Someone Buy This Kei Construction Truck So We Don’t

Go big or go home, right? What about going small? And wacky? And with some flashing lights and an on-board generator?

This 1996 Mitsubishi Minicab kei truck ticks all of those boxes, and it’s currently on offer over at Cars & Bids.

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Seriously, though, someone should buy this before David does.

We discussed not running this so he could have better chances of winning it.

I decided that I'm going to buy it and keep it at Colin's house. 

I mean, how much room does a kei truck really take up?

Well, technically no more than 3.4m, right? 

I want one for the ultimate shop truck...

It's not like any of us are going to get an article out of it...

It's a parts fetcher!

It's a pit bike!

It could end up being the only thing in the fleet that runs when you need to go to the office!

I did see a kei fire truck in our neighborhood the other day--passed it while heading home. I need to find the owner. We're not a golf community yet our neighborhood's friendly to golf carts. I saw a black one with a screaming chicken on it, too. 

David S. Wallens said:

I decided that I'm going to buy it and keep it at Colin's house. 

Every carguy needs a friend like Colin.

Street legal?

Get one with the locker and a dump bed! Then you can basically justify it as a wheel barrow.

David S. Wallens said:

I did see a kei fire truck in our neighborhood the other day--passed it while heading home. I need to find the owner. We're not a golf community yet our neighborhood's friendly to golf carts. I saw a black one with a screaming chicken on it, too. 

I'm going to assume it was this one, unless there are somehow two kei fire trucks in town. Tried to chase him down but got stuck at a two-way stop.

Challenge entry?

I've often joked about bring my F500 to the track with a Kei truck.

I need that. Like right now. 
 

I just bought a house in a large lake golf cart community, and I want a truck like that to run a handyman service in the lake community. 
 

David are you really bidding?  There is no point in getting into a bidding war...

With 2 Keis in the driveway already I dont need another but at the current auction price its a damn good deal.  These have had an uptick in value lately especially if they have a proper US title already

Obviously some needs to get one and heavily boost it. 

It probably weighs like.....5 lbs right?

JThw8 said:

With 2 Keis in the driveway already I dont need another but at the current auction price its a damn good deal.  These have had an uptick in value lately especially if they have a proper US title already

So, honest question - what is the appeal of the Kei trucks, exactly, other than them being "JDM" or whatever? Or is it just the appeal of them being funny/silly in a world of giant oversized bro trucks?

For light utility stuff, I would think an old Mazda B2200/Ranger/Mighty Max/Toytota small pickup would generally be better for pretty much anything you would do with the Kei trucks (plus a lot safer, faster, etc). 

Even for non-road stuff like hauling stuff around a farm, or a track cart, or whatever, I would think a UTV with a bed would be superior. 

So is this just a "style" kind of thing, or is there some functional reason one would want one of these vs. things you can more easily (and cheaply) buy in this country? 

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I think they're just "neat."

That's the appeal to me.

Maybe even "neat-o."

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Maybe? The funny thing is that I saw it the very day I wrote that piece for Classic Motorsports on Duncan Imports/Japanese classics. And then to see that, I was was like, am I dreaming?  JG, I passed it right as I was turning onto my street. 

Jesse Ransom said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I think they're just "neat."

That's the appeal to me.

Maybe even "neat-o."

Same here. Does it make sense? Maybe, maybe not, but really none of this does.

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

I need that. Like right now. 
 

I just bought a house in a large lake golf cart community, and I want a truck like that to run a handyman service in the lake community. 
 

David are you really bidding?  There is no point in getting into a bidding war...

I dunno. The garage is full. But, dang, it really is cool....

Fair enough, I was just wondering if I was not realizing some super amazing thing they did in a functional sense, lol

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

Obviously some needs to get one and heavily boost it. 

 

It probably weighs like.....5 lbs right?

In reply to preach (fs) :

That's awesome!

I can't be the only guy that hotrodded the Midget in Gran Turismo, right?