Subaru 360 Fish Condos off the Coast of Catalina

The story goes that in the late 60's nobody was buying the Japanese import "Subaru 360" kei cars in the US. Eventually there were several thousand surplus little Subis and nobody knew what to do with them. So, as it's been told many times, they were all loaded onto a barge and dumped into the ocean off the coast of Catalina to be used as "fish condos".

If you just Google search "subaru 360 fish condos" you'll see many websites reiterating the story. However there has never been any proof of this happening. For all anyone knows this is just a rumor that snowballed. If it's not true, then what DID happen to all those surplus Subis? For the lazy ones here's a link to that very Google search

Subaru 360 Fish Condos

I have personal interest in this theory because I myself own of the last 180 or so Subi 360's left in the US. Mine is a 1970 van and is fully restored. It's my baby and it's hard for me to believe people would rather see these things thrown into the ocean than purchase for next to nothing, but I lean towards believing the story as it just sounds like something that would happen in those days.

I've always wanted to find a fisherman who is familiar with the Catalina area and ask if they have a way of "pinging" the ocean floor for possible mounds of old Subarus. How cool would it be to discover this burial ground and see pictures of it?

a reply to: Battlefresh

This practice has been done with many things, including naval vessels, cars (^), oil rigs, etc.

Sucks to put all that waste into the water, and then just sink it. Out of sight out of mind, I suppose

at any rate, gives the sealife something to swim around?

I only wish I could own a 360, here in America.


Never heard this one before, though- and it wouldn't surprise me for an instant.

CEO says cull the line, they move their efforts to manufacture something else. The storage space costs $X/day, they're only getting X-10%/day in sales...

Still though, selling them for scrap makes more sense- or even selling them for less than they cost to build.
I have to imagine some of those little buggers have aluminum in them- no sense dumping that.