Worth Saving? 1970 Subaru Sambar Van

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Nothing gets my attention like an old Subaru and when it’s combined with pizza, fuggedaboutit, as they don’t say in Minturn, Colorado where this 1970 Subaru Sambar van is located. Its origin goes back to a pizza shop in Minnesota and you’ll realize the Minnesota connection once you check out the photos and see the rust. It can be found here on eBay and the current bid price is $1,000.

Frankly, even given how rare these vans are and how popular they are among rabid Subaru fans, this thing is rusty. And I mean rusty, as in very, very rusty right down to the core. I grew up in northern Minnesota so I know a thing or two about rusty vehicles and how depressing they are. But, the bid already being at a grand tells me that someone can and will restore it, or maybe they will use it for parts for their van restoration project. I can’t imagine dealing with this much rust myself no matter what the vehicle is.

The seller isn’t hiding anything and I guess it would almost be impossible to hide the amount of rust here, but we’ve all seen those craigslist ads where sellers cut off parts of the vehicle in the photos “by accident”… Chalet Pizza was in Minnetonka, Minnesota and this van was used for deliveries year-round, even in the salty nightmare slush metal-eating snowy winters. Was that too descriptive of how much I hate rust? The company is still in the general area and I think it would be cool if they bought this van and had it restored, but that’s just me.

The Subaru Sambar was made beginning in 1961 and they’re related to the Subaru 360, as in being a Kei-class vehicle that is taxed based on its physical size and engine size. There was also a Sambar pickup and no, I can’t fit in any of them, at least in the driver’s seat. I could see someone buying this van just for the dashboard and gauges, the shifter and maybe transmission, windshield, and parts like that. I really hope that it gets restored and back on the road again. The seller has really provided a lot of good photos even showing the front seat bottom folded up so you can see the floor under it. Well done.

Having a passenger door on each side is handy, and there should be decent legroom and headroom back there for passengers. Parts of this van look good and maybe some of you have restored a vehicle that had more rust on it than this Sambar van has, if so let us know in the comments. Being a rear-engine vehicle, this van has a higher loading height in the rear cargo area than most other vans do – you can see an engine access panel on the left side of this photo. But, you can see that the rear seat can be folded forward which is a nice feature.

The engine is Subaru’s 356cc air-cooled two-stroke twin-cylinder with around 25 horsepower. The van weighs around 1,200 pounds or it did when new. With the rust holes maybe around 47 pounds now. Sorry, I keep talking about the rust but that’s really the biggest issue here. The engine turns over by hand and parts of the interior look good so maybe it’s fixable – what are your thoughts?

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Comments

  1. Goober with a wrench

    No more of this please, also, you have my email, quit asking for my email. Thank you. Old 60’s cars …yea

    Like 0
  2. Rob

    Looks a little rusty to me, hoss….

    Like 3
  3. jo6pac

    I’d buy it for a parts car just because left hand drive.

    Like 2
  4. SMS

    When I lived in Japan there was an older gentleman who lived across the street who owned a 360 sedan. Once a week or two he would fire it up and go tearing down the street in a bug killing fog of smoke.

    Looking at this car reminds me of restoring a Vanagon Westy. They were well insulated which kept in the moisture. Remember waking up in a tent and being rained on by the water drops covering the inside of the tent? If you camped in your westy it would often develop seam rust. There are videos on youtube and forums that show how to take the panels off to repair the rust. Could use that to instruct you in how to repair this poor thing. It takes a lot of time and effort to repair the Westys but not too difficult.

    As for the motor I hated the stink and sound of that thing. Loved my motorcycle two strokes but not these. Drive a Karmann Ghia with an electric motor and love it. An ev conversion on this would be perfect.

    Like 1
  5. Will Owen

    I bought one of these from a rural-Tennessee kid for $500 cash, and drove it the 30-some miles home to Nashville. It was ingenious in both its design and its attempts to kill me, first by exhaust poisoning/suffocation, then by its habit of popping the driver’s-side door open on hard right turns. This was due partly to its evil front suspension by SINGLE trailing arms, which gave positive caster to the outboard wheel. It did have lap belts, though, so I never fell out …

    There was one guy I knew who wanted to buy it; he had a spare engine for his 10-cylinder Honda, and thought that and the van would make a killer combo. I thought the same, though not from the same angle … that never happened anyway, as he and the bike killed each other before any swap could happen.

    Like 8
    • Tman

      Must have been a primative EGR system

      Like 0
    • stu

      Wow a killer van….almost like the movie Christeen

      Like 0
  6. AZVanman

    Too bad about the rust, I would love puttin’ around town in one of these!

    Like 2
  7. Gary Rhodes

    They are soooo tiny! Make a good spare to carry in the bed of our pick up. They are cute little things

    Like 3
  8. Derek

    Looks less rusty than a (generally) similarly aged VW; certainly less common.

    Worth a tilt for the rarity.

    Like 5
  9. Car Nut Tacoma

    Assuming everything is there and works like they should, then I think it’s worth saving. All it needs is to be stripped, cleaned up, repainted, and she’s ready to go.

    Like 3
  10. Steve Clinton

    I never realized pizza sauce was corrosive.

    Like 4
    • SMS

      Good point. With me I have found over time that pizza adds to my panels and wheel wells. That must be some good pizza

      Like 1
    • stu

      Pizza sauce has always been bad period…

      Like 0
  11. chrlsful

    “…Worth Saving?…”
    may B 4 me (& Scotty)?
    Just need to figure how to puta seat in that wrks for an merican…

    Like 3
  12. Tman

    I say crush it. It’s not even worth the 47 lbs of scrap. It could become a paper weight or door stop

    Like 0
  13. John King

    I remember seeing this back in Hopkins MN when it was almost new (1974). As I recall, Chalet Pizza had two of these to deliver pizza!

    Like 4
  14. John Wilburn

    I hope someone saves it. Super rare and cool.

    Like 3
  15. Rod

    Not desirable enough to save… age and supposed rarity does not motivate me !

    Like 0
  16. xrotaryguy

    Maybe there’s more rust here than meets the eye but it doesn’t look that bad to me. The rust on my Rampside looked worse and that was a larger vehicle. Plus I live in the west and I still don’t think this looks so bad. I say it’s plenty restorable. Go for it!

    And I’ll take a large pepperoni!

    Like 2
  17. 67Firebird_Cvt 67Firebird_CvtMember

    Is that a pizza oven above the driver’s side rear wheel?
    It is above the engine, right?

    Like 2
  18. Paolo

    To quote the seller:

    “Assume the worst.”

    That is the best last line I’ve ever read in an car advertisement. You seldom get such a frank disclosure these days. It liberates the buyer from the possible chance feelings of disappointment, regret and remorse that would normally accompany the purchase of a lattice-work of rust shaped like a Subaru Sambar.

    If Chateau Pizza is still slinging pies they should buy it back and use it as special booth to seat 4 diners.

    “Assume the worst” Chateau Pizza

    Like 5
    • Willowen

      Four very skinny diners, maybe; that thing has about the same footprint as my Austin Mini wagon! I know, because I garaged mine side by side! The Sambar was taller and had more doors, is all.

      Like 1
  19. Clay Bryant

    Someone that has more time then money will make a go of this. Tons of fabricating to do but when you get done they’ll walk by the same-o, same-o Vws and come look at yours And you can say “I did it”. (My local paper took a pic of me lifting up a 360 to my beltline by the front. Don’t ask me to do it now, Maybe pull the bumper and I’ll lift it after a good breakfast)

    Like 2
  20. dan joyce

    I grew up in the same town as this pizza joint. Its Chalet pizza and it was in Hopkins, mn. Outstanding pizza and the just moved locations (imminent domain) and are now located in Eden prairie. Worth the stop for lunch or dinner. I remember seeing these little turds delivering pizzas all over town in the 70s!

    Like 2
  21. Paolo

    D’oh! Operator error! A poor bit of reading comprehension on my part.
    A Chateau is a large French country house or castle, often giving its name to wine made in its neighborhood.
    “Château Margaux”
    A Chalet is a wooden house or cottage with overhanging eaves, typically found in the Swiss Alps.

    Dan, was it a real Chalet?

    Like 1
  22. John King

    I just spoke to a representative from Chalet Pizza. They had THREE of these delivery vehicles, in storage until about 5 years ago. They sold two to a buyer in Colorado (5 years ago) and kept one for themselves.

    Like 2
  23. Dirty Steve

    This was my van, I bought both vehicles from Chalet Pizza and took them to Colorado. I fixed one which my wife and I drive around town and have won the People’s Choice award at every car show it’s been to. They are ridiculously small and get attention everywhere they are seen. This one would not be the worst vehicle I’ve repaired. I’ve welded in the bottom 6 inches of several VW buses. The CO buyer is planning on saving it. And rightly so. Thanks for putting it on here.

    Like 3
  24. Scotty GilbertsonAuthor

    Auction update: this cool van sold for $1,075.

    Like 1

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