1979 Subaru DL Review - Subarus Used To Be Better!
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- Опубліковано 18 сер 2020
- My thoughts on the 1979 Subaru DL with the 1.6L flat four engine and 4 speed manual transmission!
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#Subaru #SubaruDL #SubaruUSA - Авто та транспорт
After 43 years of Subaru ownership (15 cars) the ONLY one that rusted out was the '78 DL, so I"ve had the opposite experience.
Have never had a breakdown and have never had a repair other than wiper blades, batteries, brakes and oil/filter changes. In 43 years.
They hold up well as long as they're not around salt. Growing up in Northern Ohio, my parents had a 1980 DL. It went to the junkyard in 92 after the body broke in two from rust. Great car, but it just couldn't handle the salt even though it was rustproofed by Ziebart when new. I bet if the body wouldn't have rusted away it would be still going to this day.
yeah...old cars have some special charm totally lost in todays cars, great video
My first car. Learning to drive in NW Montana, this was the perfect little ride. Always made it up to the mountain for skiing. It would even fit into the trails that were cut into the woods made by 4 wheelers (quads). It was a little adventure machine.
The first Subaru I ever sat in as an 11 year old kid. I am now on my 5th Subaru ☺️
I had a GL that I drove from 83 to 89. Compared to the DL, the GL was fully loaded. The best car I ever owned.
My uncle bought a dL I believe it was a seventy-nine or eighty... It had a liow roof and a 5-speed and was the same color brown. Also he also bought my grandmother a gl a taller roof in an automatic transmission. Also up in North Eastern Washington in the early 80s this station wagon version that was used for our US Mail route by a contractor because it was the only thing that could go down to snowy roads all winter long. Thanks for the great review and you're right those are excellent little cars if you can find one definitely drive it
Love them! My aunt had an 80s Subaru and she said it’s the best used car she ever had
Love it , I got one from my cousin a 79 Gl who only used it in the snow from 79 til 85 and kept it in a heated garage .when I got it with 40 thousand and it was cherry , white with plaid blue interior ,optioned up so nice. They are so cool could get off road with my girl hood times..rolled it
This review brings back fond memories of my 79 DL. I was living in Lake Tahoe at the time and it was absolutely the best vehicle to drive in that environment. Mine was bright red with that awesome red on black plaid interior. The DL came equipped with a 5 speed manual transmission and was a blast to drive! Subarus are still great cars, but like most other manufacturers, their cars have become too complicated. They have lost the basic, honest mechanical soul they once had. I miss my subie! May be time to get another. Perhaps a Crosstek. 🤔
I owned one and it was trash.
Wow the timing on this video! A while back I missed out on the opportunity to buy one of these and have been kicking myself since- pretty sweet to see a video on one!!
side note: I am still looking for one
Really the only Subaru's I can tolerate, and actually love! The Brumby's (BRAT), Leone, that quirky 2 door coupe from the 90s and pretty much all Subaru's pre 1995 are the only the reason I have any respect for the company 😅
Love these ! My childhood family car was a 88 DL 5spd wagon 1.8L, drove till 300k miles!
I bought a new GL 4X4 WAGON in 78 .
It was the best car I ever owned.
It was raised in MN
It went to 230,000 mikes before my daughter got it.
It was not a rust bucket ever.
She drove it another 31,000 miles be for she traded for a nea car after collage.
When she traded it it still had the original,starter, alternator all engine accessories .
I kept it washed in winter ,the only problem I had was a 5 dollar oil sending unit covered by warranty.
The clutch was never replaced.
It never broke down ,yet you heard that right .
Chev Ford and Dodge 4x4's would laugh at it ,but word finally got round ,do laugh it's a mighty machine.
A neighbor girl in a big snow storm missed her driveway in the country and got hung up on a culvert .
A 4x4 Ford and Chev tried but couldn't get her out.i saw it and pulled in.They laughed up a storm.
I pulled toward her mustang my front to her rear and said hook me up ,toe hooks at all 4 corners.i in reverse back her off that culvert onto the driveway in 1 try .
There was no more 😂.
I raced a ford4x4 from a stoplight in a storm of at that he was 8 inches deep .
Light changed green and we hit it I took the lead right away no spinning but the Ford saw me and hit it harder to keep up and he was spinning away in desperation but I stopped at the next red light stopped and he was yet to stop.
Another time I approached a pretty steep hill in town on my way to my parents house and noticed cars all over the hill sliding down and to the sides .
I kept going and stopped in the middle,then slowly let out the clutch and proceeded up the hill .I was as surprised as they were lol .now snow on it just all ice.
On the scanner one night I heard a stretch of road 5 miles long and with a series of rather steep hills close together was shut down by the state troopers. They said a snow plow was aff the road and many cars.
Guess what I did yup got a couple of passengers for weight next stor and said let's go on an adventure.After 8 miles in a reputable snow storm I hit hwy 50 linking the famous hwy 61 to state freeway 52.
Up the first hill and got to the top and said oh this might have been a big mistake after seeing cars on the edge and in the ditches ,but there was no way I could stop or turn around.
So I stayed in the center and hit it ,back up the the next hill .
There was over a foot of snow higher in places from drifting.
Thank God the center was not blocked by and cars ,but there were at least 50 cars and a plow off the road or on the edge of either lane.I really didn't think we would make it then all of a sudden an 8th of a mile away there was US 4 lane 52 and a MN State Trooper blocking the entrance to the road I just came from.
There was just enough room behind him to get by and pulled up to his window side be side and it scared him he never saw where we came from.
I said hell if a night out here ,he agreed and asked where did you just come from .
I said hey 61 via 50.
He looks shocked and said how did you make it with cars stuck all over the road and drifts
I said and a plow in the ditch,lol I drove right down the center line with the peddle to the floor in 3 Rd gear no problem .
I was surprised as he was it was funny.
So I said well we're heading back ,he said your not going back on 50 are you ? I said yup it will be even easier I just follow my tracks.lol
He said if you get stuck or go off the road you will be there all night ,no rescue till daylight.i said we'll make it and off we went back the way we came.
It was crazy I know but I knew I had the momentum to get up the hills and going down would be doable ,but to be honest if I could have seen what I saw before I got there I would not have tried it.There are other things that machine pulled off that were unreal,all the feats that 4x4 did were untested B4 by me and I'm sure by most other owners.
The list is long.
There was a time I got it stuck lol it was after driving 40 feet in my driveway one morning to go to work.we got a foot of heavy wet snow over night then a flash hard freeze,as I moved along in forward in 4 wd the rig just stopped moving and the tires were all spinning ,I thought what?? so I got out and found the car had drove itself up into the foot of use to be wet now frozen hard.The skid plates acted like a toboggan and raised all 4 wheels off the ground .that's the one and only fail I had with that rig .
It cost me 5500.00 out the door and if I knew then what I know now comparing it to the modern Subarus and cars in Gen and I could have afforded it I would have bought 5 or 6 I'd them to drive all these years ,it was amazing fun and reliable
Wow, look how BROWN BROWN BROWN BROWN BROWN that interior is!
Mr. Snuffleupagus is officially famous!😁😄
Your t-shirt blends in & matches the car.
I've met the owner and car, super cool dude and the car looks just as good in person!
Love this video and review!!!
Sadly the 1970s Scoobies all rusted badly too, but are super reliable until pretty much rusting in half. and yes, the owner of this car is super cool to chat with!
Jeez, I need to get my 78 Coupe back together! Feel free to add any additional old Scooby videos for motivation! hehe
Subscribed!!
🔹️... this is a great review. I subscribed to your channel.
Michael is one of the Indiana Subaru OG's.
All his cars are solid and tasteful.
I love Mr. Snuffleupagus...
I've got a 96LegacyOutback2.2/5MT that is a rust bucket but is still solid and won't stop running. Subaru's Rock!
The shape of the body is so totally rad!
They are super fun off road, had a 79 brat
love the "go around" sticker XD
Such an awesome video!!
Really entertaining review! Subbed
I have a 75DL 4WD and I absolutely love it!
Great video thanks for making!
well now I want one
Wow that brings back some crazy memories of road trip family vacations when I was a kid !!! We had a 78 brown one from my earliest memories up until I was probably 10 years old... I'm originally from Ohio but I live in Indianapolis now I didn't know that was so close what city in Indiana
Was pulled out of a pull barn near Camby, Indiana. Bought it off the original owner that bought it from a Subaru dealership in Bloomington, Indiana. Was in the same lot where Royal Subaru is today.
@@michaelharrison1172 wow... that's literally about five or six miles from where I live right now lol small world
I really love your videos I hope you get more subscriber's
My first car. Brown also
I got dual cb whips on mine :)
I just added an extra one on this not too long after this video.
Excelente video my friend!! I have Subaru 1993 GL excelente auto no lo cambio es todo original
Im thiking to buy one! You review was helfull!! Thanks!
2:40 you can get emblem overlays to replace the new Subaru logo with the old one. I did such on my Forester and tbh it looks better. I think the “Blue Oval” logo they changed to in the ‘90s looks too much like the Ford logo. The old Subaru logo had much more character and more accurately depicted the Subaru Constellation.
My dad's got a old toyota landcruiser with ash trays in the rear doors!
Awesome!! You earned a subscriber!
This is the coolest car.
My 1st Subaru was a 1972 GL ff1 station wagon in baby shit yellow. Car went anywhere now getting into a 2021 Crosstrek my have cars changed
The metal sticker on the door is exactly where a lit cigarette hits when steering.
I have one that is rusting away over here in Kenya.
They handle so well u wouldnt believe it.
That is not a warning light for the rear defrost. It's an indicator that shows when the rear defrost is on.
It sounds great and is very light
Kinda odd that it doesn't have ac when it's on the controls
More likely it used to have AC. That said, most Japanese cars didn't come with air-conditioning, air-conditioning really lugs down a small, low powered engine, also people really were made of sterner stuff back then. A/C was something you usually only saw on large American cars up even into the 80s . most people simply didn't need or want it in a small economy car, particularly a Subaru which was mostly bought for winter! For the people who wanted it, AC was always dealer installed, the cars were designed for options like AC to be dealership installed, so perhaps this car had the AC controls. So, in my opinion, I think somebody took the AC system from this car to fix another car, but didn't have the standard he controls to put back in.
The warning label on the door was to tell you to kick the throttle to turn off the fast idle, that was a pretty common feature of cars in that era with with automatic chokes.
Is understandable if it's alien to you , pretty much anyone under the age of 40 has rarely seen a car with a carburetor, let alone driven one.
Also, the 50 mph limit in four-wheel-drive was pretty standard as well. Pretty much any vehicle that is four-wheel-drive has the same restriction
The main difference between an all-wheel-drive vehicle and a four-wheel-drive vehicle is that the all-wheel-drive vehicle has a center differential which allows four-wheel-drive to always be engaged .
Also to end, I honestly wish powered parking brakes were never invented.
It literally defeats the purpose of having an emergency breaking system
Isn't the Subaru symbol a specific constellation? The star pattern in the symbol changed, so which is the correct symbol? The old one or the new one?
Looking to buy one. Anyone know where I can find one?
Cool review and I like the old and unusual as well. Don't be fooled though, those old subarus rusted way worse than any 90s or 2000s subaru. It's their quirkiness I find appealing
So,is that warning label on the door basically saying,in the weirdest roundabout way,to nudge the accelerator quickly after you've started it,to basically cut the automatic choke?? Or does it have a manual choke?? My 1977 Honda Civic,which was my first car in 1983,had a manual choke I had to put a clothespin on to keep it open! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
It's an automatic choke. After it warms up a bit, the idle can get fairly high so bliping the throttle takes it out of high idle
Glass fiber rp lenses brake indicator park.
Manual choke.
Electric heater system
In the 80's people were slim enough to be able to turn their heads and look back so didnt need mirrors
Lol!
That's honestly the only explanation I've ever heard that makes sense.
LED light system.
LCD s
Auto shade window system.
Subaru M-70 1988
5:23 thats what she said.
That car has some character.
Use the 5 speed
HUD surround batnav
Use Nissan brake calipers.
I'd buy one if I could... but honestly they were pretty much piles of crap. Very poor build quality. The exhaust will break (at the first muffler as I recall), the cast end of the clutch cable will fracture and leave without a working clutch, the magnetic pickup coil inside the distributor will stop working with no warning at all leaving you stranded if you don't keep one on hand in the glove box, the water pump will fail regularly and cause overheating, during which the one or more exhaust studs are likely to pull out of the heads, the drivers seat back frame will break on the left side, the splines on the bar that connects to the transmission shift shaft will strip out, the carburetor gaskets will fail and pour raw fuel down the carb's throat causing spectacular backfires (among other things), the dashes cracked, the seats wore through in no time (as did the carpet), the heater cores would leak saturating the carpet, the half-shaft boots were always failing, and the tie rod ends would fail at steering rack end - which is spectacularly dangerous. Happened to me while driving with a cliff on one side of the car. Oh and the little "4WD" decal on the transfer case lever would fall off almost immediately.
My Dad a fleet of them for his business in the 70s and 80s. Honestly, while super fun to drive, these were just real piles of crap. That said, I would still buy one if I could find the right one in good shape, as a nostalgic thing. But not unless I could stock pile spare parts for the problems I mentioned above.
The new panda diffs give u full time 4wd any speed.
1984 was the last year that Subaru made anything decent...
Owned two different '78 brats. 70s and 80s Subarus were really unreliable.
I owned a 1400dl back in the early 80s. It was a piece of junk. Incredibly unreliable and the body work was wafer thin. It handled like crap.
Subaru owners became Subaru lovers