Subaru 1500

Last updated
Subaru 1500
Subaru 1500 at SUBARU Visitor center 2014-2.jpg
Overview
Manufacturer Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries)
Also calledSubaru P-1
Production1954
Designer Shinroku Momose
Body and chassis
Class compact
Body style Sedan
Layout FR layout
Powertrain
Engine
  • 1.5 L FG4A OHV I4
  • 1.5 L L4-1 OHV I4
Dimensions
Length4,235 mm (166.7 in)
Width1,670 mm (65.7 in)
Height1,520 mm (59.8 in)
Curb weight 1,230 kg (2,710 lb)

The Subaru 1500 is the first car built by Fuji Heavy Industries, with the development code-name of P1. The prototype used a monocoque body structure and adopting the "ponton" style appearance, with an independent front wishbone suspension and a rear leaf spring suspension with three plates and a live rear axle.

The company was already manufacturing the Fuji Rabbit scooter, and wanted to explore manufacturing an automobile to compete with established Japanese manufacturing efforts at the time.

The P-1 was water-cooled and used two different 1.5 litre OHV four-cylinder inline engines. The original version, code named "FG4A", was sourced from Peugeot's 202 and built by Fuji Precision Technology (this later became the Prince Motor Company). The FG4A engine was related to the Prince GA4 with some modification, and was shared with the Prince Sedan introduced in 1952. Prince had not agreed to Fuji Precision Technology providing this engine to a competing car and Fuji Heavy Industries found themselves obliged to develop a different engine in-house. This was code named "L4-1"; it was also a 1.5 litre OHV engine but it was 20 percent lighter than the previous engine used. Maximum power is 48 PS (35 kW; 47 bhp) for the FG4A, 55 PS (40 kW; 54 bhp) for the L4-1.

Only 20 P-1's were built, all in 1954, with 11 vehicles using the FG4A engine, with the remaining nine cars using the updated L4-1 engine. 14 of the 20 cars were built for private use, while the other six units were provided to the taxi companies in Isesaki, Ota and Honjo Cities for private testing, with successful results. Subaru had been very confident in the car's abilities, but with both Toyota (Corona) and Prince (Skyline) about to release new cars in the 1500 cc class they considered the market situation impossible without a very large investment in mass manufacturing capabilities.

It was Subaru's first vehicle, and the company would not produce another front-engine/rear-wheel drive vehicle until the BRZ in 2012.

Related Research Articles

Marcos Engineering British sports car manufacturer

Marcos Engineering was a British sports car manufacturer. The name derives from the surnames of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.

Subaru Impreza Model of compact car

The Subaru Impreza is a compact car that has been manufactured by the Japanese automaker Subaru since 1992. It was introduced as a replacement for the Leone, with the predecessor's EA series engines replaced by the new EJ series. It is now in its fifth generation.

Subaru Rex Motor vehicle

The Subaru Rex, also known as Ace, Viki, Sherpa, 500/600/700, Mini Jumbo, Mini Subaru or M60/M70/M80 in various export markets, is a kei class automobile produced from 1972 to 1992 mainly for sale in Japan by Subaru, although it was also sold in Europe, South America, Australia and the Caribbean. The Rex superseded the R-2 as Subaru's kei car, and has been available in commercial use versions as well as in a passenger car version. It underwent major changes in 1976, in fall 1981, and again in late 1986. The second generation Rex (1981–1986) also formed the basis for the larger Subaru Justy.

Toyota Corona Series of automobiles manufactured by Toyota

The Toyota Corona is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota across eleven generations between 1957 and 2001. On launch, the Corona was Toyota's next to highest product in their range, just below the Crown. The Corona was marketed in the JDM at Toyota's Toyopet Store dealership channels, and the Corona was one of Toyota's first models exported to other global markets, followed by the smaller Toyota Corolla.

Subaru Leone Motor vehicle

The Subaru Leone is a compact car produced by the Japanese car manufacturer Subaru from 1971 to 1994. The word leone is Italian for lion.

Subaru Justy Motor vehicle

The Subaru Justy is a subcompact hatchback that has been sold by Japanese automobile manufacturer Subaru since 1984. Subaru manufactured the Justy from 1984 to 1994; since then it has sold rebadged versions of other vehicles under the Justy nameplate. The company introduced the latest iteration, a rebadged Daihatsu Boon, at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show with a 1.0 or 1.2-liter straight-three engine, front/four wheel drive, electronically controlled continuously variable transaxle, or a 5-speed manual transaxle. For the 2010 model year, the Justy was replaced with the Subaru Trezia. The Justy nameplate was revived in November 2016 as a rebadged Toyota Tank and its twin counterpart the Toyota Roomy and Daihatsu Thor.

Subaru G Motor vehicle

The Subaru FF-1 G was a compact car from the 1970s, replacing the FF-1 Star. It was a front-wheel drive vehicle with a typical Subaru EA61 or EA62 flat-4 engine. The car also had independent torsion bar suspension and rack and pinion steering, inboard front drum brakes and dual radiators. The car used only a small radiator on starting, hastening warm up. Achieving 29 miles per US gallon, the Subaru quickly became a strong-selling import car in the United States.

Prince G engine Motor vehicle engine

The Prince G-series engine was the company's only straight-four and straight-six engines which began production in 1955. A number of variations were made, with both OHV and OHC heads. A diesel four-cylinder with 1.9 L (1,862 cc) was also built, called the D-6. The G series was used in the Skyline, the Laurel, and the Gloria from the 1950s to the early 1970s.

Nissan Gloria Motor vehicle

The Gloria is a large luxury car made from 1959 by the Prince Motor Company, and later by Nissan Motors since its merger with the former - hence being originally marketed as Prince Gloria and later as Nissan Gloria. Initially based on the smaller Prince Skyline, the Gloria line was merged with Nissan Cedric starting with 1971 models and both continued until 2004, when they were both replaced by Nissan Fuga.

Ford Performance Vehicles

Ford Performance Vehicles was the Melbourne-based, premium performance arm of automobile manufacturer Ford Australia. The company produced a range of Ford-based models from 2002 to 2014 under the FPV marque name.

Subaru 1000 Motor vehicle

The Subaru 1000 is the first and only front wheel drive Subaru produced by Fuji Heavy Industries that was in the Japanese government "compact car" classification starting in 1966. Previous Subaru models such as the Subaru 360 and the Sambar had been rear-engined, rear wheel drive kei cars.

Volkswagen Taro Pickup truck

The Volkswagen Taro 1 tonne pickup truck was introduced in January 1989 by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to complement the half tonne Caddy pickup / panel van ranges, and the 1 tonne Transporter van and chassis cab ranges. The name "tarō" is a suffix used in Japanese to denote the oldest brother or son, or the first-born son of a family.

Isuzu Bellett Motor vehicle

The Isuzu Bellett is a subcompact car produced by the Japanese manufacturer Isuzu between 1963 and 1973. Designed by Isuzu, the Bellett replaced the Isuzu Hillman Minx, manufactured by Isuzu under license with the Rootes Group.

Subaru Sambar Motor vehicle

The Subaru Sambar is a cabover truck and microvan manufactured and marketed by Subaru as Japan's first truck compliant with the country's strict Keitora (軽トラ) or Kei vehicle tax class. Introduced in 1961 in microvan and Kei pickup configurations, the Sambar remains in production, now in its eighth generation — beginning with the sixth generation as a rebadged Daihatsu Hijet.

Fiat 1300 and 1500 Motor vehicle

The Fiat 1300 and Fiat 1500 are a series of front-engine, rear-drive automobiles manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1961 to 1967, replacing the Fiat 1400 and Fiat 1200 coupé, spyder and cabriolet. The 1300 and 1500 were essentially identical to each other except for their engine displacement, as indicated by their model names, and were offered in sedan/saloon, station wagon, convertible and coupé body styles which shared little mechanically with the other body styles except the 1500 engine.

Subaru Legacy (fourth generation) Motor vehicle

The fourth generation of the Subaru Legacy was introduced in 2003 and saw a complete redesign of the Legacy on an all-new platform. Development began by the beginning of 1999, with styling freeze in early 2001 and engineering sign-off in 2003.

The Prince Miler is a medium-sized pickup truck built by the Prince Motor Company. It remained on the market for four years after the 1966 merger, when Prince dealerships became integrated within Nissan's organization as Nissan Prince Store. By 1970, however, it was integrated with Nissan's newest generation of their offering in this class, the Junior.

Subaru Japanese automobile manufacturing company

Subaru (スバル) is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Subaru Corporation, the twenty-first largest automaker by production worldwide in 2017.

Prince Sedan Motor vehicle

The Prince Sedan was a Japanese compact executive car made from 1952 until 1957 by the Tama Motor Company, which was one of the successors of the Tachikawa Aircraft Company. It was replaced by the first generation Prince Skyline ALSI in 1957.

References

    Official Website