Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. In all this time, we've seen just one DOTS Subaru.

While Malcolm Bricklin was importing Subarus to North America way back in 1968, you really didn't see them here in large numbers until the 1980s. Even then, the build quality and longevity wasn't quite up to current Subaru standards, which means that even 20-year-old examples are now tough to find. That's why I was glad to find this turbocharged '89.


Imagine, a station wagon that could handle snow and mud without incomprehensible truck-ish 4WD selectors confusing the driver. Full-time! Once Subaru got the formula right, there was no stopping them.