Riddle me this, I got some dashes from a fellow member from some early 80's GL subarus (ea81) and the clocks are different colors, which is fine I didn't know they came in different colors.

No big deal you might say, but since the first day of owning my 81 wagon I have always wondered why the heck the dash being beautifully rendered in red, has a green clock?

One dash has green clock numbers like my 81 GL wagon and every other GL dash I have played with while the other dash has an orangish clock.  In addition to the orange clock numbers the fuel gauge reads 0 for empty and 1 for full, the oil pressure gauge reads 2 4 6 instead of 0 25 50 75.  Speedo has both mph and kph so i don't think it's Canadian or anything.

My 86 wagon had a orange digi dash with matching clock, and my brothers 87 had the green digital dash and matching clock, maybe they figured out that they should match by the mid 80;s or digital clocks came in your favorite color as long as that was green in the early 80's, I don't know, just something that has bugged me.

For one thing I am going to swap clocks to the (in my humble opinion) matching orange clock and live the fantasy.

Pictures of dashes are here for reference.

https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/172183-80-84-parts-to-sell/?do=findComment&comment=1432890

Yep, 85-87 EA82s had amber lighting, and '87.5+ had green. Since the EA81 continued in the Brat and 3-door hatch through '87 here in the US (and a lot later in other markets), it's possible the changeover was at the same time in EA81s, and yours doesn't have an original clock (notorious for cracking solder joints, so it's not uncommon to not have the original).

 

It's been a long time since I had a battery in my Brat ('84), but I thought it was amber....

Good point, I am the third owner after 16 years it's had plenty of life before it was mine.

That would be pretty funny if I replace a perfectly working non original clock with a period correct clock that is going to fail in a couple weeks.

I have a 83 dash I will have to see what color that one is.

My 1983 GL Wagon Base model nothing fancy has a green clock. And orange dash lights but white gauges with no illumination. 

We got analogue clocks in the wagon and utes, but from memory my 84 sedan was orange digital

So I put the orange clock in and it's been working perfectly so far, but I think I know why they went to the green clock, it is almost impossible to read when it's sunny out, the orange numbers just completely wash out.  You either have to shade it with your hand or head in a different direction.

Update, orange clock is working perfectly after more than a year