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A Friend of Mine


Guest UltimateRX
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Guest UltimateRX

A friend of mine graduated from Western Washington University in 1986, he did his senior project with Dr. Seal. The mascot of the school are Vikings, and Dr Seal is reknown for his Viking cars. In 1986 the senior project involved an endurance car, the car was powered by an EA82T, here is the car,

Dennis1.jpg

The car is seen here with the head of research and development for Subaru in California. While at the R&D center for Subaru, he took a few picture of some interesting cars. This is a hatchback, not much said about it.

Dennis2.jpg

This is a picture of BART #1, the hood scoop is just sitting there, engineers got to have fun, remember it was 1986.

Dennis3.jpg

This was an experimental car that Subaru was testing, if you look at the front, it says, SUBARU X100

Dennis4.jpg

And this is the only factory turbo hatchback, note the Washington plates

Dennis5.jpg

At the time Dr. Seal was working on a prototype engine for Subaru, it was a 2 liter quad cam (two cams per side), uummm, I wonder what engine that turned out to be?? :lol: The EJ20T?? Could it be that the EJ20T was desiged in the USA at Western Washington University?? I have writen Dr Seal an e-mail, waiting his reply.

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Guest OH Noah

Woah!!

 

That first Hatchback looks ALOT like the one that Jackie Chan drove in "Cannonball Run" (with the window tint and the fact that it has the corner lights of a pre-'82 model). It almost seems like the one in the movie had round headlights though (like a 4wd STD model).

 

Does the Hatchback in the last picture have a spoiler on the rear??

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Check out the rag top sun roof on the Turbo Hatchback. I kinda like that.

 

Yep, that sure looks like a spoiler to me too.

 

Note the styling polyester bell bottoms also.

 

Qman

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Guest NV  Zeno

Stylin' polyester bell bottoms? in 1986? :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

That was stylin' in the '70's, as I remember it...(at least that's when I wore them):rollin:

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Guest Turbone

NVZ, you gotta remember, thier Engineers:lol:

I picked up on the same stuff Qman. Seems to have that Subaru rust spot on the rear left corner also.

Rob

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Guest Mike W

Just curious how we know that was a factory turbo Hatchback? Was that the vehicle the quad cam prototype was being tested in? Interesting seeing a Hatch wearing a rag top and spoiler. Was it so fast it needed the spoiler? Looks to have an air dam on the front. Wonder if they messing with aerodynamics too? Wonder what happened to all the test data. You got any more info on that endurance car?

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Guest OH Noah

I'm with Mike. It seems kinda odd that a '82(?) Hatchback would have a turbo (guessing it's an '82 because the amber front corner lenses look bumpy, and it's a GL.), but I suppose if it's only a prototype...

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Guest rguyver

They would have had the turbo motor in prototype years before it was in production cars so I think its possible , some of us have put them in older cars ! I really! really! really ! want the Jackie Chan hatch I've wondered what happened to it after the show and that looks exactly like it! ware is it now ? hope it didn't get crushed ! wanted to do a hatch just like that !

 

quote " Ah super computer " "Secret weapon"

 

loved the sound the car made sounded like it was all turbo . I'm not crazy realy !!!

 

if you look at the dash it has funny lines like it is higher on the passenger side like the movie ?

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Guest UltimateRX

The Hatch is a factory turbo because the people at the Subaru R&D site told my friend that was what it was. Yes, that is a spoiler on the back and a rag top sun roof. Now that you mention it, I believe my friend did say that he first hatch was the one used in Cannon Ball Run. I know where the Viking prototype car is, it is at Western Washington University, as for the others, I don't know. Since most of them were non-DOT approved cars, they either are in a museum or have gone to the crusher. I wonder if Subaru still has the R&D site in California. No, the quad cam was not in the prototype shown, I don't think that they ever had it in one of the Viking cars. As soon as I get an e-mail conversation going with Dr Seal, I'll be able to get more info.

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Guest SubeWitSubs

i saw a coupld of the viking cars that they made up at western a couple months ago when i toured the campus. the facility they have there is amazing. they showed me this mini V8 that they made themselves and used for racing some kind of small cart. i can't wait to go to western for college since the auto program there is the main reason i'm goin. eh, one more year of high school and i'm there.

 

Andrew

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Guest UltimateRX

Well, in Japan, the Legacy got the EJ20G(T), and my friend did say the engine was a quad cam (dohc), the Legacy engine we have here are dual cams (sohc), both have 16 valves. My friend is going to contact Dr Seal, and we might go up to his place on a Staurday. So, I'll be bringing my digital camera for sure.

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Guest UltimateRX

The race was called 3 flags, it was from the Canadian borber to the Mexican border. the car was built to demonstrate that a perfomance car can get good gas mileage too. The race was run in 1986, they stopped off at the Subaru R&D site on the way down to the border.

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