Welcome back to another Nostalgic Wednesday here on MaydayGarage.  This week we remember Jackie Chan’s amazing 4wd Subaru DL Hatchback from the movie, The Cannonball Run.  With a couple of Subaru features coming up over the next month or so I only felt it fitting to remind everyone of one of the best Subarus of all time.  Powered by a 73 horsepower 1.8 L, this manual engaging 4WD Subie lacked some serious power to compete with the worlds best in the Canonball Run. But, the best “Japanese” driver at the time, Jackie Chan and co-driver modified the hatch with a rocket engine and some second to none electronics to compete in the legendary race.  Some serious rice here.

Eat your heart out Pastrana!

Unfortunately there aren’t too many stills that can be found of this car, but there is however, an awesome tribute clip to Jackie Chan’s Cannonball Subaru that you can watch below.  Pay attention to the AWESOME interior on this thing, aside from a dash that looks like it is out of a rocket ship, it also has a VHS player, LED read out and night vision!  Wayyyyy ahead of its time.

Subaru has come a LONG way.

In case you are wondering why Jackie Chan is being portrayed as a Japanese driver in the Cannonball Run, let’s sit back and observe for a moment.  The production company was Golden Harvest, which was a HUGE production group during the Golden Era of Hong Kong films and had been behind most of Jackie Chan’s films since the 70’s.   Since The Cannonball Run was Prduced by Golden Harvest and Jackie Chan was their largest star, and China wasn’t producing cars at the time, I assume it was only fitting to take Jackie Chan, throw him in that Subie and have him say Konichiwa a couple of times.  That would never pass today, but I am sure it was funny as hell for the time.

Baka

Some might ask why the Producers didn’t throw Mr. Chan in a more “sporty” Japanese car and my response to that would be this:  After 30 years what would you remember, an OEM Stock 240z or a rocket powered 4 wheel drive Subaru hatchback with night vision, a VHS player, rocket ship dash powered by two Chinese guys who are supposed to be Japanese.  I chose the latter.

Win

— JohnP