It’s called the Suzuki Mighty Boy, and it’s basically a tiny pickup truck with an absolutely useless two-foot-long bed. Based on the Suzuki Cervo, the 1980’s Mighty Boys were made as ‘Kei’ car entrants in the Japanese market.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, Kei cars (or light automobiles) made up the smallest highway-legal passenger cars allowed on Japanese roads. The category was codified by the Japanese government in 1949 after the end of World War II to spur sales and car markets.
Sold only in Japan and exported outside the country only to Australia - and of all places, Cyprus - less than 3,000 Mighty Boys were actually sent overseas between 1985 and 1988. A manual transmission version of the truck sold in Australia for just under AUD5,800 (less than $4,400 in 1988 money), and that made it the cheapest car you could buy down under at the time.
The Mighty Boys were classified as commercial vehicles in Japan and Australia, which meant they also qualified for much lower taxes levied on such vehicles. As a result, the Mighty Boy never sold much in Japan and was never replaced with new models by Suzuki. Still, they are the subject of a dedicated group of enthusiasts in Japan.
They aren’t particularly interesting aside from what modders have done with them, and this one is interesting indeed for that very reason. There may be just 300 to 400 of them left in Oz, so this one is a rarity in other ways.
This Mighty Boy is beastly as it holds a 6-liter V8 fuel-injected engine and cranks out 440 whp (324 kW), weighs over 1,200 pounds (550 kilograms), and can absolutely smoke off a set of tires.
While the factory versions of the Mighty Boy were powered by a dainty 543cc three-cylinder transverse-mounted engine - and produced just 31 hp (23 kW) and 32 pound-feet (Nm) of torque, this hot rod makes lots, lots more power.
It’s amazing that the entire truck stays in one piece under the kind of load this engine delivers, but it seems that it does.
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