Thursday 19th January 2012

Did you know Reagan was a Subaru test driver?

How the 40th US president ended up testing cars (well, a car) for Subaru

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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.

Reading 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.

We told you it was a strange tale. You can read the full story over on US blog site and purveyors of ever-quirky gems Jalopnik...

[Paper Lawyer]

"we learn that Richard Allen, an expert on Japan expert who served as Reagan's National Security Advisor for a short time"

Say what? An expert on experts?

[davepoth]

How hard is it to press copy and paste?

[Riggers]

Paper Lawyer said:

"we learn that Richard Allen, an expert on Japan expert who served as Reagan's National Security Advisor for a short time"

Say what? An expert on experts?

Dammit.

[uncle tez]

Looks like someones put an el camino on a boil wash

[Veeayt]

davepoth said:

How hard is it to press copy and paste?

+1

[Hugo a Gogo]

I love those things

in the states they had two backward-facing seats bolted in the pickup bed, so it was classed as a car to avoid import tax on commercials

[E-B]

We had a couple of those little 4x4 pick ups on the estate i worked on when i was a student. One was a few years old by then and the other brand new, being the assistant engineer i got to run it in as the farm hands were deemed too heavy handed to care.

Great fun was had bombing around 6500 acres with only a couple of public roads crossing the estate.

I've always fancied one since - with a turbo lump of course!!

[don logan]

I thought this was going to be about John Thaw!:-)

[EDLT]

Some Brats are more American than others:

[Riggers]

^ My Name Is Earl, right?

[Scooby_S2K]

Nice to see some other fans of the humble Subaru MV!

I know it's strange, but I absolutely loved these when I was a kid. I even had the Tamiya remote controlled car. My dream car would have been one of these with a lift kit - something like Marty's Hi-Lux in Back to the Future!

Never did get one though. I looked for one as a beater about 10 years ago, but the good ones fetched surprisingly high prices as they were always the Welsh Farmers favourite.

[marshall100]

I've always fancied one of these, I suspect they are more tank like than toyota's finest Hilux. I reckon you could easily get a decent quad in the pick up bed and it'd go anywhere. I've seen one of these in Hayle in Cornwall. It's an absolutely minging heap, but it's still going.

[EDLT]

Riggers said:

^ My Name Is Earl, right?

[Madscanner]

"a strange tale"?

Surely, one of the least strange aspects of President Ray-gun's life...

[thinfourth2]

" some Brats being tested-to-death in the US desert."

They are probably still going

[spoodler]

Bought mine to negotiate our lane in winter and it's turned out to be far more car than truck. It's also remarkably good off road and can carry almost as much as my old US import Ranger. It managed a replacement 4.2 Jag' engine and 'box for the Austin rod - if anything it drove better than usual due to the weight in the back.
A quick search on MVBrumbyBRAT will show a dedicated following for these things and they are still not expensive. You might have to go to OZ if you want a first gen' like Ronnie's tho' as they are all but extinct over here...

Edited by spoodler on Thursday 19th January 13:23

[Scooby_S2K]

That looks great condition - they are often rotters. One of the last on a L plate too.

I want one all over again!

[Dodgey_Rog]

Wow, that brought back some memories of my childhood. Those things were amazing offroad!

I saw one of these in Cape Code in the summer last year;



It was an absolute minter!

[E-B]

marshall100 said:

I've always fancied one of these, I suspect they are more tank like than toyota's finest Hilux. I reckon you could easily get a decent quad in the pick up bed and it'd go anywhere. I've seen one of these in Hayle in Cornwall. It's an absolutely minging heap, but it's still going.

might go and have a nose around one evening..... See if they fancy selling.

[Hugo a Gogo]

Dodgey_Rog said:

Wow, that brought back some memories of my childhood. Those things were amazing offroad!

I saw one of these in Cape Code in the summer last year;



It was an absolute minter!

I would take that big sign off the roof, people would keep loading shopping trolleys into the back