Subaru Sambar first generation1961–1966

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FactThe first Sambar's reverse gear sat in a left-pattern position instead of the usual right — and its engine was reached through a hatch inside the cabin.

The Subaru Sambar is a cab-over truck and microvan, Japan's second Kei truck after the Kurogane Baby, with a rear-engine, rear-drive layout and body-on-frame construction, its name borrowed from a species of deer and perhaps echoing the Volkswagen Type 2's upper "Samba" trim level. The first generation (1961–1966), introduced at the 1960 Tokyo Motor Show in passenger and commercial versions and designed by Shinroku Momose, was a one-box body on the Subaru 360 platform inspired by the 1957 Fiat 600 Multipla, with four-wheel independent suspension (a rear torsion-bar trailing-arm set-up on a ladder frame), front doors rear-hinged like the 360's and a rear cargo hatch, and the 356 cc EK31 air-cooled two-stroke twin (18 PS) accessed through a hatch inside the vehicle, with a 3-speed manual. Provisional camping bunk beds were an option and the commercial versions were nicknamed the "kuchibiru" (lip) Sambar after the Kurogane Baby; competitors included the Suzulight Carry, which also adopted cab-over in 1966, and the 1964 Daihatsu Hijet.