The Subaru Tortoise Was a Custom Microcar for a Japanese TV Series

I’ve spent some time driving cool microcars thanks to Nashville’s Lane Motor Museum. These teensy vehicles were popular from the late 1950s through the 1970s due to the scarcity of materials, their fuel efficiency, and city-friendliness. While the Subaru Tortoise qualifies as a microcar, it was never produced in quantity. The one-off, open-top 2-seater was custom-built for the Japanese TV series Kaiki Daisakusen, which ran from 1968 to 1971 and was created by Eiji Tsuburaya, co-creator of the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises.

The car had a small, recurring part in the TV series, also known as Operation: Mystery! The car was an official vehicle for the SRI (Science Research Institute), an organization responsible for investigating supernatural phenomena. Its most notable appearance was in an episode where a hippie couple spots the tiny car at a gas station and takes it for a joy ride. After a supernatural force takes over the driver, he loses control, runs over a person, and crashes the Tortoise into a wall of cinder blocks. Fun fact: Kaiki Daisakusen also featured an appearance from a much more iconic Japanese car, the Toyota 2000GT.

The Tortoise started life as a Subaru 360, a Kei (or city) car sold in Japan from 1958 to 1971. While I couldn’t find official dimensions for the Tortoise, the 2-door 360 was about 117.5 inches long, making it about 20 inches shorter than a modern FIAT 500. Assuming the Tortoise retained the same engine, it had a rear-mounted 356 cc 2-banger with a turtle-like 0-to-50 mph time of 37.5 seconds (according to Consumer Reports). The roofless car was so short that taller drivers had to look over the windshield.