Women’s stylings have returned full circle and the Subaru looks a bit thrashed (tarnished bumper, dirty-looking wheels and what looks like a sagging door) to a point where I could see this being a contemporary photo staging as vintage.
The front overhang being longer than the rear overhang on these, always reminded me of a driver who hit the brakes too hard and the bodywork shifted forward on the chassis—or something like that.
Quite the contrary to one of the earlier observations — the sorry state of the Subaru in the photo looks “period correct” to me! 😉 You couldn’t actually hear them rusting on a warm, damp summer day, as was the case with Fiats — but they weren’t exactly robust, either.
(tongue firmly but somewhat ironically in cheek — from a Subaru owner who’s not exactly a Subaru fanboy)
I ended up doing a brake job on an early 4WD Subaru. Brakes, no big deal, most stuff was disc by then. No, not the Sube. Inboard drums. Had to pull the axle, broke a socket or two on the bolts holding it to the flange, fun stuff. Not. A little station wagon, white, like most of them seemed to be.
Subaru styling has had a tendency to age poorly. Sometimes they looked ok new, but 5 years later, styling wise, they looked 15. They seemed to have gotten somewhat better this century, almost as if they’ve embraced their quirkiness.
Looks really similar to the ’76 DL my Dad bought new, other than his had the pale yellow paint (which I hated but it seemed lots of 70’s Subarus came that way. His was FWD, only think they had 1 model that was AWD (a Wagon?), and had the automatic, since my Mother prefers automatic to manual, but funny thing is I don’t recall her ever driving it..she had a ’73 Country Sedan at that time.
The hood bucked about ’78, picked up by the wind when neither the primary nor secondary catch held it closed. My Dad never had it fixed, we just fastened 2 shock cords between the front wheelwells to hold it closed…not a big deal, it was pretty rusty after 4 years (it got the “Rusty Jones” treatment when new, to no avail. He bought it at the dealership in Winooski, forget the name. Mainly bought it since it was the only fwd car that didn’t sell for more than list, he looked at the Datsun F10 but didn’t like the vent on the hood near the carburator (looked like a last minute engineering change to him) and the Honda and VW sold for more than sticker…he didn’t like Fiat due to a bad experience I had with one….and Saab was a bit more than he wanted to pay, popular in Vt but a class up from the economy car he was looking for.
What I learnt from this photo is that fashions may have changed but Subarus are still ugly after 50 years.
AntiSuv, Subarus are definitely an acquired taste. The minitrucks are better looking than the cars.
Women’s stylings have returned full circle and the Subaru looks a bit thrashed (tarnished bumper, dirty-looking wheels and what looks like a sagging door) to a point where I could see this being a contemporary photo staging as vintage.
If that’s a recent photo, the Subaru owner deserves a medal. Can’t think when was the last time I saw one of these in the metal.
I would like to book my vacation to 1972, please!
The front overhang being longer than the rear overhang on these, always reminded me of a driver who hit the brakes too hard and the bodywork shifted forward on the chassis—or something like that.
The lady is probably 80 now, but I’d be willing to wager that she’s still around. The Subaru, not so much.
Quite the contrary to one of the earlier observations — the sorry state of the Subaru in the photo looks “period correct” to me! 😉 You couldn’t actually hear them rusting on a warm, damp summer day, as was the case with Fiats — but they weren’t exactly robust, either.
(tongue firmly but somewhat ironically in cheek — from a Subaru owner who’s not exactly a Subaru fanboy)
mrh
Lovely lady.
Remember test driving a 74 (identical car if my memory is good) and was rather impressed with it.
I ended up doing a brake job on an early 4WD Subaru. Brakes, no big deal, most stuff was disc by then. No, not the Sube. Inboard drums. Had to pull the axle, broke a socket or two on the bolts holding it to the flange, fun stuff. Not. A little station wagon, white, like most of them seemed to be.
Subaru styling has had a tendency to age poorly. Sometimes they looked ok new, but 5 years later, styling wise, they looked 15. They seemed to have gotten somewhat better this century, almost as if they’ve embraced their quirkiness.
Well here’s some more from Israel, where those and the smaller Kei cars were everywhere in the 70s and 80s (pic is of a Miss Israel 197?).
Cute gal. Is her name Limor Schreibman?
Looks really similar to the ’76 DL my Dad bought new, other than his had the pale yellow paint (which I hated but it seemed lots of 70’s Subarus came that way. His was FWD, only think they had 1 model that was AWD (a Wagon?), and had the automatic, since my Mother prefers automatic to manual, but funny thing is I don’t recall her ever driving it..she had a ’73 Country Sedan at that time.
The hood bucked about ’78, picked up by the wind when neither the primary nor secondary catch held it closed. My Dad never had it fixed, we just fastened 2 shock cords between the front wheelwells to hold it closed…not a big deal, it was pretty rusty after 4 years (it got the “Rusty Jones” treatment when new, to no avail. He bought it at the dealership in Winooski, forget the name. Mainly bought it since it was the only fwd car that didn’t sell for more than list, he looked at the Datsun F10 but didn’t like the vent on the hood near the carburator (looked like a last minute engineering change to him) and the Honda and VW sold for more than sticker…he didn’t like Fiat due to a bad experience I had with one….and Saab was a bit more than he wanted to pay, popular in Vt but a class up from the economy car he was looking for.