Tag Archives: Daihatsu

Smaller than Expected*

This may look like a normal cab-over light duty truck, but it is in fact a kei car, Japan’s microcar class in which vehicles can measure no longer than 3.4m, no wider than 1.48m, and have an engine size no greater than 660cc.

It is, therefore, absolutely tiny. Plus, obviously, it’s a Lego model, so it’s even smaller than that…

This superb Technic kei-class truck is a Daihatsu Hijet S110P, and it comes from syclone of Eurobricks who has packed it with an unfathomably large amount of features.

Under the really rather good exterior is a full remote control drivetrain, complete with all-wheel-suspension, all-wheel-drive, servo steering (linked to the steering wheel too), opening and locking doors, dropping bed side walls, and even working headlights.

There’s loads more of syclone’s Daihatsu Hijet to see at the Eurobricks forum, including a video of the kei truck in action. Take a look via the link above!

*That’s what she said.

Box Clever

Japan has two car markets; one for ‘normal’ cars like Corollas, Crowns and suchlike, and the other – the kei class – for vehicles such as these two.

Designed to ensure that car ownership in Japan’s tight streets and congested cities doesn’t completely break the road network, kei cars must measure less than 3.4m in length, 1.48m in width, and have an engine no bigger than 660cc (if powered by an internal combustion engine).

Denoted by their yellow number plates, kei cars benefit from lower taxation than regular cars, but they must comply with reduced speed limits too. Although that’s probably so they don’t fall over.

Over one in three cars sold in Japan are in the kei class, and the specs can be wild, with turbocharging, all-wheel-drive, and even convertible sports cars available.

Most kei cars however, look like these two; a box measuring exactly 3.4m long and 1.48m wide, precisely maximising the interior space within the permitted exterior dimensions.

The Daihatsu Move Canbus and the Honda N-Box Slash pictured here are both the work of Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg, who has constructed them in his trademark Miniland style.

Each packs as much detail as possible into a tiny package, which is appropriate, and there’s more of each build to see at Ralph’s photostream. Click the link above to see what’s inside the box.

Cute Cops

Lego Daihatsu Mira Gino

We love Japan. It’s home to the newest technology, some of the world’s greatest cars, Takeshi’s Castle, and even a giant city-destroying lizard.

But for every amazing thing to come from Japan’s industrious population something completely perplexing will emerge too. Pokemon, used underwear vending machines (yes, really), and the Daihatsu Mira Gino all probably fit into this category. It’s the Gino we’re featuring here today, looking like a sort of tragic copy of an original Mini, and… er, resplendent in Japanese Police livery.

We Googled the Mira Gino and luckily for the Japanese cops we didn’t find one image of it in crime-fighting form, so Seiji N‘s Lego recreation is hopefully only a work of fiction. But it does look kinda cute…

You can see more of Seiji N’s Daihatsu Mira Gino police car at his Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the trip.

Lego Mira Gino