The late 1980s were a different time: Everyone was listening to songs sung by raisins, Berlin was still divided into two parts and Subaru had yet to be known for their rally-dominating Imprezas.
Instead, the Japanese carmaker produced some truly unique Rad-era cars like this wedge-shaped Alcyone…
Yes, please.
That is officially the strangest steering wheel I have ever seen.
I still remember the TV commercials for the XT.
Scene: old guy and his adult son, on a farm somewhere.
"Well, son, it's time to go buy a new Subaru."
Subaru canters off into the distance.
XT rolls up.
"I thought I told you to buy a Subaru."
"I did."
Edit: Amazing how close my fuzzy 40 year old memory was
CyberEric said:That is officially the strangest steering wheel I have ever seen.
Wait till you see it move up and down with the entire cluster.
Appleseed said:CyberEric said:That is officially the strangest steering wheel I have ever seen.
Wait till you see it move up and down with the entire cluster.
Ha ha ha! Welcome to the 1980s where weird is good.
The XT still had the handbrake on the FRONT wheels, too. It was strong enough that you didn't need to use the foot brake in normal traffic.
Just don't ask about the trials and tribulations involved with removing and installing a front axleshaft.
Also, note that the vent in the hood is not a WRX style intercooler grille. The EA82T engine was not intercooled. If it was the same spec as US then it made less power than the EJ18 from a base model '93 Impreza, too, with the same displacement. 110 grangly horsepower, up from 88 for a non turbo car.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Weird is/was good. More weird these days wouldn’t suck, either.
I had an XT6, did they all get the shift hold button? The "shift hold" feature on the auto box really does hold a shift. When pressed it will down-shift very early and up-shift very late all by itself.
I once found a Prince cassette and a rare battery pack for a Sega Nomad handheld video game system in a US market XT6 at the junkyard once, and in my head, that made perfect sense. A quirky, cool car for quirky, cool individuals.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
That's too cool. And yeah, totally checks out.
Tony Sestito said:I once found a Prince cassette and a rare battery pack for a Sega Nomad handheld video game system in a US market XT6 at the junkyard once, and in my head, that made perfect sense. A quirky, cool car for quirky, cool individuals.
Bro this is absolutely quest-starter material. You need to follow up on this because there's an alien race that's getting ravaged by space pirates or a princess with a curse or something that requires a hero.
God these things are cool. Shaved door handles, digital Vacuum LCD gauges, a manual pistol grip shifter that sometimes had a button for 4WD activation when you wanted.
But damn were the engines E36 M3ty. Hot turbocharging killed them all through pre-detonation, and fan groups I'm apart of say a stock engine can make it 80-100,000 miles before needing a rebuild; nearly all fan engines are either swapping to later, more reliable plants or are going with custom cooling setups, most electing for the swaps from modern daily drivers instead of trying to hop up an engine who's parts have been out of production for 30 years. And that's not even getting into rust issues...
So much want... I loved the XT when it was new. I might still have the deal brochure that I took when my parents were buying my mothers 1985 GL wagon (before it had any model name). If only I had more room...
FWIW, the selling dealer has a few other interesting JDM cars for sale - especially if you want a Kei truck..:
INVENTORY | Japan Car FL
JG Pasterjak said:Tony Sestito said:I once found a Prince cassette and a rare battery pack for a Sega Nomad handheld video game system in a US market XT6 at the junkyard once, and in my head, that made perfect sense. A quirky, cool car for quirky, cool individuals.
Bro this is absolutely quest-starter material. You need to follow up on this because there's an alien race that's getting ravaged by space pirates or a princess with a curse or something that requires a hero.
While I don't know where that Prince: The Hits cassette is right now, I DO know where that battery pack is; it's attached to my Sega Nomad, of course!
I think the "reward" of having a Sega Nomad with the battery pack intact might be a victory in itself. Fastest possible way to completely drain 6 AA batteries! If I do get attacked by aliens/orcs/etc, you'll know why.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
You remind me of a guy named Woochunk on Twitch with that setup, and I'm here for it. =)
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Dang. It’s like visiting Media Play back in the day.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Still a work in progress, but any time I am feeling sad or nostalgic, I just open these closet doors and stare into the abyss for a bit. I always feel better. Might have to start another thread about my "game room build".
There is one locally that has been rusting into a side yard for as long as I can remember. Every year, it sits a little lower and loses a bit more from the bottom of the rockers.
In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :
Returing to the earth from which it came.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Appleseed said:CyberEric said:That is officially the strangest steering wheel I have ever seen.
Wait till you see it move up and down with the entire cluster.
Ha ha ha! Welcome to the 1980s where weird is good.
The XT still had the handbrake on the FRONT wheels, too. It was strong enough that you didn't need to use the foot brake in normal traffic.
Just don't ask about the trials and tribulations involved with removing and installing a front axleshaft.
Also, note that the vent in the hood is not a WRX style intercooler grille. The EA82T engine was not intercooled. If it was the same spec as US then it made less power than the EJ18 from a base model '93 Impreza, too, with the same displacement. 110 grangly horsepower, up from 88 for a non turbo car.
I had a 1986 Subaru wagon. The spare was on top of the engine, of course. It had so much power that when I got on the interstate I'd just floor the throttle and leave it there. On the mountain passes, I'd be watching my mirrors for big rigs. It had a taste of the weird dashboard design, just watered down a bit from the XT.
IIRC the four wheel handbrakes were for the hill holder setup, so you could easily start on a hill. I think that's what you meant about not needing the foot brake.
The wagon had the same halfshafts on all four corners, which made it really easy to get parts.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
The handbrake only went to the front, not all four wheels. Rear brakes were the simplest drums in the world.
The hill holder was a neat line lock operated by a cable that came off of the clutch fork.
Top speed on my GL wagon was 87. In fourth. Slowed down in 5th...
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