Spec Sheet NonsenseGlorious Mistakes
Subaru BRAT: The Pickup With Seats Bolted Into the Bed to Dodge a Tariff on Chicken
Subaru put two rear-facing plastic seats in the cargo bed so the US government would call its little pickup a car. It worked.
Some automotive quirks come from engineers. This one came from tariff lawyers, and it's still one of the funniest spec-sheet entries ever written: two plastic seats, facing backwards, bolted into the bed of a pickup truck.
Blame the chicken
In the early 1960s, Europe put tariffs on American chicken. The United States hit back with a 25% tariff on several imports, including light trucks. That became known as the "Chicken Tax." The trucks part stuck around long after everyone forgot about the poultry.
By the mid-1970s, small imported pickups were booming in America, and Subaru of America wanted one. Subaru built a part-time four-wheel-drive coupe-utility on its existing station-wagon underpinnings. It called the result the BRAT, short for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter, which is a heroic backronym.
Two seats, one loophole
The problem: a pickup would be hit by that 25% tariff. The solution: make it not a pickup. Subaru fitted two rear-facing jump seats in the cargo bed, with seat belts, grab handles and carpeting, so the BRAT could be classed as a passenger vehicle and pay the much lower rate charged on cars.
It was controversial at the time. A 1978 report by the US General Accounting Office said customs was classifying the BRAT as an "other motor vehicle" at a 3% duty, and argued there was a strong case for calling it a truck. Meanwhile, the BRAT went on sale, and buyers loved it.
Life on the bed
Picture riding in a BRAT's bed seats: sitting outdoors, facing backwards, holding a grab handle and watching the road disappear behind you. It was ridiculous, and that was exactly the appeal. Subaru dropped the seats in the BRAT's final years, so original seat-equipped trucks are a prize today.
The BRAT's most famous owner was President Ronald Reagan, who kept a 1978 BRAT at his California ranch, Rancho del Cielo.
By the numbers
US sales peaked in 1979 and tailed off through the 1980s. The BRAT bowed out of the American market after 1987, by which point the bed seats had already gone.
Why we love it
The BRAT is the purest Spec Sheet Nonsense there is: a feature that existed almost entirely to win an argument about paperwork. It was a little pickup, a little car and a lot of loophole. Somehow it turned into a cult classic, because who doesn't want to ride backwards in a truck bed past a customs office?
Want to know what one actually costs? The Subaru BRAT Quirk Database entry logs real auction sold prices, each linked to its result.
Fact-check pit lane
Figures in this piece were checked against:
