For $1,500, Could This 1990 Subaru Justy Be A Small Wonder?

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I know what you’re thinking—two Subies in the same week—what a bold and confident statement that assuredly makes. Well, while today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Justy may share parentage with Tuesday’s SVX, its price and presentation are something else.

Yesterday I asked you if our candidate 1986 Pontiac Trans Am was a showoff owing to its unique paint and even more unique interior. The vast majority of you considered it beyond show off—to be in fact show awful—an opinion that no doubt secured its hefty 91-percent Crack Pipe loss.

Look, there are good ways to modify your car, and there are bad. Individualizations in aesthetics can be bad as probably not everybody out there shares your taste. I’m sorry to be the one to break that to you. Mechanical updates on the other hand are usually a safer bet, since who doesn’t like a little more get up in their go?

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That latter path was the one followed by the seller of today’s 1990 Subaru Justy DL. Hell yeah you remember the Justy, Subie’s one-time smaller than small car for the poors. This one’s FWD only, so don’t expect to be running the Rubicon in it, but with the rebuilt FE12 1.2-litre triple under the hood you’d probably want to keep it on the street anyway.

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You can tell which engine the car has since it’s emblazoned on the black-painted hood, right there next to the WRX scoop. That’s comically almost bigger than that engine itself, but looks bad ass in a Bill and Ted sort of way. The seller says that the mill was totally redone just last November and has done only 2,000 miles since its rebirth.

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Backing up the inline three is a five-speed box and the car rides on BMW E21 turbines. New axles, wheel bearings, seals, and brake parts keep the new engine company.

You can tell a lot of money went into the mechanicals, and that obviously didn’t leave much left over for the aesthetics. Considering yesterday’s atrocity perhaps that’s a good thing. The body is painted in Laguna Seca blue with black accents and a lot of stickers. A hair drier and plastic putty knife should take care of most of those.

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We see only snippets of the interior, but even in those brief glimpses we can see that the dash has a coprolitic miasma of cracks and fissures and, yes, even more stickers. According to the description the seats in there are beat up. It additionally needs strut cap bushings, and the turn signal is manually cancelling-only so screw you, convenience seekers! Those are minor issues all, and wholly appropriate for so tiny a car. The title is clean and there doesn’t seem to be any rot or other major defects in evidence anywhere.

The seller says the reason for the sale is an overabundance of projects, and that he’s taking a hit for selling the car at its asking price. That price is a meager $1,500 and you no need to decide if that’s a fair deal for this funky little Subie. What do you think, could this Justy pull $1,500? Or, is that price the only thing on this three-cylinder war wagon that’s too big?

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You decide!

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Portland OR Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to imprezanoturbo for the hookup!

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