Posted Sunday, January 7, 2024 at 8:29pm
The Chevrolet El Camino and Ford Ranchero were the first vehicles to populate a segment of the auto world known loosely as the “coupe utility.” As their popularity grew in the 1960s and ’70s and other compact pickup trucks began to enter the U.S. market, Subaru decided to throw its BRAT, er, hat, into the ring. The Japanese automaker took its Leone station wagon, chopped off the back of it, fitted it with a pickup truck bed, and created the very first Subaru pickup truck, which became known in America as the BRAT.
Since 1978, Subaru has made precisely two trucks (if you want to call them that): the BRAT and the Baja. Both Subaru trucks offered an eclectic and polarizing mix of features and fun from a formula that was 50 percent car, 50 percent truck, and 100 percent memorable.
