We’ve seen a few really nice Subaru BRATs recently here on Barn Finds and this looks like one of the nicest ones – where are they all hiding?! Clean, clean, clean is how I’d describe this 1986 Subaru BRAT GL which the seller has listed here on eBay. It’s located in Landrum, South Carolina, in the far northwest corner of the state. The current bid price is $6,100 and there is no reserve so it’s going to the high bidder.
This is one of the nicest, cleanest Subaru BRATs that I have seen in a while, although as I mentioned, we have seen some real gems lately. Maybe it’s this light silver color that makes it look so crisp and clean with no stripes or anything to take your eye off of the incredible condition of the car. Also, being a later model BRAT, it doesn’t have the foot holes/holds on the passenger side of the bed (the driver’s side was a non-functioning”dummy”). There is also no center passing headlight – they were only on 1980-1982 BRATs. And…
… there are no jump seats in the rear, as those went away after the 1985 model year. So, if a person just had to have those quirky things, you’ll want an earlier Subaru BRAT, not a 1986 model. The condition of the bed under that little topper/cap looks almost like new, as you would expect given how nice the rest of the car looks. They were no longer imported into the US after 1987.
For such a beautiful vehicle with otherwise good photos, there isn’t one photo of the interior other than the one above and one showing the gauges! That is really surprising as that’s always a major red flag for me when portions of an online sales listing aren’t shown at all. I can’t imagine that there are any major problems with the seats or the dash top or anything else, but we don’t know that without photos. Sellers, come on, it’s 2020! They do say that there are no rips in the seats and the carpets are in good condition.
Enough chastising online sellers, back to this otherwise great looking BRAT. The engine looks clean and it’s Subaru’s EA-81, a four-cylinder boxer with around 73 hp. It runs great and has a new battery. The AC even works. Hagerty is at $9,900 for a #3 good condition 1986 BRAT and this one sure looks at least that nice. What will this one sell for?
I used to like saying that the spare tire is bigger than the engine on these earlier Subarus.
we used to joke that the spare tire was really a squirrel cage…the faster he ran, the faster the motor would go. This would be a fun summer car, although those earlier BRATs had those quirky other features like the seats in the bed.
You ask where they are? Tinworms got most of them, and this one was far enough from ocean salt and road salt to have avoided them. Don’t know if I’d drive it to the beach, because once they start feeding then it’s a goner!
Can you even sit in the seats in the bed anymore or is there some law that prevents that??? Those seats were cool but I don’t know if it would be possible with the cap on!! I’ll bet the caps are hard to come by too!!
Useless fact: Alex Tremulis, who designed the 1948 Tucker, was a consultant to Subaru and the BRAT was his last automotive design.
gone @7,9K$ & 28 bids.
The ‘toper’ made the whole case, wish I had 8 or 9K to bid (even tho seems like 3 or 4K$ is more reasonable).
I seen a ’60s ranchero w/a ‘topper’ like that (WA state – Eugene?, fella brought it up from LA, CA).Wanted that one even more…may B
8^0
crksful, as I mentioned, Hagerty is at $9,900 for one in this condition. If you can find one for $3,000-$4,000, please buy it instantly! This was a steal, I wouldn’t doubt that it’ll show up on another site in the near future.
sold – $7900
this generation of brat had low range so hills were not quite the clutch burner off road. i always wanted to put this drivetrain in the first gen.