Tariff wars in days past: The Subaru Brat had seats and carpet in the truck bed, which allowed Subaru to import them as passenger cars – to avoid a 25% ‘Chicken Tax’ tariff on light trucks. 1979 photo. [800×518]
I thought they did that just to make it more awesome.
clshifter
Not really of the past. The Chicken Tax is still in effect. It’s one of the main reasons that none of the smaller pickups that are offered elsewhere are available in the US.
More recently, the Ford Transit Connect, a small cargo van assembled in Turkey, was shipped to the US with seats installed, then the seats were removed after arrival. This way it could be imported as a passenger vehicle.
merkins_galore
I thought they did that just to make it more awesome.
clshifter
Not really of the past. The Chicken Tax is still in effect. It’s one of the main reasons that none of the smaller pickups that are offered elsewhere are available in the US.
More recently, the Ford Transit Connect, a small cargo van assembled in Turkey, was shipped to the US with seats installed, then the seats were removed after arrival. This way it could be imported as a passenger vehicle.
On another note, BRATs are awesome.