The Subaru boxer engine is 60 years old today

Sixty years ago today, on May 14, 1966, the Subaru 1000 went on sale. It was the first car equipped with a Subaru boxer engine, which has been a trademark motor for the company ever since. To celebrate, Subaru is launching a marketing and test drive campaign at dealerships across Japan.

Subaru has remained extremely faithful to the boxer concept. The company still argues today, as it did in 1966, that a horizontally opposed layout the ideal engine configuration, with benefits like low center of gravity, an inherently balanced design, and superior packaging.

To celebrate the anniversary, Subaru dealers in Japan are encouraging owners to come in for a test drive. There, they can see displays that describe the history of Subaru boxers, receive a 60th anniversary imabari towel, and vote on their favorite boxer engines (Prediction: the EJ20 wins).

The notoriously loyal owners are also asked to write down their Subaru memories on downloadable postcards and put them in a dropbox to share them with the company. You can get message forms that include coloring pages of the 1966 Subaru 1000 or EJ20 engine from the Subaru website.

Those who show they have the MySubaru app on their phones can receive a free keychain depicting one of seven Subaru boxers. The designs include the EA52, EJ20, EG33, EZ30, FA20, FB20, and CB18.

Few carmakers have been defined by a unique engine architecture and remained faithful to it for so long. Mazda bid farewell to the rotary, Lancia was forced to give up the narrow-angle V4, even Dodge abandoned the Hemi V8. The Subaru boxer endures, and shows no signs of slowing down.