While not the most exciting car, or the most handsome, the fastest, the nicest, or… wait, where was I going with this again? Oh yeah, this 1980 Subaru DL Hatchback might not be a dusty muscle car, but it’s an interesting and rarely seen little commuter with a 5-speed manual for not much money. It’s posted here on craigslist in Broomfield, Colorado, and the seller is asking $3,400. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Mike F. for the tip!
Not to mention, this little front-drive Subaru is 46 years old now. Sadly, it does have some body rust as shown in the photos, but the seller says the frame and floors are solid. I can’t imagine anyone restoring this car, but if it had 4WD, it would be a worthy project for Cars & Coffee events, if not just for regular driving duties. For some reason, the badge on the left side of the hatchback has been removed.
It would be a labor of love to restore this 2WD Subaru, but hopefully someone will take it on. This example doesn’t have the infamous “Cyclops” center headlight, even though they were available on the 1980 through ’82 Subarus. They only came on the BRAT and GL models, and the hatchback wasn’t available in a GL for 1980, at least according to the last page of this 1980 Subaru brochure. The color looks like a sage green to me, but it has to be Shadow Beige Metallic.
The interior has seen better days as well. Since I’m not currently in vehicle-buying mode, I’m not trying to talk myself out of this one; I’m just calling it as I see it. The dash is cracked, the driver’s seat needs work, the steering wheel is disappointingly dirty (why not clean and detail a vehicle before trying to sell it?), and there may be other issues. The back seat looks perfect, other than the tops of the seats, which have also been subjected to too much sun. The rear cargo area looks good.
Sadly, the seller didn’t bother to pop the hood to show us the engine. Back to square one, after having recent good luck with craigslist and facebook listings showing engine photos. This one should have Subaru’s EA-71, a 1.6-liter OHV boxer-four with 68 horsepower and 81 lb-ft of torque when new. Passing through a 5-speed manual, it sends power to the front wheels, and the seller says it runs and drives “very well.” Would any of you use this little Subaru as a daily commuter car?
This is trip back in time. We had a local Subaru dealer in my town growing up, who’s still in business. ( New location same area) . These, in 2WD form were around. It’s a shame that there’s some rust starting on the fender and quarter panel, but if you think of it, its pretty well preserved, right down to the 13 inch steel rims with the period correct narrow whitewalls on it. This is a neat find, hats off to Mike F. For the find, I enjoyed this Scotty.
Weird; I lived in Broomfield and drove a Subaru hatchback. Mine was a 1985 hatchback. Bought it used, $1600. To me it was just a beater, drove it work and back. Not a bad car for what it was anyway.
It’s almost as rusty as some of the Mopar shells being sold for five figures. One thing to watch here is the engine supports and subframe. If they are rotted, the car is basically useless. As it is, the cancer (don’t kick the back fenders or rockers) almost makes this a parts mule.
Oh the memories! I was stationed in Anchorage Alaska (Ft. Richardson) in the mid 1980’s and purchased a Honda CRX for my first wife. After she received 2 speeding tickets in the first week, I took that car back from her and purchased this same car from good ole Cal Worthington (and his dog Spot!) to “help” her remember about driving within the speed limit! The car was bare bones and although not AWD/4×4 (we did purchase one of those later) it was fantastic on gas and got the job done.
This one appears to be beyond saving giving the rust and interior issues. Probably best to “drive it into the ground” as there is not much left to save or use it as a donor car although not sure what can be saved given what can be seen. Sad as they were good cars at the time.
Rust is a huge concern with these late 1970s/early 1980s Japanese cars. You would want to check this very carefully for structural rust. Very cool car, but once they start rusting around suspension mounting points, you’re in trouble. I had a 1980 Toyota Tercel that I loved way back in the day and I wanted to keep it, but we couldn’t save it because it had rust in the rear unilbody andn rear suspension to where we couldn’t align it.
UJMC of the car world-good find Mike and as always a good feature Scotty.
Used to see these everywhere in both 2 and 4WD iterations out our way, some of which actually survived the years yet still though with great amounts of interior and exterior sun rot. $3400 might be pricey for this one though.
love!
Great blast from the past. Times were lean in interest rates sky high but you walked into the dealer and found basic utility transport like this available or at least incoming. Despite all the negatives in that sentence it was a great time to be alive.
I agree, those were great times!
I had an 82 2nd wagon, so same car but an 1800cc / 5 speed vs this 1600. Put 100k on it, ran like a dream. Got it up to 90 one time while coasting down the Grapevine, got a bit floaty, I think the turbulence was lifting the rear end! Dealer parts guys kept giving me 4wd parts, drove me crazy. Got 32 mpg on the open road. Great car, drive it till it dies, put conversion coating on the rust.
Really like this car and other similar rides. Hey Scotty, if there is a site like BF that has zero “dusty muscle cars” please let me and the other benchseat boosters know about it.
It reminds me (the rust) of a 78 Corrola 2 door DX I absouletly loved in the early 90s. Had just a tad of rust bubbling up in the rear fender lip. Took it to the local body shop to fix it , found out the whole unibody was rusting from the inside out. Shame darn good car. Drove it till it started falling apart. Odds are I might still have it had it not been for that
It reminds me (the rust) of a 78 Corrola 2 door DX I absouletly loved in the early 90s. Had just a tad of rust bubbling up in the rear fender lip. Took it to the local body shop to fix it , found out the whole unibody was rusting from the inside out. Shame, darn good car. Drove it till it started falling apart. Odds are I might still have it had it not been for that
I had one of these, my brother was a salesman for a VW-Subaru dealership, I was desperate for a car at the time till I could decide what I really wanted in the long run, drove it for 6months & got $200 more on a trade in then I paid for it, thanks brother, anyway the car was scary to drive with its lack of HP, you had to wait until other cars were a mile away before you pulled out of a side street, it had absolutely no power even with the manual, no thanks.
Interesting – 5 speed manual without a tach. When it makes a racket, shift. lol
The rust on this one is borderline – I’d want an experienced tech to look at it even at that price. I have no idea if anyone ever did retrim kits for these, or if there are any dash pads in the wild that remain uncracked. Cute little car though.
Had a Mazda 626 in college. The front piece was almost rusted in half after a couple years at the beach. Took it to a black Smith shop after getting a super high price for the part not counting labor.
The blacksmith welded and bolted some angle iron in place for 40$ labor total. Drove it for a couple years till I sold it to a room mate who was always borrowing it anyway. He knew about the repair but was satisfied with it too.
Genius!