16 replies to this topic

[Bubs]

Hi there,

My name is Jake Perkins and I am fourteen years old. I am currently in the process of restoring a 1969 Subaru 360 Deluxe Sedan, which only has 16 miles, due to the fact that it never sold during its time. We are making great progress on the car, I am going to use it as my first car, and with the rising gas prices, I will be taking advantage of the 66 miles to the gallon on two cylinder, two stroke 356cc engine. The entire vehicle weighs 900 pounds.

(sorry if the info below seems to repeat, I just copied it from the introduction I made on another forum to save myself time)



http://i2.photobucke...06193600116.jpg

This was Subaru's first car, built in 1958 to about 1971. Ours is a 1969, they were imported into the US in 1968 to 1971. Under the bonnet is a two-cylinder, two-stroke 356cc engine. The vehicle only weighs in at 900 pounds and can fit in the back of a regular size pickup truck. The 360 came in a few different versions. We are restoring a Deluxe sedan, which was the base model. There is a pickup and van, which are forward-control(flat nose) and use the same engine. The engine gets 66 miles to a gallon of gas. There is a sport model, called the Young, and a...

I will just give you the wikipedia article that I contributed to. The picture in that article is one I took.
http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Subaru_360


Let me state at this time that it is my father and I restoring this car, I am only fourteen years old.


The entire gallery
http://photobucket.c...ubs360/?start=0

Page 6 is the first pictures, obviously page one is the most recent pictures. We are making great progress with it.

[Twowagons]

Welcome to the board!! Thats a great little Subaru you have there. Keep us updated as you make resto progress. It's nice to have a younger person on the board to keep us old geezers on our toes!! Again, welcome and good luck

[RenaissanceMan]

with only 16 miles on it?? OMG! that engine hasnt even broken in yet. If you restore that thing it will be worth a fortune. (in subaru value retrospect)

[NorthWet]

OMG!!!!

[1 Lucky Texan]

Hi there,

My name is Jake Perkins and I am fourteen years old. I am currently in the process of restoring a 1969 Subaru 360 Deluxe Sedan, which only has 16 miles, due to the fact that it never sold during its time. We are making great progress on the car, I am going to use it as my first car, and with the rising gas prices, I will be taking advantage of the 66 miles to the gallon on two cylinder, two stroke 356cc engine. The entire vehicle weighs 900 pounds.

(sorry if the info below seems to repeat, I just copied it from the introduction I made on another forum to save myself time)



http://i2.photobucke...06193600116.jpg

This was Subaru's first car, built in 1958 to about 1971. Ours is a 1969, they were imported into the US in 1968 to 1971. Under the bonnet is a two-cylinder, two-stroke 356cc engine. The vehicle only weighs in at 900 pounds and can fit in the back of a regular size pickup truck. The 360 came in a few different versions. We are restoring a Deluxe sedan, which was the base model. There is a pickup and van, which are forward-control(flat nose) and use the same engine. The engine gets 66 miles to a gallon of gas. There is a sport model, called the Young, and a...

I will just give you the wikipedia article that I contributed to. The picture in that article is one I took.
http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Subaru_360


Let me state at this time that it is my father and I restoring this car, I am only fourteen years old.


The entire gallery
http://photobucket.c...ubs360/?start=0

Page 6 is the first pictures, obviously page one is the most recent pictures. We are making great progress with it.

You REALLY need to contact Jamie at http://www.subiegal.com (she also works at www.subarugenuineparts.com) she will be ecstatic to hear about your project!
What a great car to start out with!

Carl

[Bubs]

Hi again,

I did just send an email to "Subie Gal" with the link to the photobucket account and a long text about the history of the paticular one we own.

Here is that history of what we know:

This car was never broken-in, with only the 16 miles it got before being shipped to a(unhappy?) Detroit dealer. The floorboards look brand new.Iit never sold, sat for two decades in Detroit, was vandalised, then the previous "first" owner trucked it from Detroit to Kendall Park, New Jersey. He says he has met Ed Parsil before. He seemed to have many different projects that he never has time to work on, as he has a Plymouth Superbird(Worth over $100,000 in good condition in some cases) rotting away in his garage being used as a parts shelf. The 360 gained quite a bit of surface rust, but luckily no rot-through.

We purchased that one and a 1968 parts car he had for $700.00, and after buying a new van to replace our Chevrolet Astro that died on the first trip, went and trucked them home, one at a time, on a 5/10 trailer.

We got the engine running after a few days, although the gas tank on ours needs to either be replaced or fixed by a professional. It is currently at a storage facility, hopefully awaiting a bodyshop by the end of the month. We had an upholstery professional give us an estimate of $2500.00 to not only reupholster the car in either vinyl or a cloth color of our choice, but we will be removing the hard top and having a custom made soft top made, keeping the hard back window in place. The body shop will be fixing the body and painting it an Eggshell White Pearl, for an original look with a small twist. The interior will be redone in black cloth to match the top. Our 360 is going to be a mostly stock with a few customisations to make it truely our own. I plan on using this as my first car for school and work, to take advantage of the great gas mileage in this time of rising fuel prices. I will need to purchase a car for our tough winters, since the 360, especially with a soft top would simply not work.

[Sweet82]

That car is just plain cool.

If it were me, I'd restore it to the original condition and keep it as a Sunday driver/show car.

It seems that with 16 documented miles you'd be spoiling a one-of-a-kind find by changing it or driving it.

Welcome to the board!
Just my .02
Glenn
82 SubaruHummer
84 GL Wagon
01 Forester

[SUBARU3]

NICE!! Glad to see the young Subaru lovers coming onboard! You are lucky to find that car with such low mileage!!!


Todd

[YellowSub]

That is going to be an awesome car!!! restore it, paint it, do the interior, BUT dont do the soft top conversion. It would be a shame to do something that drastic to a car that is already so unusual. keep posting pics please.

[Zefy]

that thing is gonna be sweet when its done... are you going to rebuild the engine because its been sitting so long???

a soft top is gonna be awesome!

good luck!

[SuBrat84]

RUST PRIMER. You said you're taking it to a body shop.. I assume you are having it sanded and painted. Navy Jelly or another top of the line RUST KILLER / RUST PREVENTER primer before you paint it please!!! Keep that thing from rusting out!!! It's gorgeous! Welcome to the board.

[Bubs]

The engine actually started right up after a few days, replaced the spark plugs and cleaned the carb. It runs at this point.

[1 Lucky Texan]

The engine actually started right up after a few days, replaced the spark plugs and cleaned the carb. It runs at this point.

I'd have thought a valve could be open and the cylinder/rings rusted in one cylinder. Maybe not. I'd do a compression/leakdown test and if the 2 cylinders were within - say - 10-15% of each other proceed with the restoration. It WOULD be a shame to get a bunch of bodywork done and then find out the engine has to come out or something - risking scratching/denting the new finish.

just a thought.

Carl

[waimaks]

I just found this thread... Yes yes Back from the dead I'm sorry.
But it was really interesting and I'd love to know what has become of it!
Anyone have any insight?
Looks like we lost bubs not long after he appeared..

[75subie]

he bought a running 360, and sold these 2. you can still follow there progress on the 360 message board.

[crazy D]

he bought a running 360, and sold these 2. you can still follow there progress on the 360 message board.

can you post a link jon? P.S ( i thought you said FULL refund. you dinged me for shipping on your bad:-\ )

[75subie]

http://subaru360club...topic.php?t=422