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History of the "Modified Subaru"


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Is there a person, place or club that got the "Modified Subaru" going?

 

We recently traced the history of USMB. We know the history of the board...

 

Question; What is the history of the modified Old Generation Subaru?

Is there a founding father of the modified Subaru?

What I mean is, who was the first to lift a Subie.

What were the first mods people did?

Do we know the evolution of the Monster Subie?

 

What is the history of the Off-road Subaru?

 

Inquiring minds want to know!

Glenn

82 Subaru

01 Forester

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It's my opinion that people everywhere have been modifying them ever since Subaru came out with four wheel drive. The Internet has simply connected some of the people doing it and allowed us to share information. When I got my first Sube and took it offroad, I said hmmm...what if I put some gnarly tires on it and lifted it for some ground clearance. One check of the Internet and I quickly found that the Aussis had been doing the same thing for ages. And then I found BYB Bret selling lift kits. Much lobbying and begging by me and others and some waiting and we finally had mass produced lift kits shipped to the US. Things just took off from there. But before all this there are stories of guys lifting and big-tiring Subarus even back in the 1970's. Examples: A VW mechanic working in the repair shop at Bow Wow in Lynnwood said that in 1978 or so he had big tires and a suspension lift on his Gen1 wagon and used it for "billy-goating around in the mountains." And then there was that mechanic at Superior Service in Burien, WA... he put SuperSwampers on his unlifted Hatchback. Wonder what ever happened to that car...it had a Weber, Justy seats & steering wheel and a cut down Brat rollbar among it's mods. SubyBeast built his own liftkit and ran big treads on 15" donut rims with no knowledge of others doing the same. I'm sure there must be hundreds of guys around the world who built offroad Subarus but didn't even know they were members of a cult.

Didn't Fred Flintstone drive a Subaru? Or was his 2wd and Wilma had to get out and push?

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So speaking of dinosaurs:rolleyes:

When did that old Mudrat guy start his "Clarking" expeditions in Oregon? And how about Todd and the Northern Aliance crew, when did they start 'wheelin old Subarus? What about Larry Owens? Did he offroad his Subarus down there in New Mexico? What do the original Subaru engineers think of all this offroad stuff? When did Subaru Stomper toys come out?

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What do the original Subaru engineers think of all this offroad stuff? When did Subaru Stomper toys come out?

I bet some dudes who worked with large Fuji Heavy Ind. earth moving equipment put big tires on their 4WD subarus just to get to work! :)

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And then there was that mechanic at Superior Service in Burien, WA... he put SuperSwampers on his unlifted Hatchback. Wonder what ever happened to that car...it had a Weber, Justy seats & steering wheel and a cut down Brat rollbar among it's mods.

 

It's lifted now. I still can't get him to offroad with us ever. I've given up asking. . . He is who inspired me to get a hatch and modify it. Now he's way behind me.

 

And how about Todd and the Northern Aliance crew, when did they start 'wheelin old Subarus?

 

He started in the mid 90's I think. I went thru Evans Creek for my first time with him and his family in '98. Way before I'd ever heard of the BYB's or the USMB or the internet period.

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I started the whole playing around in Soobies back in early 95, I had a beat up old 89 Justy, 2wd, carb'd. Found it in the back of the wrecking yard that my buddies owned, got it to run, and rallye'd the heck out of it in the yard, and through the fields of Tennessee. Thats where I started. Then in 97 I got my 83 GL Hardtop, found out they only made em in 2wd (cept for the turbos), then started aquiring parts to turn it into a 4wd, went to basic, the car got crushed while I was gone. Came back from basic and in the spring of 98 got the 82 Brat, that July had a 2" lift and 195/90R13 with mud/snow terrains on them. It's been a series of evolutions since then.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hmm, Crazy island way down south...You must mean TASMANIA

In Australia we have more Subarus than any other country (per head of population) and Tasmania has about twice as many as the rest of Oz.

We are the Pacific NW of the southern hemisphere. They are everywhere.

I think there are more hardcore coversions and modifications done in the US due to our Fun Nazi vehicle regs here in Oz, I would love to get into some of the frame rail and H6 conversions I have seen on USMB but the vehicle rego people would laugh hysterically at me if I tried to pass one.

I know of three lifted series 1 Brumbys (Brats), one of them was lifted when new in 1980 when the current owner bought it, it will still go anywhere with is second EA81 in it.

Here is mine....

151177836oChJZM_ph.jpg

Cheers Matt

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