Subaru Brat / brumby.......what to look out for.

Been done before there was a drag car on Autospeed back in the day (say 10 years ago)

I would say no on the pallet, the arches come in a fair bit, don't have the width between towers but just working off the top of my head
Don't they rust, I mean I use to see a lot of Rusty ones here... and we don't get UK style rust... could be the hard life farm vehicle thing and kept ones are OK

They're great cars, as all Subarus are (IMO), but it may be fairly rotten and in rough condition. The Brat/Brumby had a flat four didn't it (EA82?). With a curse word carburettor - you can get LOADS of parts from Australia.

old volvo estate with a roof rack FTW i say.
run it into the ground and weigh it in.

It really depends on the year and state of the brat, earlier ones had the almost indestructible EA81/61 (1800/1600) pushrod engine, mostly coupled with a strong 4WD dual range transmission. Later ones were sometimes FWD and mostly fitted with EA81 (1800) engine.Parts for the engines and suspension are not that hard to find, as they share almost everything with contemporary subaru's (Leone2 or L-series2). Body and glass will be hard but RUST is your biggest issue. All older subarus rust like hell and they rot through the sills upwards behind the dash making them susceptible to just breaking in half.

In my opinion, if you are going to run it into the ground/bash it up, don't use something rare like a brat. There are loads of other old, large, unwanted vehicles to be had.

Ts anice idea to have a retro working vehicle , but working just means it will get trashed , and you would probably have to soend alot on fixing one up in the first place , plus they are more farm vehicles and as stated wont have much capacity . There are plenty of cheap pickups if thats what you want , old ford 2wd's and vauxhalls etc.

If you think about a a transit there is a very nice mk2 tipper on ebay for 1400 looks great . You wouldnt lose money on it

Can't get a transit, as its too big for the garage (which it will have to live in), the drives not really large enough.

Maybe a hilux, but I really like the brat idea. Looking at the higher mileage one on ebay at the mo. don't think it would get truly trashed, especially if I line the load bed.

If you are doing construction waste tip runs then you will have to pay a charge anyway, unless it's the odd rubble sack or two and a bit of timber.
The Subaru MV pickup, or Brat and Brumby if you are in the US or Oz, is a cracking little workhorse. It won't take a ton, but for errands to the builders merchants and light loads it's ace, rear wheel drive with engagable 4wd so no getting stuck. You can get them on a non commercial insurance too, though some insurers will be funny about this because of the pick up thing. I put mine with Adrian Flux, no probs. As has been said, they rot and rust, chassis and body- that's pretty much the main thing to look for. Parts are non-existent, though there was a scrappy near Woodbridge in Suffolk that had a whole bunch, that was years ago though. The flat-four engine is ok, you will want an 1800 though, not the 1600. Oh, and weird Wheel PCD, though the standard steels are ok.
I used to use one for work, but most of my work at the time was carpentry and joinery on farms. They don't have large bucks, so be prepared to get a dented roof if you are carrying lengths of timber, unless you have a roll-bar or such. If you are careful it won't get trashed. For a house build I would consider a Hilux over a Subaru, larger capacity and parts readily available... And they look awesome beaten up

Here's my old one..



Me on a scrapyard dig..

If you want a realistic view, you're not going to save, if anything you could end up spending more...

As said, you won't save on delivery, doing tip runs you'll probably have to pay and all your traders are going to have their own motors..

Then you've got to factor in getting/keeping it road worthy, how much extra its going to cost you in running it and its more than likely just going to be redundant apart from a few novelty runs picking up smaller orders because its not big enough or practical to move anything else that the lads can't sort out themselves. Which if that's what its being bought for, seems kind of pointless.

If you want something fit for the purpose you're intending to use it for then you should be looking at tippers/bigger pick-ups that are going to do the job you want properly imo.

If you just want to help out, offer your free labour mate, that way you can keep an eye on whats going off, get to know the lads who you're giving your hard earned to and save a few quid in the process.

If you just want a cool project that's been triggered by the work that's going to take place, it would make a good project, but maybe you should re-think why you actually want to buy one?