1970 Subaru 360

The Subaru 360 was built for twelve years by the Japanese auto manufacturer from 1958 through 1971. It offered a surprisingly roomy interior, rear-hinged doors, and an ultra-light design that tipped the scales at 900 lbs. It used monocoque construction with a fiberglass roof panel, the 360 followed the formula successfully employed by many other marques, such as Ford with its Model T, making transportation more affordable and accessible to the working class. The 356cc, two-stroke inline two-cylinder engine had a single carburetor and delivered 36 horsepower at 4,000 RPM. It was backed by a three-speed manual gearbox with overdrive, and stopping power was by four-wheel drum brakes. Dubbed the 'Ladybug,' it had a top speed of 60 mph and superseded the government's and manufacturer's expectations, quickly becoming the darling of the nation of Japan.

The Subaru 360 was designed in response to the Japanese government's light car or Kei car regulations, which specified a maximum vehicle size, power output, and engine capacity to achieve tax and insurance benefits, and were the smallest highway-legal passenger cars. in many rural areas, the Kei car was exempt from the requirement to certify that adequate parking was available for the vehicle.

The Kei displacement limit was originally set at 150cc in 1949, growing to 360cc for both two-stroke and four-stroke engines in 1955. This brought about several new kei-car models, including the 1955 Suzuki Suzulight and the 1958 Subaru 360, the first mass-produced kei car. The rear-engined Subaru 360 Microcar was one of Japan's most popular cars, available in a station wagon, two-door, 'convertible', and sport body styles. Ten thousand examples were sold in the United States, fueled by an unconventional advertising campaign that proudly declared, 'Cheap and Ugly.'

The interior had floor-mounted controls located between the driver and passenger seat. Early production models had a full metal dashboard, while subsequent models had a partially padded dash with an open glove compartment. There were map pockets, a split front bench seat, a heater, a gravity-fed fuel cut-off, and pop-out rear quarter windows.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2021