With the MR2 project still a long way to completion (if the rust issues are even fixable), I got around to looking for a working car for daily use… and found a solid 1999 Outback from the West coast, meaning it avoided all the rust. At 351,500 km, it’s still going strong and in tip-top mechanical shape. It’s got some dings and scratches and the odd gremlin (like a mirror that can only be adjusted up and down), but those things are easily fixable.
There’s a couple of interesting things about this car. The first is that it’s originally from California but got imported into Canada sometime before 2007-2008. Why then specifically? That’s the other interesting part. The previous owner told me that according to the woman she got it from, this car was used in the movie “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” for interior shots of a car they ultimately crashed in a scene. No idea if that’s true or not, but the fact that it’s a white car that got repainted into the factory green and gold Subaru colour scheme just like the one in the movie seems to add some truth to it.
Anyways, a couple of quick glamour shots (the best angles were also the two with the worst scratches).
Just be sure this one doesn’t meet the same fate. These were (and still are) solid looking cars that meet a tragic end to road salt induced corrosion. And those scratches aren’t bad at all. Not even bad enough to be considered battle scars. You could probably just touch it up and have it looking factory fresh.
Nice I have a bit of sympathy for the Legacy since sitting in one years ago. Then my interest in cars increased it when I understood what boxer and AWD really mean. What’s powering it?
Today I took the Outback on its first “real” trip, taking a few hundred km on highways, dirt roads, bumpy side roads, etc. Everything went great, it’s really a solid car and handled it all with ease.
Photo from the ski resort. I seem to have been a bit late, as they closed in 1992:
I probably won’t see it for a couple months as that happened out of town. My dad loaned me the old Sienna so I could make it back to the city while the car gets looked at by a mechanic to make sure everything’s fine. If it is, then I’ll start looking for replacement panels.
I was going about 70 km/h, so under the posted limit and what felt reasonable for the conditions… until the bumps in the ice going down a hill caused that.
I have a bit of sympathy for the Legacy since sitting in one years ago. Then my interest in cars increased it when I understood what boxer and AWD really mean. What’s powering it?
