SUBARU 360 ? on ebay

I recall living in Los Angeles when this monstrosity was introduced to the car buying public. I think it retailed for about $1500, that would probably have been around 1969 or a bit later. Really a terrible piece of s#%t. The dealers who took them on (mostly Chevy and Ford dealers, I recall), eventually resorted to gimmicks to get rid of them. I recall a dealer giving one away with the purchase of a real car. Perhaps someone can verify this, I think that Malcolm Bricklin bought up a bunch of them and used them in a sort of primitive "Malubu Grand Prix" amusement race track he has somewhere in Florida. This car made a Volkswagen Beetle seem spacious and luxurious.

As far as I know it was Bricklin that first brough Subarus to the US with the 360. Back in the 1970's a friend of mine had a drivable one and a parts car as well. May have been bad tires, but despite its rear engine didn't have much traction and I recall pushing it home, uphill, in the snow with my Z-28 Camaro. No prize, but still more mainstream than the Isetta another friend drove. Maybe it was just the Isetta's refrigerator front door/windshield with pivoting steering column, or gearshift where the left doorhandle would have otherwise been. The Subaru was just a microcar without the funk. Wish I could have seen those two race.

Hi,

Saw one of those little micro-Hondas of the same era the other day--first time in years! Could it enter the race, too? :D

We used some little utility vehicles to move tools and trash cans on a college grounds crew around 1970. They looked like the tiniest little pickup truck in the world: IIRC we could get four 30+ gal cans in the bed. If I'm not mistaken, they were CONY 360s. Google shows 'em being built by Aichi, but I thought back then I heard Subaru/Fuji was associated w/ them. Anyone remember?

Rick

Rear engined with the engine hung out at the rearmost of the transmission...

They didn't call it the "360" for nothing!!! ;)

You know you want it!

Think of vintage weekend at Lime Rock Park!

Yeah, about 20 years ago there was someone in town that had a 360. If you remember my posts in the Toyota group, you know I like old, funky Japanese cars, and a 360 is about as funky as you get!

Used to drive a Corvair at Lime Rock in club events, so I have a feel of how rear engined cars handle on the course. Looking at an old trophy right now that shows the outline of the track and can visualize a Subaru 360 trying to navigate the 180 degree turn at the end of the main straight. That "360" could easily become 3 dimensional if (and that's a big IF) it sould generate enough speed in the straight to do anything but spin off into the tire barriers. Ah, but I do miss the sensation of trailing throttle oversteer and the little Subie was probably demonic if you carried too much speed into a corner.