It’s become short car/van day at CC, so how about what surely has to be the shortest utility/pickup ever. Total length: 125.7″ (3195 mm). The mighty-grandiosely named Suzuki is based on the kei-car Cervo, has a 543 cc triple that churns out some 28 hp through a four speed stick or two-speed automatic (“Mighty-Glide”). John875 posted these pics at the Cohort, and his timing was impeccable.
Not only was it short, but it was equally cheap. The Mighty Boy was the lowest-priced set of wheels available in Australia during it run from 1983 – 1988: AUS$5795. Wiki even says it was the cheapest car in Japan too. Back seats must be expensive. But that bed is just right for hauling a case of Victoria Bitter.
And here it is in good company: with a post-war version of the Fiat Topolino, the Mighty Mouse itself. Got any other short cars you’d like to share?
28hp? Hmmmmmmmm wonder how hard it would be to upgrade to a slightly more powerful lawn mower engine?
20 hp out of a 543cc triple from Suzuki? That’s 250cc territory for most bikes. They must have set it up for torque instead of horsepower. There HAS to be some Suzuki bike engine transplant they could do.
Yep, I’d love to see under the hood.
28 hp!!
There were higher output versions available in the Cervo, the passenger car version, turbos, and up to some 50 hp. But not in the not-so-Mighty Boy.
I had a 28 hp Alto, the hatchback version of this car when I lived in Japan. In Japanese traffic, the power was sufficient since the traffic rarely moved at anything more than about 40 km/h. Kei cars are not allowed on expressways but the tolls on them were so high that it was cheaper to take the train and you didn’t have to worry about parking at your destination.
Japan taxes cars based on displacement. A kei, or light car, was only taxed at Y7000 a year when I was there. The tax rate went up VERY quickly as displacement increased. It is very rare indeed to see a car in Japan over 1500 cc for this reason.
Don’t forget the engine revs at car-type speeds not bike, and does need low-down torque for obvious reasons.
I’ll take a Metropolitan, please.
It makes an Austin A30 ute look huge also on the cohort
I was going to ask how you knew the Topolino was a post-war one, but I can just about see in one of the pics that it has the facelift nose treatment. You don’t miss much Paul.
That Topollino (translation: Little Mole) looks as if it’s sporting mid 1950’s New York Taxi Livery with those red fenders. Love the name ‘Mighty-boy’- reminds me of Roy Hobbs’ bat.
Canuck- very interesting bit of info that Japanese displacement tax scheme.
That thing is ripe for a ‘busa engine swap!
I found a period road test – load capacity is 440kg (more than some of your full-size pickups, how embarrassing!) although GVM is 930kg/2050lb and the kerb weight was quoted as 560kg/1230lb leaving only 370kg/815lb for load. Not even the fuel load would make that much difference as it only has a 30L/7.9gal tank. They said the ride was terrible unless on smooth roads and the seats were uncomfortable. Width is 1395mm/54.9″. It did the quarter mile in 22.43sec at 57mph, no 0-100km/h time was recorded, presumably because it didn’t hit that speed in time, after all maximum speed was 110 although they referred to doing 120km/h in the article presumably exceeding the 6000rpm redline (yep – 6600).
You can however swap in an 800cc engine from a later model hatch, my uncle had one of those and once did a 2500+ mile trip in his, having fun with the truckies via cb radio. He took the Suzuki because their other car is a Jeep Grand Wagoneer that gets <14mpg on the highway whereas the Suzuki would be more like 60mpg.
Back to the Mighty Boy, a favourite trick with these was to pick up back end (with the park brake) and wheel them around, just like a wheelbarrow really.
As a post-script, I saw two of these in farm yards yesterday (driving past, I’ll see if it can’t get some snapshots on the return journey ), FWIW I also saw on the road 59 Cadillac & 64 Galaxie convertibles, a Rolls Royce Camargue ( parked in a small country town) and a rare 70 Valiant Pacer R/T.
So cute! Can I get one in yellow?
Yes, they did come in yellow! Not quite buttercup yellow, it was a bit ‘softer’ color. Also seen black & white but I think that was all.
Re the above comment, I didn’t see either of the Mighty Boys on my trip back today.
Yup. Can recognise this car anywhere. This is different from the Alto as the rear has leaf springs (a very simple affair) instead of coils, probably for extra load carrying capacity. This is the basis for the `legendary’ Maruti 800 (4 door, rear leaf springs, but with a 37bhp carbed 800cc triple + 4speed manual floor shift) that was India’s largest selling car for 20 years or so. A very spartan car (spartan=shite), but extremely reliable and relatively easy to fix. My dad still owns one. Although chop back modifications on 4doors are common and relatively easy, its funny that Suzuki actually built a ute themselves.
PS: Paul, what is the red saloon behind the Topolino? A mini Jag?
Yes, the very rare Jaguar Mk. 1.25 sub-compact, with the three-cylinder version of the XK engine. Lyon’s response to the Suez Crisis, but it didn’t really catch on. Most were exported to Australia and NZ.
Really? Google fails to turn up info on a 3cyl Jaguar. The body looks like a Mk2 to me. More info about it and/or better pictures would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
It’s rather hard to come by. But here’s our story on the two-cylinder XK version: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/what-if-jaguar-xk-ec-just-the-ticket-for-crowded-urban-environments/
They did an XK020 as well.
Let’s not forget the Jaguar 1 1/2 litre for the new millenium.
Oh my that is nice! Which Japanese retro kei car is underneath?
Nissan Micra underneath. Strangely enough, this car is actually sort-of-mass produced. Its called the Viewt, and that isn’t a typo. More info here: http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/mitsuoka-jag-2-2009-10-19