A strange tale, this one. Back in the 70s and early 80s it was deeply inadvisable, for fairly obvious reasons, for a presidential hopeful to be seen running around in a Japanese car.
And yet Ronald Reagan really did run around in a cheeky little Subaru pick-up. Known as the Brat in the States (that's the Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter, to pick apart the cute if contrived acronym) and the less cheeky '284' in the UK, the Subaru ute ended up in Reagan's stable almost by accident.
Jalopnik
, we learn that Richard Allen, an expert on Japan who served as Reagan's National Security Advisor for a short time, got the car for Reagan's Californian ranch having found out of some Brats being tested-to-death in the US desert. So he suggested the presidential hopeful could use one. The only condition was that Reagan had to report on the car's performance every six months.
This came to a stop in 1980. At a time when members of Congress were putting Japanese cars on the steps of the Capitol and smashing them with sledgehammers, it was obviously not sensible for a presidential candidate to be seen chuntering around in a Japanese pick-up truck. Thus, while you'll see plenty of publicity shots of Ronnie doing ranch-type things, the little Scooby will never be involved.
Today, the Rancho del Cielo is owned by the Young America's Foundation, a conservative student organization that's committed to 'preserving the altar of Reaganism' (which sounds vaguely creepy to us). It has bought back the Brat, restored it to its former glory, and the red pick-up now spends its days at what is effectively a museum of memorabilia for the departed president.