In the summer months, I proudly drive around Toronto in a car that automotive history will tell you was a total failure. The model was so expensive to develop that it nearly bankrupted the company. Yet 33+ years later, and this Subaru is still rolling down the highway.
A week ago, Markham Meets held their season opening car show, and I brought my 1992 Subaru SVX all washed, waxed and looking like a million bucks. Young gearheads came over to check the car out. None of them had ever seen an SVX in real life before, only in the Forza Motorsport 6 video game.
These were rare cars back in the day. Subaru only sold 24,379 of these worldwide from introduction in 1992 until production ceased in 1997. In Canada, only 942 SVX were sold over the five-year run, and if there are 50 left in the country that would be a surprising number. This one is in good shape, thanks to the original owner, Marvin Wagman (RIP).
A young man with a very expensive looking camera was taking shots of the SVX, so I left him alone to do his thing. Later, when I approached he introduced himself as Simson Wilson an automotive photographer. He was knowledgeable and inquisitive. And as any car guy can tell you, it doesn’t take much prompting from him for me to tell the tale of my Subaru SVX.
An hour into the show, something very unexpected rolled up next to my car; another Subaru SVX! I’ve only parked next to one of these beauties once before in my life, and this time we had a sunset and cameras to record the moment.
The owner was Mitch, a young wrench wizard who told me all aout the fixes and improvements he’s made to the SVX, plus his plans on doing a big engine swap. Lofty goals! I hope he gets it all completed one day soon, because he really seemed to love that car.