<![CDATA[Jalopnik: kei]]> http://tags.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png <![CDATA[Jalopnik: kei]]> http://jalopnik.com/tag/kei http://jalopnik.com/tag/kei <![CDATA[Custom 1969 Ferrari Micro Kei Pickup Could Fit In Your Pocket]]> What do you get when take a 1969 Subaru Sambar Kei micro truck and add voluptuous Italian leather, Ferrari badges and a machined ball-top shifter? A super cute, yet macho 1969 Ferrari Micro Truck.

We'll let enterprising Ebay seller, harleychoppers4life take it away:

Let's get to the good stuff... The truck you see is a complete restoration form the ground up. I can say that with no hesitation, because the entire body was completely disassembled and was chemically stripped. The entire drive train at the time was also gone through, not to mention the entire electrical side of the vehicle. The truck now has custom marker lamps that are smooth as the paint along with the taillights. The headlights also have the custom touch, with the turn signals built into them along with parking lamps. As far as the interior, this is also another big highlight. The entire interior was replaced with the softest leather I have ever felt. The gauges are Ferrari and the GPS is from Garmin. There is also a Alpine system that will blow you out of the cab.

The entire truck is nothing but drop jaw beautiful and will make the finest car collector drool. This is the type of vehicle that demands attention were ever it goes. There is not one item that will need attention and can be driven or shown today. I wish you luck if you decide to bid. There will never be another Ferrari Micro truck this nice ever again.

With 21 bids and a current bid price of $7100 (as of writing this), it certainly looks like it'll be a fun one to watch and with less than 2 days left on the ticker, we're wondering how much this little custom Ferrari Kei truck will fetch. If we had money to blow on silly toys, you could bet your ass, we'd have this sitting in our garage right now.[via Ebay]

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<![CDATA[Honda Motocompo Fits In Your Tiny Trunk!]]> Tiny Japanese cars from the '70s and '80s are awesome, but can you really fit anything more than a small suitcase or a couple bento boxes in the back? Actually, yes. In fact, back in the '80s, Honda sold the City with a motorcycle in the rear hatch. How did it fit? It transformed!

Yes, the Honda Motocompo could transform by collapsing its handlebars into the seat. After that, it was small enough to be picked up by one person and fit snugly in the rear cargo area, with enough room left for a saxophone, a boombox, and all your tennis equipment. Of course, the City may not be very nimble all loaded down. As for the Motocompo, it had a 49cc two-stroke good for a top speed of about 30mph. Maybe Honda should sell the new Fit with a scooter — you know, since everyone's talking about gas prices and stuff.
[3yen, JapaneseNostalgicCar]

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<![CDATA[DOTS Geneva: A Tiny Something Or Other]]> We have no idea what this is, but after the Peel Trident, this is probably the smallest street legal vehicle we've ever seen. And despite our best deciphering and sleuthing efforts, it remains unidentified. F-gobble-de-gook Tech was the best we could get out of it. How can someone get into this thing and feel fine about it? We'd rather take our chances on a regular scoot, at least there you can jump away from a wreck. But hey, this is a convertible and has those fancy, new fangled canvas doors.

We're not modern European traffic law standards scholars, but we're assuming there is a 50 cc quadracycle kind of niche carved out below regular cars as kei cars work in Japan. This particular one has a 50 cc license plate which we assume means a 49 cc scooter motor and you can see the CVT poking out the bottom. I suppose if you don't want to put up with the wind and maybe have an inner ear infection causing vertigo and mild insanity, this makes sense.

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<![CDATA[Suzuki Palette, the Kei Car for Moms]]> We're continually fascinated with the level of innovation and practicality the Japanese are able to stuff into 660cc, 66bhp kei cars. Suzuki's new Palette may not be the most exciting kei car to ever debut, but it scores points on practicality with dual automatic sliding doors and a completely flat load floor. More importantly, it comes in pink, which may just be the most righteous color to paint a kei car there is. Personally, I'm holding out for a pink Nissan Pao and a wardrobe full of '70s safari-style lounge suits.

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<![CDATA[Down on the Street... in Tokyo: Kei Cars]]> We delayed this as long as possible, putting all of you into crushing fits of suspense, finally we give the people what they want - kei cars. These loveable, huggable, sub-sub-compact cars are popular for many reasons. The biggest reason for the niche is that they avoid pesky tax and insurance rates by virtue of their diminutive size. That size also serves an alternate purpose; Tokyo has roads that would make a hardened San Francisco road warrior break into a cold sweat. Roads are steep, they are windy, and they are incredibly narrow at times. Sometimes the only way to carry crates of Ramen, buckets of fish, and platters of raw horse meat (delicious) to their destinations is with the help of a mighty keitruck. To borrow a phrase from Gizmodo's Adam Frucci, "For all your most adorable cargo."

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