Yahoo Autos 1987 Subaru BRAT Is Today's Bring a Trailer Find
Here's a funky Subaru pickup truck from the freewheeling 1980s.
With a 73-hp flat-four, it's not fast but is still fun.
This one is from the BRAT's last year in the U.S.
Bi-drive Recreational All-Terrain Transporter! Better known as the BRAT, this little bar-based pickup arrived in the late 1970s as pretty much the funkiest thing Subaru built. Everything about it was delightfully strange, from the rear jump seats and carpeted bed, to the t-tops and bright graphics. Where the heck's the spare tire? Oh here it is, under the hood next to the engine. Subaru, you wonderful weirdos.
The BRAT stuck around until 1987, and this well-preserved example, for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos), is from that final model year. Few of these little trucks survived, and while they're not exactly fleet of foot, they are a hoot to drive and a great practical collectible.
The bed-mounted rear-facing jump seats were an effort by Subaru to avoid the so-called chicken tax on imported pickups. The BRAT was based on the DL/GL sedan, and with four seats, Subaru could cross its fingers and claim that it was a passenger vehicle rather than a truck.
The ploy worked, and despite being late to the small imported pickup truck craze of the 1970s and 1980s, the BRAT sold well. In Australia, this vehicle was sold as the Brumby (a brumby is Aussie slang for a wild horse, and is possibly an even better name than BRAT), and it was so popular Subaru sold it there until the mid-1990s.
This one has the pop-up T-roof glass panels, a four-speed manual transmission, and part-time four-wheel-drive. There's a cool period-correct aftermarket stereo with a tiny TV screen, and the 13-inch inch chrome ring alloy wheels are pure 1980s.
Under the hood (along with the spare tire) is a 1.8-liter flat-four engine that produced 73 horsepower and 94 pound-feet of torque. The BRAT is no WRX ancestor, but it's ideal for scrambling over the sand or other light-duty off-road fun.
Subaru feels like a much more conservative company these days, mostly concerned about moving Foresters and Outbacks by the bushel. It did build a spiritual descendant of the BRAT in the form of the Legacy-based Baja in the early 2000s, but it's not likely a car-based pickup truck will be twinkling in the seven-star constellation any time soon. This little pickup is a great example of a time when Subaru wasn't afraid to get funky.
The auction ends on October 9.
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