It seems odd to look at a car with a tiny air-cooled twin-cylinder engine and refer to it as a high-performance model, but that is the reality with this 1970 Subaru 360. This is the “Young S” variant, which offered its driver more power to play with. The owner commenced the restoration process on this classic 2-years ago, but he has now decided to part with it. The little Subaru is located in Troy, New York, and is listed for sale here on Facebook. You could slip behind the wheel of this pocket dynamo by handing the owner $10,000. I have to say a big thank you to Barn Finder Dawson H for spotting this wonderful little classic for us.
The owner purchased the Subaru a couple of years ago. He immediately commenced the restoration process and was fortunate to find that he was working with a rust-free car. The photos of the underside show a light dusting of surface corrosion but no evidence of penetrating rust. The story with the exterior is similar, with the panels appearing clean and straight. Once satisfied that all was well, the owner applied a fresh coat of the Subaru’s dazzling Yellow paint. Kei cars can be hard to spot in the cut-and-thrust of daily driving because their diminutive size helps them blend into the background unintentionally. The Yellow paint that graces these panels should alleviate that problem, reducing the driver’s chances of getting squashed by something bigger and heavier that might otherwise fail to notice them. As part of the restoration process, all of the door seals and window gaskets have been replaced. That should eliminate the possibility of dust and water leaks. The external trim, including the stainless steel bumpers, is in good order. The glass presents just as nicely, with no evidence of flaws or problems.
Subaru was determined to capture the youth market, so the Young S incorporated a couple of quirky design features. One of these was the roof. All Young S variants came with a Black fiberglass roof with a White racing stripe. Unlike the standard 360 where the top was convex, Subaru produced the Young with a concave section running through the center. This was specifically designed to be the perfect place to attach a surfboard for those young people who wanted to head out and catch a wave. That feature is clearly visible in this shot.
Subaru built the 360 to Kei Car regulations, which means that its 356cc air-cooled twin-cylinder engine just managed to sneak in below the maximum engine capacity. When it was launched in 1958, the motor produced a relatively modest 16hp. Ongoing development saw this figure increase to 25hp, which found its way to the rear wheels via a 3-speed manual transaxle. The Young S is the high-performance variant that still houses the same engine, but the output has made a massive jump to 36hp. Further improving performance was the decision to replace the original transaxle with a 4-speed unit. Where a standard 360 would run out of breath at around 50mph, the Young S should be able to find its way to a dizzying 75mph. The engine bay doesn’t present as well as I would’ve hoped, but I get the impression from the listing that the owner tackled this as a cosmetic restoration. The vehicle is registered and roadworthy, but we receive no information on how it runs or drives.
As well as refreshing the exterior, the owner spent some time and money on the 360’s interior. All of the painted surfaces, decals, and stickers are original. However, he replaced all of the upholstered surfaces with Black vinyl contrasted with Yellow piping to match the paint. The result is an interior that looks pretty inviting, with very few flaws or problems. The driver’s door trim isn’t quite right, but I believe this is more of a fitment issue than a problem. I think that a bit of careful adjustment should address that issue. Beyond that, the trim appears to need nothing. The floors wear rubber mats instead of carpet, and these look pretty good. As a matter of interest, I did perform a search to see if I could locate a carpet set to add to the plush feel of the interior. I had no luck, but given the flatness of all of the floor sections, the buyer might be able to have a custom carpet set cut and sewn if they want to add that certain something to the interior.
As well as improved engine performance, the Young S variant brought a couple of extra interior features that wouldn’t go astray. The first was a sporty steering wheel in place of the austere black plastic item. The second feature was to add a factory tachometer to the gauge cluster. The spokes on the wheel exhibit some corrosion, but I think that the buyer could address the worst of this with some polish. The tach is in good condition, while the rest of the cluster, its surround, and the dash padding, all present well.
I have been lucky to slip behind the wheel of some extraordinary and desirable cars during my lifetime, but one that has slipped under my radar has been the Subaru 360. I would especially love to take this 1970 360 Young S out for a spin. It is not a car that will set the world on fire, and I suspect that it would consistently finish second at a “Traffic Light Grand Prix.” However, I can’t help but think that I would emerge at the end of the journey with an enormous smile on my face. We can make jokes at this car’s expense, and plenty of people have in the past. However, it signals the first tentative steps by Subaru into the world of performance cars that eventually spawned classics like the giant-killing WRX. So, if you can’t justify the expense of a new WRX, perhaps slipping behind the wheel of this little classic might be a quirky but entertaining alternative.
My skate board can go faster.
Bet it can’t.
Back in 1982 a friend of mine bought one of the used with under 5K miles for $700. He left it at my house for several months as he was afraid to try the 30 mile drive home via the Interstate. I drove (?) it around my town a couple times. It was an unbelievable under powered pos…The rear end had a habit of trying to come around with any major steering input about 15 mph. You could actually feel the inside rear tire come off the ground in turns, very unstable.
Eventually he had it towed to his place. Sat in the driveway for a couple years, and turned to Swiss cheese once the rust took hold.
A weird car for sure, made a VW bug feel huge. And a true death trap.
I have driven a Subaru 360 and the idea of reaching 75 mph in one is terrifying.
That AMC guy beat me to the comment. Lol. Still ya gotta love that Subaru brought this version to market. Makes me smile just looking at it.
You forgot to mention, that 356cc powerhouse of an engine is also a two-stroke. So carry extra plugs with you when you go motoring! Subaru made a van version as well, with the same power train. And you thought this car was slow! A friend of my dad’s owned the van, but not for long.
Let’s not forget to mention that it was Malcolm Bricklin, yes that Bricklin, who created Subaru of America, as it was his idea to bring the 360 to the States.
He has Subaru reduce the weight on these things so it could be classified as a covered motorcycle. And then nearly bankrupted Subaru of America and was kicked out. He’s a character.
$10,000 to be abused? There are woman out
there who’d do that for a lot less.
& men
It’s hard to believe that these awful ‘eggs’ ended up being such a popular make 50 years later.
Not a bad 360, few omissions are Young rear and front emblem. The one on the back is a deluxe emblem. The roof stripe is missing a stripe. Windshield gasket is missing stainless trim as is also the roof rubber. Floor does look awesome they are usually missing. It’s not 36 hp. Those were only in Japan. If it were a SS Young it would be right hand drive. The 36 hp comes from chrome cylinder bore and I’m pretty sure a two barrel carb. The air cleaner and single carb make it a 25 hp. Thanks for posting it up. They are hard to find in this good of condition. I know I once owned 8 I’m down to six.
Back in the day when I worked for Pontiac Plaza in Portland (a fabulous dealership, unlike any other), we sold these as a side line. The finance department was in a seperate building next to the delivery area which was situated on a lower level. That required the customer who had taken delivery to climb a short incline. The customers who had actually bought these automotive mistakes regularly had to ditch their families before attempting the ¨uphill¨ drive. It was pitiful to see these micro-errors trying to negotiate ¨the hill¨. The engine incidentally was based on the Goggomobile powerplant, without ever achieving the excellent reputation which the little Goggo deservedly enjoyed.
I remember Pontiac Plaza and Subaru well from younger days!
Hi Bill! Maybe if you bought a car from Pontiac Plaza, I was your finance mgr.! I had been hired in from Gulfgate Chrysler Plymouth in Houston and was transferred to the new Pontiac Plaza in Seattle after being in Portland for a few months. While in Seattle I worked, initially 7 days a week 10 hour days until financial mismanagement at the home office in Portland sunk these marvelous stores. The plan had been to have a chain of Pontiac Plazas in the Pacific Northwest and me being a roving finance director. It all turned to mush – so sad. As Steinbeck wrote – The best laid plans of mice and men —————–. In those days being a finance mgr. with a reputation for excellence was a big deal coupled to big income. Ahhh, heady days of youth!
Starting off with this, I can’t believe Subaru ever became a brand anyone in the U.S. would want.
It’s alright to take your surfboard to the beach… and back home from the beach !
That is if you’re in no hurry to get there !
Back when these were new, if you bought a new J-30, the Subie was thrown in.
The Subaru 360 . . . It makes you house look so big!
Performance version,,( whistles) now we’re talkin”,,,their idea of “performance version” differs greatly from mine. It’s pretty amazing, this motor actually put out more hp than a Model T, but still. Reason we don’t see Adam’s signature 1/4 mile times,,,is there aren’t any or not worth posting. A van with similar motor did muster 28.5 in the 1/4 however. At the time, stopwatches only went to a minute,( joke) and no 0-60 times( wouldn’t go that fast, although 69 was claimed) but a 0-50 came in at a mere 37.5 seconds. Think about that for a sec, here you are stopped on a busy freeway on ramp, it’s going to take you AT LEAST half a minute to get up to speed, unlike say a Corvette, in 5 seconds. I remember dismal sales and a “2 for 1” deal, some dealers even gave them away with a new Oldsmobile( or something) I had a friend with one, it was a poor vehicle, to say the least. She then bought a Justy, the 360’s replacement, their 1st attempt at AWD, I think and was a slightly better car. Hard to believe, like the Honda, this became the #1 selling car in the world.
Anyone elase remember “FasTrack”?
As Kevin mentioned above, the vehicle shown in this article is a Young S, which in the U.S., was not all that different to a standard Subaru 360 in terms of output. The Young _SS_ on the other hand, was the 36HP variant – and he’s correct in saying that they only ever came in RHD. For all those wanting to make a derogatory comment, think about this – the year was 1968 when the Young SS was released. 100bhp per litre from a 356cc motor was unheard of in Japan – this was the very first vehicle to achieve that (in fact, 100bhp/litre – allowing for some typical period Japanese
overstatement – was outright racing engine output in its day – and a
significantly higher SPO than even the 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS engine!). All car companies had to start somewhere – and this, like the Honda S600 to the S2000, was the great-grandfather of today’s WRX. Try not to judge on today’s accepted vehicle performance, but on what was the norm back in 1968.