Used Car Face-Off: International Trucklets of the '80s

"Amoore100" (amoore100) 03/18/2016 at 21:09 • Filed to: Used Car Face-Off, Volkswagen, Subaru, Dodge

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For the first time yet on Used Car Face-Off, we have three cars from completely different nationalities. Despite their totally different lineages, these three have similarities more than skin deep. Besides all being mini-pickups, they are all based on small coupes and hatches and two of the three are FWD. Let’s see which of these fills your niche as a tiny utility vehicle. Here are the options:

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The only AWD vehicle of our group, the humble little Subaru Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter was based on the Subaru Leone and had a set of jumpseats in the rear bed to classify it as a passenger vehicle. This particular example is spectacularly clean and has a stick! No word on mileage, but is $5k a bit rich for a twenty three year old mini truck, even if it is a BRAT?

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This little Rabbit has quite some surface patina, although according to the seller this is a positive quality. Besides the questionable appearance, though, this little Golf truck has a lot going for it, with a five speed backing its petrol powerplant and a long list of maintenance over its 144K mile lifespan. Will this tatty but perfectly maintained ute be your perfect daily beater?

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This little L-body coupe utility was never meant to sell in large numbers and it didn’t: less than 45000 were sold under both the Dodge and Plymouth nameplates before the car was dropped. Still, it seems to be a charming little thing, and this example is perfectly mint despite a whopping 207K miles (which the odo can’t even show!) Does the stick and FWD combo of this pristine example of 80's American (ahem, French) engineering appeal to you the most?

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Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Amoore100 03/18/2016 at 21:18

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The BRAT is the only correct answer, because they are amazing.

Berang > Amoore100 03/18/2016 at 21:26

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While the brat is cool - when was the last time you saw a rampage? Let alone a nice one? I vote rampage.

Jonee > Amoore100 03/18/2016 at 21:27

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I voted Rampage even though I know it’s the worst one. They’re all a little overpriced, but clean Brats are getting up there.

Slant6 > Berang 03/18/2016 at 21:33

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Saw an ex-US forest service for sale on surplus a while ago. I guess it was in surplus for a long time before they got rid of it.

Birddog > Amoore100 03/18/2016 at 21:33

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Rampage here!

“American (ahem, French) engineering”

In reality we should call it Franco-American eh?

Funny thing about that. The Simca used a Torsion Bar front suspension but the Chrysler L body used MacPherson Struts. Making the Simca Horizon more Chrysler than the actual Chrysler..

shop-teacher > Amoore100 03/18/2016 at 22:01

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The BRAT! Look at those seats!!!

JDMatt > Amoore100 03/18/2016 at 22:28

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$4500 seems a bit high for all 3 trucks. They must be priced over $4000 because “they don’t make ‘em like they used too”

Amoore100 > JDMatt 03/19/2016 at 01:02

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Agreed, but then again I was astounded to see that Ridgelines of any trim, year, and condition are above $7K on the used car market, with few exceptions. I discovered that on doing this Used Car Face-Off , so I guess car-based pickups are just generally high in perceived value.

Amoore100 > shop-teacher 03/19/2016 at 01:03

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“Never mind safety, it’s now a passenger car !” - Subaru Execs in the early ‘80s

Amoore100 > Birddog 03/19/2016 at 01:09

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Yeah, Franco American works but I decided to put the French in parenthesis since plenty was changed as they made it here, as you point out in the suspension bits, as well as the fact that Iacocca vehemently defended that plenty of it was American made (the electrics, the door panels, the engine, etc.)

Amoore100 > Jonee 03/19/2016 at 01:14

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Yeah, all the ones that I found were either under $3K and rusted to hell, or $5K and mint, so I went with the latter. Strange how there were none in the $4K region where the Rabbit and Rampage are.

Amoore100 > Slant6 03/19/2016 at 01:17

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How would the US Forest Service even use a Rampage? It seems like a bit of a faff to have a fleet of them for rural utility purposes if you ask me.

Amoore100 > Berang 03/19/2016 at 01:21

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I will be honest-I had no idea such a thing as the Rampage existed until I got this excellent HW casting during Christmastime:

(Pic from HWCollectorsNews.com)

Slant6 > Amoore100 03/19/2016 at 01:21

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Well USFS also does law enforcement and facility maintenance within their territories, so it could have been a useful patrol vehicle that could take in an injured animal or something.