I first fell in love with Subaru 360s after working on one as a mechanic’s apprentice in college. This car came up for sale on Facebook marketplace and I had to jump on it. A couple hour road trip later the car was home with me. It had a disassembled engine that could not be salvaged and was missing some parts. I made the decision to integrate a 36 volt Taylor Dunn utility truck and what was left of the original Subaru drive train together to make this an electric car. The electric motor from the Taylor Dunn was mounted above the crankshaft where the pistons and cylinders use to be. A chain drive was added to the original crankshaft to drive the original 4-speed transmission. The motor control box is from an EZ-Go golf cart. From there brakes were redone, which was a challenge of trial and error as no reproduction brake parts are available. New hard lines were made, GM hydraulic lines were found to work from the metal line to wheel cylinders and the wheel cylinders were honed and the right size seals were found to replace the old ones. With the mechanical side complete, what seemed like endless rust repair began on what seemed like the world’s thinnest sheet metal. Floor pans were repaired with left over sheet metal from the rear seat section of floor pan from a 57 Chevy. After almost a year of cutting and replacing metal, the car currently sits in primer waiting on its baby blue paint. In the meantime, a battery rack was added where the rear seat was, and interior panels were made to cover them. The interior got some carpet to cover it all and the interior metal got a coat of white paint. I take the car to local car shows and people seem to enjoy seeing the different stages of the build over time. The car with the current set up will only go about 30mph and has a range of about 30 miles, but I hope as EV technology and parts become cheaper, the car will afford me the opportunity to make different versions and improvements to make it street legal again. Hopefully the current version of this car will be complete in a few months.
