The Subaru BRAT was the Japanese automaker's answer to the Chevy El Camino and Ford Ranchero, but had one unique feature with a complex origin story.

The BRAT's spiritual successor came along in 2003. Like its old grandpappy, the Subaru Baja was based on a wagon – this time the Outback – and featured an extended rear overhang to make space ...

Related: Subaru had a solution for this costly hurdle in the form of rear-facing jump seats in the bed of BRAT, allowing the BRAT to qualify as a passenger car with merely a 2.5 percent tariff.

The idea of a Subaru compact pickup was once again revived in 2002 in the form of the Baja. Like the BRAT, the Baja was based on an AWD wagon, in this case, the highly-successful Outback.

This particular Brat was the upper-level GL trim, which came with a 1.8-liter, four-cylinder boxer engine, butterfly t-tops, a tilting steering wheel and all of the available stock gauges.

The Subaru Brat, or Brumby as it was known in Australia, is a unique beast. The diminutive ute paired a simple carbureted boxer engine with four-wheel drive in what quickly became a much-loved ...

The BRAT was classified as a passenger car because Subaru preferred to pay a 2.5-percent import tariff, not the 25-percent “Chicken Tax” protectionist import tariff on light trucks.

Back when Subaru sold several variations of the Leone in the United States and called every one "the Subaru," a four-wheel-drive version with a small truck bed ...

The BRAT was produced from 1978 to, surprisingly, 1994, though only imported to the United States through 1987. The BRAT used the same AWD system as the Subaru Leone.

I was recently invited to the home of a guy who owns two Subaru BRATs. This is like getting invited to dinner with the president: you must say yes, even if it means you have to reschedule your ...

On episode 101 of Ignition, host Jonny Lieberman gets to do something he's dreamed about doing since he was 10 years old: ride in the back of a Subaru Brat! Standing for Bi-drive Recreational All ...