jimmayor007

A Brat can be one of the easiest to maintain and drive vehicles that was ever produced. I have owned nearly a dozen and have 3 now. I have a 77 or a Gen.1 and drive an '82 or Gen 2, also the first year of that car. The '82 is a one of car, none of the other years are like it in many ways and there are parts that will not interchange, it is also one of the most desireable Brat's. When considering buying a Brat, the most important consideration is rust! If it has any in anything but the front fenders, pass.

It is very difficult to really stop it once it has started and most of the Brat's that spent there time in the snow states are rotted to pieces. Mostly the rockers, floors, the upper shock mount in the rear wheel well, also one of the most difficult to fix, and the front strut towers, impossible to fix! A lot of these places were collectors of water or were not kept up and salt and other road chemicals crept in and ruined them.

There is some after market parts available for these cars, but they are hard to find and some are of dubious quality. I have seen many that a lot of time and money was spent on them only to have it bubble back through in a couple of years. This means finding a car from the southern tier of the country. My '82 was delivered to San Diego and spent the first 20 years of its life there. It has no rust at all. I striped it to bare metal and sandblasted the underneath before restoration just to be sure while correcting the collection places that are known to exist.

...read the full guide with pics here

Simon 69

A 'Brat' is what we would call an 1800DL Pickup.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

my first ever radio controlled car was a Subaru Brat