We’ve only seen eight examples of the Subaru Justy here on Barn Finds over the years, and only one other four-door sedan. They’re known rusters, but this example looks great, despite a few dings here and there. The seller has this 1991 Subaru Justy GL 4WD sedan listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Racine, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $3,000. Here is the original listing.
Notorious places for rust to rear its ugly head are the rear wheel wells, the rocker panels, and especially the bottom of the front fenders. That front fender area looks a little sus here. That isn’t a deal-breaker, but I’d sure want to see detailed photos and a few underside photos of this car, with it being in Wisconsin. If a person were planning on using this one as strictly an AWD winter car, no problem.
The Subaru Justy was made, for the first go-round, from 1984 through 1994, and we got them in the U.S. from 1987 through ’94. There were five white colors between ’87 and ’94, but they were all basically the same. This one is called Ceramic White. The Justy came in a two-door and four-door, as seen here. There wasn’t a convertible, at least until I made one just now. They were either front-wheel drive or with a push-button-activated 4WD system.
It’s a very rare Justy interior that’s in mint condition, and this one is no exception (edit: as in, it also isn’t in mint condition). The driver’s seat fabric is pretty well worn and starting to fail. It’ll be hard to find that exact fabric to redo that seat. Luckily, the other seating surfaces look good, both front and rear. The rear cargo cover is as rare as it gets, so it’s nice to see that in place here, and it hides a small rear cargo area that looks clean.
The engine is Subaru’s EF12, a 1.2-liter fuel-injected SOHC inline-three (!) with 73 horsepower and 71 lb-ft of torque. Thankfully, this one is sent through a five-speed manual to the front wheels, or to all four wheels when you push the red button on top of the shift lever. The seller says it’s a good, smooth-running machine. I would be very, very happy if Santa would deliver this car to me today, even though it needs to have the front left wheel bearing replaced, and the part goes with the car. Have any of you owned a Justy?
When I saw this on Fast Finds I said to myself….. Scotty is going to write this little buggy up. This one is in very good condition considering how these were typically used. And that little bit of rust you see is typically how they looked street a few years or so in my neck of the woods. Someone whos either really into collecting Subaru s or someone looking for a cheap 4WD runabout will grab this. Cool little convertible too there Scotty I like it. That online 3 is definitely not the typical Flat 4 for sure.
Back when these cars were a common sight in the wild, my wife worked in the transmission parts & repair biz. She told me a story about a guy who owned one of these with an automatic transmission. The part that controlled shifting failed, and a replacement was unobtanium. Even the Subaru dealerships couldn’t fix it. That poor guy took it to every transmission shop in the Tarrant County area, and none of them could help him. Even though I didn’t know him from Adam, I genuinely felt sorry for him. Merry Christmas & a happy New Year to all.
That was the first modern CVT transmission available on the US market, and could only be had on the 2wd version; these 4wds were all manual.
nlpnt, this pic is from a 1991 Subaru brochure, and it lists the ECVT transmission as being optional on both 4WD models.
Based on how unreliable modern CVT transmissions are (I have heard many Nissan CVT horror stories), I am wondering how these early ones in the Justy held up.
It would have sold Scotty, that little convertible would have sold. On a side note It cracks me up that “sus” has arrived to Barn Find’s, I hear it from my teen daughters
“on the daily”. Great find and write up.
OMG that was “sus”. WTF is this world coming to.
Uuuf, tough crowd. I was kidding, of course. I’d never use that on a serious basis.
Good in the snow. ❄️ 🏔 ⛷️
So,,,a “rusty Justy”? ( couldn’t resist) I too knew someone with a Justy, it replaced her 360 that was sidelined with an unobtainium brake part. She loved it, although coming from a 360, a Murray peddle go-kart would be an improvement. I was so uninterested in the car at the time, I never realized it had a 3 cylinder, or surely would have made fun of that. The joke was on me, however, as I knew people with this motor in Geos that had hundreds of thousands of miles, again, rust was the killer there.
Obviously, be a nice day in the Badger when you’d see me in something like this, and don’t say, but Howard,,”Colorado=4WD”. Hey, if it’s snowing, I go back to bed,,,I can’t remember the last time I used the 4WD in the Jeep. I suppose the transfer case lever is froze by now,, :)
The EF series engine was a Subaru engine. I think that as long as they were sold in the US it was only the EF engine.
Interior in ‘mint’ condition, there are holes in the drivers seat.
“It’s a very rare Justy interior that’s in mint condition, and this one is no exception.”
As in, this one also is not in mint condition. I could have worded it better, but I just assumed everyone would know I meant that they’re all ripped, including this one. Sorry about that.
Most of us got it Scotty. Just requires reading all the words. To be fair, I had to read that part twice. Good job, as per usual.
My dad bought a Justy brand new with an automatic transmission. The automatic transmission only lasted a couple years and a shop replaced it with a standard. He gave it to me and I drove it for several years before it bit the dust. I enjoyed every minute behind the wheel of that little car. I once lined up with a friend’s built Camaro at a red light and I took off like a bat out of hell while he sat at the red light spinning his tires. He caught me of course by the time I reached the next red light a hundred yards away.
The daughter of a co-worker at the time bought one of these new. Had the car about a month and got hit by someone. The estimate to repair it was about 90% of what the car was new. Insurance didn’t total it and it got repaired. It was a teal color 2 door.
We rented a 2WD version when we were in Hawaii,& those
three little hamsters were working their little hoofies to the quick.
I thought that it’d get phenomenal gas mileage,but was very
dissapointed.I kicked myself when I looked out the hotel window
& saw that they were renting Suzuki Samurais for $10.99 a day.
Sold!!!
Thank you, sir!
Hello everyone, that is my Subaru Justy 4WD.
Scott if you’d like current images I’d share them but as the car isn’t for sale, nor was it ever in a barn or stored and forgotten like a “barn find.”
I didn’t post it on market place, and those are old images, the condition is better than the images show. If I ever sell it, it will be for more than just $3,000. I have $1500 into parts in just this month.
It is rust free with the only surface rust on the lower front passenger (being fixed now correctly).
Underbody is exceptionally clean with no rust. All black parts are black and the original undercoating is still present. I will be applying wool wax in January once I’m finished doing many updates and repairs to it and not selling it.
The driver seat bottom is being replaced with an undamaged one from a donor. Wheels and tires are no longer the 165/65R13, as they were changed to 175/70R14 along with a small lift I made because I can fabricate things in my shop.
Body is very clean with no body filler or patches. Bumpers had bed bedlinered by a previous owner, which will be stripped in the spring if my health can handle it. Body has been resprayed and will be getting detailed in the spring.
Engine starts instantly in Wisconsin winters, has great heat, and has excellent traction. While it has working factory Air Conditioning, I haven’t needed to use it yet. All electronics work including the digital clock and the 4WD switch. Manual Transmission, manual steering, manual windows. Windows go up and down quicker than any power window or other manual window I’ve ever operated. Manual steering is honestly easy to use, because the car is really light. could go on but I’m not selling it now. If anyone is interested in seeing things getting done to the car, I post publicly as ItsASteveThing on Instagram and Facebook.
I’m a mechanic so I work on and own A LOT of classic vehicles.
Steve! Oh no, are you saying that listing was a scam? The price seemed too good to be true, but some cars aren’t going up in value as much as others. The Justy was one big reason I have a three-cylinder icon thingy. I’ve wanted one for years, and it sounds like a gem. Thanks so much for commenting about your car, and that wasn’t a real listing.
Might have just auto relisted or something. It has been a Wisconsin car for years though. I’m in contact with the previous owner giving them updates. I’ll see if their listing is still active.
I’m a big fan of oddball vehicles. I’ve had many over the years and the only one that comes close to how the Justy feels was my 1978 Honda Civic 1200. Miss that car, which I sold too cheap with only 42,000 miles about 10 years ago. I rather enjoy low power cars because they aren’t in high demandnd can be had for reasonable prices.
Thanks for posting about my little Justy, any publicly is good publicly when its for an old fun uncommon car.