I could have left the question mark off of the title, this 1988 Subaru GL-10 Turbo wagon has to be the nicest one left. If there’s a nicer one, let us know. The seller has this jewel box listed here on eBay in Tacoma, Washington, right where I thought it would be. Somehow, there is no reserve which is surprising for a car this nice, and the current bid price is $5,100. Unless this car is going to a collector, and I wish it was headed my way, you will see this one for sale again in the near future. It’s worth much more than five grand in today’s market.
The Pacific Northwest is my favorite area for vehicles. It’s not desert-dry there by any means but they typically don’t use salt on the roads if and when they do get snow. Also, the hot sun doesn’t cook the rubber parts as the desert southwest does. This unbelievable time capsule (there’s that phrase again!) is a testament to that climate, and to the one family who loved it and took care of it for a mere 44,000 miles over the last 34 years.
The third-generation Subaru Leone was made from 1984 to 1994 and it’s rare to see a GL-10 turbo wagon today in any condition but to see one in almost showroom condition is as rare as it gets. The seller has gone out of their way to provide dozens of great photos so please scroll down on the eBay link to see them all. Have some Kleenex with you when you get to the underside photos, it’s a thing of rock-solid, rust-free beauty and wonder under there. That’s very, very, very rare for a Subaru of this era.
It’s no surprise that the interior is also in basically factory-fresh condition. The only bummer for enthusiasts is that this car has an automatic transmission rather than a 5-speed manual. The seats almost look like new as does the cool digital dash, the sunroof controls, and even under the cargo floor in the rear cargo area where we typically expect to see rust around the edges. Not on this gem. The exterior graphics and details such as the gas filler door look absolutely perfect. This car is ready for Pebble Beach.
As expected, the engine and engine bay are equally spotless. This one is Subaru’s EA-82T, a 1.8L boxer-four turbo that sounds like it may have been menacing, but it only had 115 horsepower. Still, it had 15-20 hp more than the non-turbo. Some of you may remember that I recently had an ultra-rare 1988 Subaru RX turbo 5-speed sedan with this same engine. If my car would have been in this condition I would have kept it forever. Have any of you owned a Subaru from this era?
I had a really beat down twin of this car. I bought it on the cheap, it was a theft recovery. The steering column was busted, anyone could have started the car with a screwdriver. One of my neighbors, who I was feuding with, saw the busted column on my car as he was walking past on the sidewalk. He called the cops & reported a potentially stolen vehicle. Cops showed up, took down the vin, and ran it. They proceeded to just sit there. I sat on my porch, watching them. I saw them watching me too. Finally a wrecker showed up. I knew this was going too far. I asked the cop why he was towing my vehicle. He told me it wasn’t mine, it was stolen. I showed him the title. He asked me where the keys are. I told him there are none, I bought it cheap ad a theft recovery. He told me I needed keys for the car lol. We went back & forth on this, and finally I asked him what the title was for if all I needed was keys to prove ownership. He looked at me dumbfounded, and told me to park the car off the street. I saw my neighbor who called the cops watch everything. They thought they were gonna get me arrested lol. Now I can’t stand these cars, but I used to love them.
My 1988 GL10 was in such condition till September 2021, when it suffered an ‘injury’ at the front end. It is still sitting in my garage waiting for a chance to find needed replacement parts – front lights, plastic mask, left fender and maybe hood. The car is the same color, and it has been loved as much as, or even more than the shown one. I still have a pair of original roof racks that have never been installed and/or used, and numerous ‘end of life’ original spare parts. Also, my car has a fully operational self levelling suspension system. I am doing my best to bring it into the ‘pre-injury, condition.
Wow. This is so close to the second (and the LAST) car I bought new. Ours was a black ’99 Loyale turbo wagon. Decent little car, killed by getting t-boned by a Suburban after just a couple of years. But it was the genesis of the current ride, so there is that…
I had a 1992 Loyale wagon with 4 sp and on the fly 4WD in 1999-2000.
It was gutless on the highway, but took turns on rails and was a champ off-road. Had to sell it due to a soon be fatal head gasket leak.
I still dream of owning a small 4WD/AWD station wagon.
Love these subaru digital instrument clusters. In the 80s we were finally getting more advanced digital instruments but the car enthusiast magazines lambasted them until the carmakers relented. Awesome find.
My parents and I drove one of these in Australia for the best part of 25 years, went everywhere in outback Australia, Finally sold it with 720,000 km on the clock with original motor and transmission.
Everyone should check out all the photos on eBay, that’s how you sell a car, and wow is it mint.
Buddys family had a front wheel drive wagon around this era when we were kids in high school. His Dad was always fixing something on it, and swearing.. Total nitemare lemon 🍋
I see some of these older Subies here, where they don’t have emission testing, but failed tests sidelined most of these. They are a nightmare. In NY, a friend had an OOOOtback, that the check engine light was on and kept failing the tests. Readout comes back, “neutral safety switch”,,which obviously had some emission thing on that circuit. Look under that hood, you couldn’t get another hose clamp under there. When properly maintained, well, just try and find a low mileage Subie. I have a friend that put an astonishing 300K PLUS, on an Outback, and never let him down. Too sterile for me, that interior looks like it came right out of a “Vac-u-form”( remember those, I’m surprised we never burned ourselves, they got incredibly hot) I think this was the car that really put Subaru on the map. Nice find, rust claimed many after only a few years in the “salt bath”, so in those areas, it’s extremely rare. Here, not so much.
I had an 86 gl10 turbo wagon with every option. Everything worked and It cruised down the Highway pretty well considering it was on bfg all terrains with a 4in lift! Helped a lot that it had the dual range t case and a 5 speed manual. Being on the western slope of colorado, it saw a lot of trails and places Subarus had no business being. I remember one time me, my dad and his buddy were in it going up a jeep road elk hunting. We got a lot of weird looks wearing blaze orange bouncing up rocks passing people struggling on ATVs. That thing would go anywhere with lo range! I did a lot of off road wrecker recoveries up that same road and I would love to tell the stuck/wrecked Jeep’s/trucks that I drove up that road in a Subaru without an issue!
Yea the dual range tranny in the snow is leaps and bounds above the push button 4wd. I think the turbo auto tranny is 4 speed and the non turbo is 3 speed.
I drive a dual ranger every day, the turbo gpes pretty good, Great for a 1.8.
Colorado seems fished out, compared to Washington and Oregon, i paid 300 for a gl10 wagon silver dig dash push button tranny, no rust, it needed head gaskets. It cost me 900 to get to New England from Oregon.But one look at the rear quarters and doors its well worth it. This one seems awesome for 8500$, I have a blue one with roll up windows, which i like better than the power. The Peugeot wheels fit on the car for a taller tire. For 8500 i would put in a glass bottle and not drive it. In New England if you listen close you can hear rhem rust. I have the ej22t i want to put in one of these and someday the EE20
Subaru.
I’ve loved these older Subarus. Stay away from the early turbos, though.
The wagon version was a favorite of mine. I had a top-of-the-line GLT (Turbo) ’85 wagon that I bought used in ’93 as my first car. It had led a pampered life and was a trade-in with low miles and no rust even though it was “old” for a northeast daily driver, but it had loads of problems in the several years I owned it.
His name was Jake. Never name your vehicles because you get too attached. My low-mileage ’85 had been lovingly cared for and maintained. I continued to care for it, religiously letting it idle for over a minute as instructed each time before turning off the ignition to ensure proper cooling and lubrication of the turbo bearings. They should have never added a turbo to that engine: it had a habit of cracking the aluminum cylinder heads from heat and boost. Needed y-pipes, cylinder heads that cracked because of the heat and boost of the turbo, a differential rebuild. I actually fixed it TWICE and then I gave up. I sold it when the replacement heads failed again. I refused to sell it to a single mom who was looking for reliable transportation. Buyer knew what he was getting into when he swung circles in a parking lot to check for cv joint clatter and left plumes of white smoke from burning coolant in rings around us. They should have never turbocharged that engine.
I’ve stayed away from Subarus since (I hate the grindy whine of their boxer engines, even on the new ones) and turbos in general ever since.
I still have the heads and differential pieces in my basement for some reason. Always wanted to make them into andirons or something.
I swore off turbos and Subarus in general, but someday if the right Scout with an intercooled 4BT comes along, I might change my turbo vow…
Sounds like I rode it hard and put it away wet a lot, but I actually took good care of it. Ol’Jake let me down and cost me a lot of money I didn’t have back then.
I still have a soft spot for this generation Subarus, especially the wagons. But a friend on college had an XT6, and that was a spaceship dreamy ride.
I’ve moved on to minivans…
Bought a new non-GL10 Turbo 5 speed wagon. (only way to get a turbo and the analog dash, I don’t like digital anything). Traded in my ’79 Coupe Deville on it. When it came in, I looked it over and told them I ordered Stereo/tape, and it has a plain AM in it. They said “wait in the office for a minute”. I watched thru the window and they ran out to the used car lot and pulled a unit from a car out there and swapped into my car.
I was new to 4wd and live on a dead-end street. First day I was taking a neighbor for a ride, we went to the end and made a u-turn as usual. It locked up completely in the middle of the turn. I called the dealer and he said my model did not have a center diff and we would have to push it backwards to unlock it and it would be OK. I would have had to order an automatic or the GL10 to correct that. Nobody said anything about that, neither the dealer or the owners manual.
The next day I left for the Olds convention in Lansing, following all the break-in procedures on the way there. (try driving under 50 thru Chicago!). I got just over 21mpg on the way there. It never exceeded 20mpg in the following year I owned it.
I tried selling with no luck. I promised myself that if I still owned it at 10,000 miles, I would bolt a plow on the front and never wash it again. At 9k miles, I traded even for an ’84 Olds 98 with 80k on it. It consistently gave me over 20 mpg on trips. I was happy again. My Subie was white and I had pulled off all the decals (4WD, TURBO, etc). The Olds dealer advertised it as the “Whiteout” Edition”, and it sat on their lot for about 4 months and they finally wholesaled it to get rid of it.
Wow! Nice like-new Subaru! Considering what high mileage used cars are going for, this was a bargain! Sold for $10,600.
I came here for the car… Leaving feeling like I would have missed out on some great stories if I had passed on reading this listing!
BF readers/commenters are the best!