Subaru 360 Vintage Ads: Cheap, Ugly Ads With Sexy Girl Extolling Cheap, Ugly Cars
Published: May 6th, 2010
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Only in 1969: Cheap and crappy production values, mispronounced name of the car you’re selling, which was a cheap and ugly wart. All redeemed by the girl in bell bottoms. Sort of.
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If you survived that, don’t miss this longer film extolling the remarkable virtues of Subaru’s 1969 lineup, including the legendary 360 Super Sport (!) with wild racing and crazy over steer footage. Also the pickup, van, and introducing the new FWD Star. Late sixties history is so…scary, especially when you lived through this yourself. (Note: the first minute is very dull, but hang in there, it gets better and better)
More by Paul Niedermeyer
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Some have mentioned Consumer Reports' rating of "Not Acceptable" for the 360 in its April, 1969 issue; I found this pdf of the article at this site. Interestingly, vehicles weighing under 1,000 pounds (450 kg) were exempt from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards of the time. The 360 weighed in at just seven pounds (three kg) below this limit. Thus, no dual braking system, minimum bumper height, headrests, collapsible steering column, effective wipers and defroster or even flat instrument panel knobs. I seem to recall reading that at least one state tried to outlaw the sale and registration of this vehicle. Despite its reputation as a deathtrap, I'd still love to own one to tool around the neighborhood, even after reading about the detailed 1,200-mile break-in ritual described in the Consumer Reports article.
Just to show that any car, regardless of it's virtues (or lack thereof) will find a following, I invite you to take a look at this page from my website... http://mysubaru360.com/photos/ I can assure you that there's nothing like parking a 360 next to a Ferrari at a car show. Guess who draws the bigger crowd? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KzI6RgIiT4 Best, Steve