Will found this on the side of the road, and after he told me about it I begged him to show me.

It’s tiny, rusty, and a little older than I expected. Like a very, very small VW Bus, it has a rear-mounted engine. I think it’s a Subaru Sambar, but that’s mostly based on the details I gleaned from the Subaru 360 article, which reveals that engine was probably air cooled, displacing 330 CCs, and producing under 40 HP.

US imports began in the mid-60s, but by 1969 Consumer Reports magazine branded the automobile “Not Acceptable” because of safety concerns and lack of power.

To hell with safety and power, I love this little thing. I want a small, fuel efficient car like this.

subaru sambar, van, car, small, k car, kei car, subaru, sambar, little

Gizmodo reported it a while ago, but a Canadian company called Japanoid is importing these and other tiny Japanese cars. How tiny? At or under 1.5 meters (under 5 feet!) wide with engines 660CC or under. They’re called Kei Jidousha, or Keicars, or just K-cars (though not to be confused with Chrysler’s K-Cars). Japanoid has 12 vehicles listed, but my favorites are those four above and this funny looking truck.

The deal is, however, that Canadian law only allows imports of 15-year-old vehicles. There are other restrictions, of course, and all of it is made a little more ridiculous by the fact that the cars are right-side-drive. But at 50 miles per gallon, perhaps some exceptions can be made. But don’t expect US law to make any exceptions. US law only allows import of 25-year-old vehicles, even if they might help ease our fuel crisis.

US drivers might want to look at the SMART, available in the US soon.

tags: canadian law, economy car, economy cars, fuel economy, gizmodo, honda, honda acty, japanese cars, japanoid, k-car, k-cars, kei jidousha, keicars, mini, mitsubishi, mitsubishi minica toppo, nissan, nissan figaro, nissan pao, nissan s-cargo, smart, tiny