Where is vin 001?

[NiftySVX]

Originally Posted by svxcess

Someone must have taken a photo of the door sill plate with themanufacture date of the pace car (#002)

I doubt that the prototype would be #001, since it was shown at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show (October 26-November 6, 1989) Concept cars usually don't have production numbers.

FHI would be the ones to verify, SOA wouldn't have a clue. The prototype is still located in Japan.



.

Also, do you have personal knowledge that the prototype still exists? This would be both a surprise and a delight.

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by NiftySVX

It is a reasonable hypothesis that 001 was kept in japan and vin 002 was sent to the US ASAP for promotion as we were the primary market for the car.

This is something we should ask Subaru to reveal to us on the occasion of the car's 20th anniversary.

Originally Posted by NiftySVX

Also, do you have personal knowledge that the prototype still exists? This would be both a surprise and a delight.

Without hard information this is purely an hypothesis.

The USA may have been the target market and the volume export, but I'll point out that the VIN plate listed with the Pace car vin is shown in USA format. [ Version L, Lsi etc that we never see over here. Plus lhd] It is not beyond the realms of possibility that production number 001 is actually retained as an important vehicle for Fuji, and is in Japanese market trim and is rhd.

Does anybody know the truth?

Joe

[svxcess]

Originally Posted by NiftySVX

Also, do you have personal knowledge that the prototype still exists? This would be both a surprise and a delight.

Yes they do.(It seems there are 2 of them... ......and they have both been repainted red

In storage near FHI. Believed to be in running condition, but not sure. VINs could not both be 001. My guess is that the VINs were for cars actually rolling off of the assembly line after production began. My guess is that the prototypes probably did not have them.



Hold onto your hats on this one.

Most of last year, while inquiring about the Pace Car availability for Reading X, I also inquired about the possibility of the Prototype SVX for the 20th Anniversary meet. SOA made some inquiries concerning this with people at FHI.

Bottom line: They would need at least a year's notice in advance of when and where the meet would be held (We haven't even come close to having a decision on either. Plus the place we decided on would have to have the appropriate accommodations as stated below) I was told that there were conditions that had to be accepted and meet with their approval.

The prototype would need to be flown by jet cargo transport both ways to and from Japan.

A minimum of three people from FHI would be travelling with the prototype. Add in their round-trip airfare, accommodations at the hotel and food, plus compensation for their travel time and exhibition days (FHI would not pay them for these days, almost a week)

The car would have to be parked inside on display and have adequate round-the-clock security.

Add special insurance on the prototype while during transit and while away from home, various tariffs and duties, etc. etc...


In short, FHI would consider it for a ballpark price of between $25,000-$30,000 for a three-day event (in 2009 dollars)


I am sure they may have set that figure so high as to completely discourage us from pursuing this. If we agreed to the price, then I am sure they would use the other requirements/ restrictions to say no.


Easier and honorable way to save face than to say: "No way, John San, it just ain't gonna happen in your lifetime"


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[svxcess]

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On a somewhat related note, my wife has a chance to take a 6-week TDY to Misawa, Japan, Aomori Prefecture early next year. Logistics would have me stay home to take care of the house, cats, etc.

If I could take care of all of this and travel with her for those 6 weeks, I found out that Gunma (and FHI) are only 415 miles apart.







If it were still the original pearl with the white interior, I might be tempted to try to arrange to see it...

but now it probably just looks like a 93 anniversary edition with a body kit.


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[dbarnblatt]

Originally Posted by svxcess

If it were still the original pearl with the white interior, I might be tempted to try to arrange to see it...

but now it probably just looks like a 93 anniversary edition with a body kit.

Here are a few pics of it I think:

http://poyo.biz/svx/contents/prototype/prototype.html

[svxcess]

Those photos show a distinct wide-body effect of the front and rear fenders. Notice how the fenders bulge compared to the doors.

Not a smooth clean line like in the production models.

.

[Alex-svx]

Originally Posted by dbarnblatt

Here are a few pics of it I think:

http://poyo.biz/svx/contents/prototype/prototype.html

Whis i have that one.. like the ''wild bodykit''

[SURTEESS]

Notice the rear tail - it is molded into the trunk.............

[SilverSpear]

Isn't 001 always supposed to be the car that stays in a manufacturer's museum?

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by svxcess

.


If it were still the original pearl with the white interior, I might be tempted to try to arrange to see it...

but now it probably just looks like a 93 anniversary edition with a body kit.


.

`

John

A white one? The one we see in the pics above was re-painted over a silver base. Although I have these pics of the red car for a while I did not study them closely but Ron pointed this out to me lately. You can see that the suspension turrets and the bottom of the bonnet are still painted silver.

That leads me to believe that this actual car is the silver prototype we have so many pictures of. Clues to the continuity would be the 5-spoke wheels, the wide-body wings, the beige leather upholstery, the moulded one-piece spoiler-bootlid, the fact that it is lhd. There could be more than one silver original but my guess is no this is the only one. Maybe that's why they want 25 big ones to ship it.

BTW I disagree that this car looks like an anniversary '93 car for a couple of reasons;

1. They retained the black roof while painting the trunk, it's not red all over
2. To my eyes this looks like a metallic red, not a solid red like Barcelona or Brilliant

Where is the white one? Have you any pictures? I've never seen a white wide body car.

Joe

[svxcess]

There is the car depicted in the Active Safety Vehicle brochure which may be a prototype that seems to be silver and has the white interior. See photos HERE.

Compare the two photographs of the interior. One appears to have two-tome white with light beige inserts; the other seems to have white seats. Photographs can be deceiving (more on that below)


And then there is the pearlie which is shown at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show.

Since it was never seen by us in person, is it possible that the photo above is actually a brightly-lit silver car, or an overexposed photo? Or is it the original silver car from the ASV brochure painted pearl for the show (leaving the strut towers and underhood the original silver). It could then have been repainted again from pearl white to red (leaving the same original silver parts)



Possibilities:

1. Prototype(s) were silver and repainted pearl
2. Prototyp(s) were always silver, never repainted, and appears pearl in photographs.
3. Red car(s) were originally silver.
4. The pearl and silver cars are separate vehicles. The silvers ones were repainted red and the pearl still exists in its original form somewhere (in a field of unicorns)


I also wonder about the beige interior. Why change the interior if the car was repainted red? The white interior would certainly complement the red paint.

Was it a design exercise to see how a beige interior would look with red (anticipating a 25th Anniversary edition), or was it a compromise in developing a lighter interior which was more practical as white?



Joe, I was only being sarcastic about the red car resembling the 93AE. I have seen many red SVXs (all with beige interior) I wanted to see a pearl white one with white interior)

As I said earlier, after more than 22 years, we may never get accurate answers. People at FHI who may have known the actual history could have left and moved away, retired, died, or just can't remember.


.

[Nevin]

Mmmmmm, that car is just so gorgeous. Why couldn't they all have looked like that?

[SilverSpear]

You are right Nevin, this is not logical.

The car didn't look too extreme for a prototype since there is a lot of resemblance with the production SVX.

Why did subaru spend more R&D money to reduce that appeal?

[NeedForSpeed]

Originally Posted by svxistentialist

`

John

A white one? The one we see in the pics above was re-painted over a silver base. Although I have these pics of the red car for a while I did not study them closely but Ron pointed this out to me lately. You can see that the suspension turrets and the bottom of the bonnet are still painted silver.

That leads me to believe that this actual car is the silver prototype we have so many pictures of. Clues to the continuity would be the 5-spoke wheels, the wide-body wings, the beige leather upholstery, the moulded one-piece spoiler-bootlid, the fact that it is lhd. There could be more than one silver original but my guess is no this is the only one. Maybe that's why they want 25 big ones to ship it.

BTW I disagree that this car looks like an anniversary '93 car for a couple of reasons;

1. They retained the black roof while painting the trunk, it's not red all over
2. To my eyes this looks like a metallic red, not a solid red like Barcelona or Brilliant

Where is the white one? Have you any pictures? I've never seen a white wide body car.

Joe

Joe and I have were discussing red SVXes, and the prototype. We have all seen the red concept pics for years, but only recently I studied the open-hood picture, noticing for the first time the silver strut towers. The red car could be the repaint of the silver concept? Joe had the opinion that due to cost, only one concept would have been built. If the red concept IS the silver concept, that could answer that question.

As for Pearl concept, I've always considered the pictured car to be silver, the one on stage looking brighter or more pearl due to lighting, compared to the non-stage postcard photo.

I don't believe the concept would have a VIN, especially not a US VIN. The car is 'one-of-kind', with active suspension, VTD, 4WS, interior, external, etc., clearly, not a refabricated US VIN model. Just my opinion

[Green1995SVX]

Originally Posted by NeedForSpeed

Joe and I have were discussing red SVXes, and the prototype. We have all seen the red concept pics for years, but only recently I studied the open-hood picture, noticing for the first time the silver strut towers. The red car could be the repaint of the silver concept? Joe had the opinion that due to cost, only one concept would have been built. If the red concept IS the silver concept, that could answer that question.

As for Pearl concept, I've always considered the pictured car to be silver, the one on stage looking brighter or more pearl due to lighting, compared to the non-stage postcard photo.

I don't believe the concept would have a VIN, especially not a US VIN. The car is 'one-of-kind', with active suspension, VTD, 4WS, interior, external, etc., clearly, not a refabricated US VIN model. Just my opinion

I read years ago (I don't remember where) that the one concept car was originally silver and then painted red. I don't think there was ever a pearl concept car, but it is just the silver one that looks different in different lighting. I have never considered the car in that picture posted by john to be pearl.

Mike