be said about that, IMHO.Northerner said:Who wouldn't want a pickup with a Starsky stripe down the side and called a Brat?!
If only these had been built from Dural instead of the same nasty Russian steel that killed off lots of Japanese cars, Alfasuds and Marinas back in the day, not only would there be more left now but IM would probably have opted not to bring the Legacies and the Impreza into the UK, concentrating instead on agricultural sales. And just think, if there hadn't been the WRC success that came after that, Colin McRae would never have been able to afford that helicopter!
k2j
Member (SA)
Never quoted myself before...why not huh.k2j said:
I should add that the car was about 5-10 years old at the time and it looked about 40. Beat to hell. He absolutely LOVED that thing. It was embarrassing as all hell when he drove me to stuff, but luckily he had a decent sound system and he always let me crank up Ratt, Motley, Beastie boys or whatever I wanted to so I was able to handle it.
Northerner
Boomus Fidelis
Beosystem10
Member (SA)
I personally never owned one, but I had a friend in high school that had one and we used to ride around in the back. Those seats were so uncomfortable AND dangerous, your head is above the roof, if it flips your head is flat!
Too bad they don't have a low gear, but could be a fun little machine!
Too bad they don't have a low gear, but could be a fun little machine!
floyd
Boomus Fidelis
i want one , small and cheap to run , plus you can beat on it and haul crap . i mean i would not show up at the emmy awards in one but for every day use it would be sweet. i would just erase the name off of it because BRAT just don't cut the mustard . maybe call it the BASTARD hell that suits it better.
That's funny, I was just looking on line and you can find them from $250 - $1000. Might be fun to play with!JVC Floyd said:
Beosystem10
Member (SA)
Only the front wheel drive version came without a low ratio crawler gear. The final drive ratio gave a relaxing 27mph/1000rpm in fourth (or optional fifth which was direct so no real advantage). Second was normally used for pulling away, that first gear - marked simply as "L" on the gear knob - was much lower on the 4x4 version and allowed for pulling horse boxes out of muddy fields with surprising ease. Because there was no rear or centre diff on these, they would grip brilliantly with 4wd selected though there was always a good laugh to be had with customers who'd left the transaxle in 4wd and driven onto tarmac like that, the rear prop would wind right up. We'd simply drive about 20 yards backwards and then the switch worked and the thing would be back in FWD only. Problem solved, but we'd tell them that they'd wrecked the TA and that the repair would cost them thousands. Oh how they (mostly,Lasonic TRC-920 said:
) laughed when we 'fessed up and explained how easily they could release the tension theirselves the next time they made the mistake of driving on the road in 4x4.
SEE, I just learned something....Cool, so they did come with a low....that's really cool.Beosystem10 said:Only the front wheel drive version came without a low ratio crawler gear. The final drive ratio gave a relaxing 27mph/1000rpm in fourth (or optional fifth which was direct so no real advantage). Second was normally used for pulling away, that first gear - marked simply as "L" on the gear knob - was much lower on the 4x4 version and allowed for pulling horse boxes out of muddy fields with surprising ease. Because there was no rear or centre diff on these, they would grip brilliantly with 4wd selected though there was always a good laugh to be had with customers who'd left the transaxle in 4wd and driven onto tarmac like that, the rear prop would wind right up. We'd simply drive about 20 yards backwards and then the switch worked and the thing would be back in FWD only. Problem solved, but we'd tell them that they'd wrecked the TA and that the repair would cost them thousands. Oh how they (mostly,
I was looking on line at a bunch for sale, but none of them had the rear jump seats. That's what made them cool!
The only Subaru I ever owned was a 1978 wagon front wheel drive. Baby sh@t brown. Bought it for $300, drove it one winter, sold it for $500.bantytfv said:
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