New Server Hauler

[BlueFox]

Some on here have seen this already, but thought the rest of you might like it. My daily driver, which is about twice as long and weighs 4x as much could only fit 2 of these boxes with the rear seats down. If you're local, maybe you'll spot me on the road sometime.

 

[Patrick]

Wow! I need to see this one day after I get back from Taipei

 

[BlueFox]

Wow! I need to see this one day after I get back from Taipei

I'm sure we can figure something out. I'm well overdue for a visit to the studio anyway.

 

[WANg]

Some on here have seen this already, but thought the rest of you might like it. My daily driver, which is about twice as long and weighs 4x as much could only fit 2 of these boxes with the rear seats down. If you're local, maybe you'll spot me on the road sometime.

Daihatsu Midget kei-truck?

 

[BlueFox]

Daihatsu Midget kei-truck?

Yep, that's it.

 

[T_Minus]

not what i thought I'd see when opening this thread

 

[alaricljs]

Need this in electric, then you just drive it into the freight elevator

 

[WANg]

Yep, that's it.

did you keep the original plates from Japan?

 

[BlueFox]

did you keep the original plates from Japan?

Unfortunately they were pulled before it was loaded onto the ship. I know what the original plate number is from the export paperwork (and service records) however and have thought about getting a replica though. At least where I live, there are no front license plates, so, can legally run with anything up there.

 

[WANg]

Unfortunately they were pulled before it was loaded onto the ship. I know what the original plate number is from the export paperwork (and service records) however and have thought about getting a replica though. At least where I live, there are no front license plates, so, can legally run with anything up there.

Huh. Did you recall which prefecture/region the k-truck originally hailed from? The kanji characters from the plate will usually tell you whether it had a rough life or did its rounds carting produce on the local roads.

A majority of the ones in the NYC metro area hails from the prefectures/regions in the Kanto/capital region like Gunma (高崎 - Takasaki), Saitama (川越 - Kawagoe), Tochigi (宇都宮 - Itsunomiya), Kanagawa (川崎 - Kawasaki, yes, the idea of a Kawasaki K-Truck registered in the city of Kawasaki is funny), Ibaraki (水戸 - Mito), Chiba (成田 - Narita) or even Tokyo itself (世田谷 - Setagaya, rather hipstery).

 

[BlueFox]

Huh. Did you recall which prefecture/region the k-truck originally hailed from? The kanji characters from the plate will usually tell you whether it had a rough life or did its rounds carting produce on the local roads.

A majority of the ones in the NYC metro area hails from the prefectures/regions in the Kanto/capital region like Gunma (高崎 - Takasaki), Saitama (川越 - Kawagoe), Tochigi (宇都宮 - Itsunomiya), Kanagawa (川崎 - Kawasaki, yes, the idea of a Kawasaki K-Truck registered in the city of Kawasaki is funny), Ibaraki (水戸 - Mito), Chiba (成田 - Narita) or even Tokyo itself (世田谷 - Setagaya, rather hipstery).

Fortunately I haven't forgotten all the Japanese I took in uni and can still read enough kanji to be able to look things up in a dictionary. It was in Chiba, but really the outskirts of Tokyo since it was registered in Ichikawa (市川), at least recently. Don't have the full service history, so, who knows before that.

Seems like it was well taken care of. The mandatory inspection (車検) is still current and the previous owner spent 60,000 JPY on service at a Daihatsu dealership about a year before it was listed for sale. Must have even gone on the highway since it has a modern ETC unit. Still amusing that a 30 year old vehicle only has ~42k miles on the odometer. Won't be long before I overtake it in my Polestar 2.

 

[WANg]

Fortunately I haven't forgotten all the Japanese I took in uni and can still read enough kanji to be able to look things up in a dictionary. It was in Chiba, but really the outskirts of Tokyo since it was registered in Ichikawa (市川), at least recently. Don't have the full service history, so, who knows before that.

Seems like it was well taken care of. The mandatory inspection (車検) is still current and the previous owner spent 60,000 JPY on service at a Daihatsu dealership about a year before it was listed for sale. Must have even gone on the highway since it has a modern ETC unit. Still amusing that a 30 year old vehicle only has ~42k miles on the odometer. Won't be long before I overtake it in my Polestar 2.

Nice. You got yourself a real Edokko hauler - the cars that I've seen in Chiba tend to be from Funabashi (船橋) or Chiba (千葉) itself. My guess is that the owner probably had to run that thing down the Bayshore or the C2 once in awhile so it would need the ETC unit on board (ETC in this context stands for Electronic Toll Collection - think EZPass in the Northeast, TXTag in Texas and FasTrak in California).

Most of those Kei-trucks are probably very much local traffic/local deliveries only, in the case of your Midget - probably venturing across the Edogawa river once in a while. The Japanese government has been trying to price kei-cars out of existence (since they are not feasible to export outside of Japan so they want to reduce the domestic Kei market and its associated R&D expenses, concentrating on normal cars) by messing with their tax structures, so maybe that's why most owners try to flip them overseas. You really have to wonder how often your Japanese legislator really drives, though - even a Mazda CX5 seem big when you have to go around the narrow streets of Omiya ward in Saitama City or Kawagoe, so the impact of that tax structural change has been...limited at best. People in Japan still love them Kei-Cars.

For a fun estimate of how much it'll cost to drive in the Kanto bay area, play with the Shutoko Expressways fare calculator. For a Kei-truck heading from Ichikawa North (Kita) to Shibaura in Central Tokyo at 7a on a Wednesday, it's about 990 Yen and will take roughly 40 minutes (it's about half the price and about the same time on JR East, but *ugh* Sobu line during the rush hour is cringey). The missus saw a Shutoko tollbooth near the Meiji Jingu shrine and was shocked at how much it costs to drive within Tokyo itself.

 

[BlueFox]

Nice. You got yourself a real Edokko hauler - the cars that I've seen in Chiba tend to be from Funabashi (船橋) or Chiba (千葉) itself. My guess is that the owner probably had to run that thing down the Bayshore or the C2 once in awhile so it would need the ETC unit on board (ETC in this context stands for Electronic Toll Collection - think EZPass in the Northeast, TXTag in Texas and FasTrak in California).

Most of those Kei-trucks are probably very much local traffic/local deliveries only, in the case of your Midget - probably venturing across the Edogawa river once in a while. The Japanese government has been trying to price kei-cars out of existence (since they are not feasible to export outside of Japan so they want to reduce the domestic Kei market and its associated R&D expenses, concentrating on normal cars) by messing with their tax structures, so maybe that's why most owners try to flip them overseas. You really have to wonder how often your Japanese legislator really drives, though - even a Mazda CX5 seem big when you have to go around the narrow streets of Omiya ward in Saitama City or Kawagoe, so the impact of that tax structural change has been...limited at best. People in Japan still love them Kei-Cars.

For a fun estimate of how much it'll cost to drive in the Kanto bay area, play with the Shutoko Expressways fare calculator. For a Kei-truck heading from Ichikawa North (Kita) to Shibaura in Central Tokyo at 7a on a Wednesday, it's about 990 Yen and will take roughly 40 minutes (it's about half the price and about the same time on JR East, but *ugh* Sobu line during the rush hour is cringey). The missus saw a Shutoko tollbooth near the Meiji Jingu shrine and was shocked at how much it costs to drive within Tokyo itself.

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You certainly are versed on this and sounds like you might have some ties back to Japan too.

I found mine at a regular dealership, not one specializing in exports. Just browsed Goo-net (グーネット) and found one I liked. It was a bit of an impulse buy. I've done worse on eBay though! I know regulations on kei-class vehicles continues to change (they keep getting bigger). Even later model years of mine had major revisions to meet new requirements. New bumper and spare tire was moved to the back. I think it lost some of the charm in terms of looks, but at least they got "modern" things like fuel injection, an airbag, and a catalytic converter.

While I've not driven in Tokyo (only took the metro because why would you rent a car as a tourist), closest I've done is Taipei and that was bad enough. Parking in Taiwan was surprisingly easy though. I can't fathom having say a Toyota Crown or similar and driving it there. They're huge. Maybe that's what politicians have these days.

At least compared to US toll rates, 1000 JPY for 40km isn't bad. Not a single toll road in my state, but in others, like say Texas, you'd go a fraction of the distance for that much and that's not even in the city center. Only in Japan do you have a literal highway running through a building though: Gate Tower Building - Wikipedia

 

[WANg]

You certainly are versed on this and sounds like you might have some ties back to Japan too.

I found mine at a regular dealership, not one specializing in exports. Just browsed Goo-net (グーネット) and found one I liked. It was a bit of an impulse buy. I've done worse on eBay though! I know regulations on kei-class vehicles continues to change (they keep getting bigger). Even later model years of mine had major revisions to meet new requirements. New bumper and spare tire was moved to the back. I think it lost some of the charm in terms of looks, but at least they got "modern" things like fuel injection, an airbag, and a catalytic converter.

While I've not driven in Tokyo (only took the metro because why would you rent a car as a tourist), closest I've done is Taipei and that was bad enough. Parking in Taiwan was surprisingly easy though. I can't fathom having say a Toyota Crown or similar and driving it there. They're huge. Maybe that's what politicians have these days.

At least compared to US toll rates, 1000 JPY for 40km isn't bad. Not a single toll road in my state, but in others, like say Texas, you'd go a fraction of the distance for that much and that's not even in the city center. Only in Japan do you have a literal highway running through a building though: Gate Tower Building - Wikipedia

Oh, I have distant relatives in Yokohama, although I haven’t seen them in years. i do average one trip to Japan per year but I don’t dare to drive there - spent my childhood in another right-hand-drive market with heavy Kei-car adoption (Hong Kong) but I grew up driving in NYC metro, so I am not even sure if I would be able to deal with the 20+ years of driving on the right. I usually just tap on the e-Suica on my iPhone to get through most of Japan (JR East really needs to up their game with EkiNet for Shinkansen travel compared to SmartEx, and there are much more small loss-making railways in the Tohoku/Hokuriku region). As much as I love fantasizing about buzzing the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on a Daihatsu Mira TR-XX R4 (mmmm, meaty), I also know enough about how people drive here to know that I’ll be part of the crumple zone in case someone in an Escalade decide to ignore the blinkers. About the smallest thing I can picture myself driving is probably the Subaru Crosstrek, Honda Fit or the Mazda3 hatch (all of which has been used for NYC Metro area Zipcar data center runs with Proliants and Poweredge servers in the back with the seats folded down).

Oh, that 1000 JPY is fairly reasonable considering that cars on the Skutoko only falls under the compact/small classification, and the difference is only about 10%. For a 50km drive that’s only about 1200 Yen, while for a similar 30 mile drive from say, Newark International Airport to Astoria in Queens, that’ll be 28 USD on EZPass during off-peak hours (NJT+GWB+Whitestone or RFK Bridge).

Oh, that building on the Hanshin expressway near Umeda station in central Osaka? Yeah, there was something similar in Hong Kong as well. Funny what kinda crazy accommodation one is willing to do for cars.

 

[BlueFox]

Oh, I have distant relatives in Yokohama, although I haven’t seen them in years. i do average one trip to Japan per year but I don’t dare to drive there - spent my childhood in another right-hand-drive market with heavy Kei-car adoption (Hong Kong) but I grew up driving in NYC metro, so I am not even sure if I would be able to deal with the 20+ years of driving on the right. I usually just tap on the e-Suica on my iPhone to get through most of Japan (JR East really needs to up their game with EkiNet for Shinkansen travel compared to SmartEx, and there are much more small loss-making railways in the Tohoku/Hokuriku region). As much as I love fantasizing about buzzing the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on a Daihatsu Mira TR-XX R4 (mmmm, meaty), I also know enough about how people drive here to know that I’ll be part of the crumple zone in case someone in an Escalade decide to ignore the blinkers. About the smallest thing I can picture myself driving is probably the Subaru Crosstrek, Honda Fit or the Mazda3 hatch (all of which has been used for NYC Metro area Zipcar data center runs with Proliants and Poweredge servers in the back with the seats folded down).

Oh, that 1000 JPY is fairly reasonable considering that cars on the Skutoko only falls under the compact/small classification, and the difference is only about 10%. For a 50km drive that’s only about 1200 Yen, while for a similar 30 mile drive from say, Newark International Airport to Astoria in Queens, that’ll be 28 USD on EZPass during off-peak hours (NJT+GWB+Whitestone or RFK Bridge).

Oh, that building on the Hanshin expressway near Umeda station in central Osaka? Yeah, there was something similar in Hong Kong as well. Funny what kinda crazy accommodation one is willing to do for cars.

I might have curbed the wheels the first time parallel parking a RHD car when overseas. You get used to it pretty quickly. I think the biggest annoyance I have is the fact that stalks on the wheel are not consistent. Some RHD vehicles shift things and they are the same as LHD (so, lights/turn signals on left and wipers on right), but others mirror them (lights/turn signals on left and wipers on right). European brands tend to shift and Japanese mirror. I still sometimes mix it up when going between the Daihatsu and Polestar.

Highway driving definitely pretty sketch in the US with how large other vehicles are. I've never taken it on the highway. Don't even have an airbag, not that I think it would do a whole lot. I had a very compact car (by US standards) before the Polestar and you'd be surprised how much you can cram in the back. Rear suspension definitely sagged on my Audi A3 e-tron with it full of servers, but it worked. Have squeezed in a literal pallet in the back of a Honda Fit before too. Depending on where you are in the city, I wouldn't personally want a car. Parking is a hassle and/or expensive in Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights, Astoria, etc. I guess if you live on Staten Island you kinda need one, but that's practically New Jersey.

Funny thing you mentioning some example routes. Astoria to Newark is the record I've paid for an Uber fare. I think that was near $150. Good thing that went on my corporate credit card.

I'll probably be back in Japan next month, but up in Hokkaido, so, that's fairly car-centric. It was fun spotting rare cars over there though. Saw a TVR T350 parked in Asakusa last time. Never seen one anywhere else in the world.

 

[Patrick]

If it makes you feel better @BlueFox I think the first time I drove RHD on a road was in Grand Cayman. I got out of the Hertz rental car lot, and there was a traffic circle. Manual (to be fair, I drove manual for at least a decade prior), RHD, and the traffic circle was a rough combination. Just curbed wheels is not so bad.