Tim Chadwick wishes he had a bigger shed when he discovers a rare early ’80s pillar-less Subaru coupe that is being sold off from a private collection.

Mr C — have you seen that ol’ school Subie at the back of the car sales yard on Devon Street?” — a question asked of me by a former student one Saturday. At the time, he was showing me his latest Subaru Impreza. No, I had not — so the once expert paper dart thrower, now a street-wise Subaru driver, encouraged me to venture to the rear of Wade Cars Ltd on New Plymouth’s Devon Street for a close gander at the car that had excited the aforementioned young Subaru enthusiast.

There before me was an old 1983 Subaru coupe, the likes of which I had only seen in old overseas-produced rallying magazines. Being from Taranaki, I am well aware that Subaru vehicles were assembled at Waitara in North Taranaki, and most of the older models are familiar to me. However, the bright red pillar-less coupe before me was something rare in New Zealand. I’ve seen my share of early wedge-shaped Subaru Vortex coupes and the later equally collectable Giugiaro-designed SVX coupe, but never an ’83 coupe based on the Leone/Chaser platform outside the confines of a book.

I shoulder-tapped Bob Wade, who was selling the old Subaru from his yard, and he informed me that it was a one elderly owner example, had low kilometres for its age and had spent many of its recent years in his own private collection due to its rarity and good all-round condition, but that he was now rationalising some of his collection and the Subaru had to be moved on.
Frank Oscar Helen and Leone

Our featured rare Subaru 1800 GLF coupe is from the second generation of Leone models which were launched in Japan in 1979. By the end of 1980 they had been released in Europe, the US and most other countries in the world.

Fuji Heavy Industries, the Subaru brand owner and constructor, was starting the ’80s with a major marketing onslaught under company president, Sadamichi Sasaki, the results of which we see today on New Zealand roads and in our domestic rally championships.

Fuji Heavy Industries grew from the remnants of the Nakajima Aircraft Company, which was disbanded by the Allies after World War II. Nakajima had produced a whole range of World War II aircraft for the Japanese military, which my generation knew well as plastic aeroplane kit-sets produced by Airfix and others back in the ’60s and ’70s — planes with names such as Nakajima ‘Frank’ KI84, ‘Oscar’ KI43 Hayabusa and ‘Helen’ KI49 Donryu. Frank, Oscar, Helen, Jill, and Kate are a far cry from a 1983s Leone!

According to Bob Wade, a few of the Subaru coupes from this model era were sent out to New Zealand from Japan for appraisal and possible assembly at Waitara, where the saloon cars were rolling off the production lines. The 1800 GLF coupes were portioned off to various franchise holders around the country.

On the Road

After talking with Bob Wade about the rare coupe, he threw me the keys and sent me out for a country drive in the car. Being a warm day I made full use of powering down the electrically operated windows, opting for the pillar-less look as I adjusted my seating and took in the wonderfully kitsch late ’70s-style Japanese plastic dash.

My only disappointment was in finding that the Subie was an automatic, as I’ve driven some other Subarus with manual transmission, and they can be quite fun with their sporty boxer engine note being worked through the gears.

Upon starting the old coupe a noisy tappet was audible, something Bob Wade assuredly told me was fixable at some stage.

Back in 1983 the Toyota Corolla, often used as the world-wide benchmark Japanese car due its popularity, was mainly being produced in the 1300-1600cc range (apart from only three top end 1800cc models). This shows how sporty the coupe’s 1800cc boxer engine was, right up there with other four-cylinder Japanese makes in engine size. New turbocharged Japanese four-cylinder cars of the early ’80s, such as the Nissan Bluebird 1800 SSS Turbo, were of course raising the power stakes, even if the handling wasn’t yet ready to match the new found power!

Hitachi-Stromberg

Out on the highway the Subaru breathed freely through its Hitachi-Stromberg downdraught twin-barrel carburettor, and despite being an automatic it had plenty of get up and go and would probably make a great boxer sound with a sports exhaust system fitted if an owner so wished.

This coupe has been well maintained and valet-groomed throughout its life and, to look at, the interior is fairly close to new. On the exterior some minor dings and blemishes can be spotted upon close inspection, but these are not at all serious and didn’t detract from my sporty drive on the highway and then over some undulating Taranaki country roads.

If I hadn’t already purchased a classic ’70s Viva as my daily run-around, this Subaru would sorely tempt me. It is now unique, hasn’t been wrecked by boy-racers and is quite possibly among the few of these that may now be left in the world, owing to the Japanese having sent many of their’ 80s cars to the crusher long ago.

Some may well still exist in parts of Europe and North America, but I am only presuming, as I do not know how many of the Leone coupes went Stateside. Rarer still are the GTS turbocharged 4WD versions of this model, but I have never seen one in New Zealand thus far, and one Subaru expert I spoke to seemed to think that most of the turbocharged 1800cc Subarus of this generation were in saloon/sedan configuration and that turbo Leone coupes were rare, even in Japan.

However, I was quite happy to be getting about the countryside below Mt Taranaki in this normally aspirated coupe, and didn’t feel any need to fantasise or hanker after a turbocharger, or even four wheel drive, as I wasn’t anywhere near snow, sleet or sand.

The 1781cc boxer engine allied to the three-ratio automatic gave the car peppy, albeit not breathtaking performance all-round on the hilly section of my morning’s journeying from Wade Cars Ltd.

Upon my return, Bob Wade and I shot the breeze about old Subaru Leones of the ’80s and how few of them now exist, whether Waitara assembled or imported fully built up like our featured test car.

To young Kiwi car enthusiasts these are now genuine old school cars and, hopefully, they will now be respected, preserved and not vandalised. Apart from my old English Riley, I was a ‘Mitsi-turbo’ boy back in the ’80s, and so my drive in the Subaru was a great experience for finding out how the boxer-brigade (outside of Porsche, Ferrari and VW) got around in sporty style back then.

As for the Subaru Leone model from Fuji Heavy Industries of Tokyo, it was phased out after one more generation of Leone, before being replaced by the Legacy model (the Loyale in Chile and North America). Today, outside of rescued old rally cars, few useable Leone-era Subarus still exist.

The rare 1800 Subaru coupe at the back of Bob Wade’s car lot is now a good everyday classic for the Subie fan and, as far as I’m concerned, a genuine Japanese classic.

1983 Subaru GLF 1800 Coupe – Specifications

Engine: 1781cc, flat four-cylinder
Max power: 81kW at 6000rpm
C/R: 9.5:1
Fuel system: Hitachi-Stromberg two-barrel downdraught
Transmission: Three-speed automatic
Body: Hard top — pillarless two-door

Dimensions:
Wheelbase: 2450mm
Length: 4180mm
Width: 1620mm
Height: 1380mm
Weight: 980kg

Performance:
Max speed: 180kph (112mph)

Words and Photos: Tim Chadwick

This article is from Classic Car issue 224. Click here to check it out.