Down On The Mile High Street: Subaru GL Hatchback Coupe
Denver being the Land of Subarus, I see plenty of 20-year-old GLs, Loyales, and whatever else the marketing wizards at Fuji Heavy Industries decided to call the Leone over here. What I don’t see often is examples of the hatchback coupe version of the Leone, so I did a double-take when this car caught my eye today.
Denver’s getting some snow now, which means I was able to photograph this car in its natural setting.
I don’t have the obsessive Subie knowledge necessary to pin down the exact year of this sporty four-wheel-drive coupe, but I believe Subaru went to the Loyale name by 1990 and the Libby Light indicates that this car— or, at any rate, the silver car that donated the hatch— is an ’86 or newer model. Let’s say it’s a 1988 until one of you can make a better guess!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think this particular example is a 2wd model. The 4wd models had a higher stance than the 2wd drives, but it's hard to tell from the picture. My dad had an 88 4wd GL Hatchback and a 92 FWD Loyale. His hatchback, however, was the other body style. I have never been able to figure out why Subaru offered two different GL hatchback simultaneously. If you don't know what I mean, do a google image search for Subaru GL Hatchback. The whole first row will should be white hatchbacks identical to my dad's, though mostly older ones. Dad loved that car, although my mother loathed it. It was white, blue interior, stick shift with push button 4wd. Our driveway when we first bought it was at a roughly 45 degree angle, and it would (apparently) push right up the driveway in the snow. I never understood why he sold it. When I was looking at cars, he wished he had kept it for me. I'd have driven it, gladly. The Loyale was much less interesting. I guess without the 4wd it was truly nothing but an econobox. I remember that one much better, though, since we got it when I was about 4 as opposed to the 88 which we got when I was a year old.
Where’s this exact location