Car of the week: Subaru 360

I bet when you think of a Subaru, your mind immediately jumps to the Impreza, the WRC and Collin McRae, but the company had a much more humble beginning. The Japanese brand wasn’t built on conquering gravel tracks, but instead on the ever-evolving cityscape of Japan. Therefore, in 1958, the brand introduced its first-ever mass-produced car, the Subaru 360.

Now, for Subaru’s first mass-produced model, it was a good car! Your first attempt isn’t always going to be that good, but it nailed its home market in Japan and was produced for 12 years. It was synonymous with Japan’s post-war economic boom, quickly becoming a symbol of not only the nation’s industrial growth and economy, but of the working Japanese individual.

It was also the second Kei car to be put into production, which meant it was a compact car that aligned with the regulations on size, engine displacement, and power output. And it was definitely compact. It measured roughly 110 x 50 x 50 inches, only weighing 410 kg, the same weight as professional wrestler Happy Humphrey. But the 360 was therefore smaller and lighter than the original Fiat 500.

The 360 was also cooler than the original Fiat 500, in my opinion, because it had suicide doors. These are just doors hinged at the rear, but adding the word suicide, explosion, or volcano in front of anything instantly makes it sound like the name of a heavy death metal band, and therefore at least a thousand times cooler.

The 360 was fitted with a rear-mounted two-stroke inline 2-cylinder 356 cc engine, which, like many other two-stroke gas engines, needed the engine’s oil to be premixed with the petrol. A concept that would send many of today’s petrolheads into a coma. This was needed because the crankcase is used to compress the air-fuel mixture for the combustion chamber, and a separate oil reservoir cannot be used for lubrication.

After the car’s success in Japan, the model was introduced to the US, where it didn’t perform as well. The styling didn’t go down well with the American demographic. Alongside this, due to its size, light weight and power, if it had been nearly grazed by an American vehicle, it would have killed the driver of the 360. However, I think history has taught us that Americans and Japanese don’t typically get along well, so it’s not that surprising.

Now, for a car which looks like the estranged child of the VW Beetle and Fiat 500, and was literally branded in the US as “Cheap and Ugly”, you wouldn’t expect it to necessarily sell well. But again, in the Japanese market, it really took off.

Top speed	60 mph
0-60	40 seconds
How many units were sold	392,000
Cost when new	£461
How many sumo wrestlers can you fit in one 360?	0.43

Subaru 360 1958

The car served as the foundation for one of the greatest rally cars of all time, with an entire world-famous motoring brand being built upon it. Which is scary, given how fragile the car is.

But nonetheless, the Subaru 360 is our car of the week, because with Subaru’s return to the WRC, it seems as if Subaru has once again done a 360.

“Subaru 360” by Telstar Logistics is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.