A length of 126 inches. Width of 55 inches. Total curb weight, around 1212lbs. A 543cc three-cylinder, four-stroke engine with 28 horsepower and 31 ft-lbs of torque. 52mpg. And a pickup bed. This is the Suzuki Mighty Boy, depending on how you feel either the world’s most pointless pickup or the most entertaining ever made.
The Mighty Boy was launched in 1983 and Japan, and the only export markets from 1985 until the cute ute’s demise in 1988 were Australia and Cyprus. 18 inches shorter than a Chevrolet Sprint/Suzuki Swift, the Mighty Boy was based on the new for 1982 Alto/Fronte hatch and its sportier Cervo counterpart.
Suzuki Hatch – photo courtesy of Gumtree
While the Fronte’s Australian-market counterpart, the boringly named Suzuki Hatch, has all but disappeared from Australian roads, the Mighty Boy still pops up from time thanks to its cult following.
Subaru Sherpa – photo courtesy Rollaclub
In Australia, it enjoyed a run as the cheapest car on sale, at $AUD5795: $330 less than the aforementioned Hatch, and $750 less than a Subaru Sherpa. And it was certainly a lot more unique than either of them!
Modern Motor’s launch review had tongue planted firmly in cheek when journo Jeff Brown observed, “I was glad it was bright yellow because that made it easier for drivers of such powerhouses as a Datsun 120Y coupe and an old Beetle to take evasive actions, steaming past up a gradient that wouldn’t have disturbed a fit cyclist.” 0-60mph was a breathtaking 24 seconds and remarkably you could get a Mighty Boy with a two-speed automatic!
Sometimes, though, there’s nothing more fun than driving a slow car fast. The Mighty Boy was mighty light with excellent visibility. Handling was grippy, but that short wheelbase and stiff rear leaf springs provided a punishing ride. Up front, there was a MacPherson strut suspension and front disc brakes. You could load up the tray to improve ride comfort; maximum payload was 970lbs. Mighty Boys, though, were saddled with extremely uncomfortable seats. The interior also lacked a tachometer, a curious omission.
Still, you didn’t buy a Mighty Boy for its practicality or its comfort or its performance. You bought it because it was a tiny, cute little ute and truly one of a kind. Also, it was pretty damn cheap!
I think that is the most awesome car ever built… I want one.
+1!
+2
I soooo much wanted that car as a kid, turning the pages of those catalogues. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen….
One question……wheres the rest of this pick up? Still, it`s pretty cool. Must be easy to park,and I can`t park to save my soul! I just love the retro looking Japanese and English ad.The kind of advertising that you just don`t see today. Looks like a fun ride.
Cool little trucklet, but my automotive passions are awakened more by the bright red Commodore in the second picture!
I have never seen nor heard of this car before. 543cc motor?? The standard Chevy Sprint had a 998cc motor. Long time ago I dated a girl who had a 1986 Sprint ER 5speed and it got about 60 MPG highway with its 998cc motor. I liked driving that car.
The Kei-cars at the time had a 550cc limit. In 1990 the limit was raised to 660cc, and it has been there ever since.
ok…why doesn’t it get better mileage than a 998cc Sprint ER?
There are so many sources for mileage numbers, that it’s not really possible to make accurate comparisons. Your “about 60mpg” claim is anecdotal, and seem a bit high for one of those. But it all depends on a number of variables. YMMV.
Also, under a certain stress, a smaller engine has to work harder than a slightly bigger. And those Kei-car engines must have been under constant stress.
I had to look it up.
US government mileage specs for an 86 Sprint ER:
53MPG(I know the one I drove did better)
…that’s one MPG better than the mighty boy despite almost twice the engine and probably a couple hundred pounds heavier car.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/1986_Chevrolet_Sprint.shtml
The biggest difference is probably the lack of 5-speed in the Mighty Boy, but the 52mpg is not a US figure so not directly comparable. One major factor in highway mileage is aero, and the Mighty Boy is probably worse than a conventional hatch so the tiny motor will notice the extra workload.
Good points.
It’s probably also geared for city speeds and has 12-inch wheels. My guess is that you’re probably turning more than 5,000 rpm at 100 km/h, which is not a speed range in which most keis, particularly of that vintage, were ever really designed to spend a lot of time.
The Chevy Sprint had 12″ wheels. The other points are valid though.
By “geared for city speeds,” I mean a final drive of something like 5.3:1 (I think — possibly lower than that). But yeah.
Get three more tires for track day and the bed will be full!
“It followed me home…can I keep it?”
+1
That must be the smallest since the A35 pick-up
http://www.freewebs.com/eggy-plop/Brochures%20Austin/Austin-007-large.jpg
Though Austin hung the spare on the back, Continental style
http://s206.photobucket.com/user/MHodg/media/PICT1688.jpg.html
I love the idea of this as the antidote to the jacked up bro-dozers that overrun the US suburbs these days. Also my wife is fascinated with small cars (something to do with being 5’1″ tall).
Wow!! I love everything about that lil beauty… And the look and ad is straight JDM goodness.
You Aussies/NZs are so lucky…unlike us Americans who always get the bland and watered-down versions of the automotive world .
Damn, you EPA and your regulations!!(shakes fist in the air, like Stewie Griffin).
Funny name, Sherpa… I prefer the name we(US) got… Justy. Lol
Here’s another Sherpa, a Leyland.
It looks like it was drawn by someone who had a 1973-80 Chevy pickup described to them over the phone.
I suspect NHTSA should be the bureaucracy to blame for excluding kei-sized cars. But you could blame emissions-testing standards for raising the price of entry for imports with marginal sales volume.
The Suzuki Hatch reminds me of the Subaru Justy.
The Subaru Sherpa IS the Justy, Neil. 😉
So many things to love about the print ad. This is the kind of vehicle I would have tried to save up my newspaper delivery money to be able to afford by the time I was old enough to drive. First impression from the pictures in this article was that it looked a bit like a 1st-gen FIAT Panda. A bit of Wiki-research confirms the 1st-gen Panda, at a length of 3,340 mm, was only marginally longer than the Mighty Boy (at 3,195 mm).
I love this thing! Unfortunately I can never have one here in the US of A. I will just have to take the trunk lid off an X-90.
Don’t see why you couldn’t import one, they’re old enough now.
You didn’t say “have one for a reasonable price!”
I’m fairly certain I saw one of these at a mechanic’s shop here in Ventura, CA about a week ago. Don’t quote me on that, though.
Saw one a couple of days ago, didnt shoot it, quite rare in NZ now though the Alto sedan versions are still quite common.
This vehicle is reminiscent of the Cony Guppy from the early 1960’s.
someone handy with the right tools could make something similar out of some wheel barrows, golf cart and some riding lawnmower parts!
TIC of course!
You don’t see many of these on the roads as everyday transport now, not that there were ever a lot! There is one that is on display outside a garage or tyre store not far from me, but it is a bit scruffy so it is not the best advertisement for them really!
They and the hatches were popular for pizza delivery etc. I can understand why they don’t have a tacho, the engine probably gets valve float that limits the revs at a non-harmful level! I would hate to drive one of the automatics though.
Dawww, isn’t that cute, it thinks it’s car…
This is a really cute little vehicle. If it had a bed extender and a tonneau cover it could be a really useful urban scooter. Does anybody remember the Dodge Omni based Ram truck? I wanted one pretty bad years ago. I saw an article in Motor trend mag in the 90s ( the Izuzu vehi cross was on the cover) that showed a future proposal from Plymouth that was quite similar. The little trucklet was shown sporting a rack that could hold a couple of mountain bikes or surfboards. Still seems like a good idea. Chrysler imported a tiny minivan that could have the interior configured to hold two mountain bikes. It wss similar to the Colt Vista but had three rows of seats. These were promoted as “lifestyle” vehicles which has not turned out as successful niche as hoped for. Like the Honda Element. I think these are infinitely more useful than the “Smart” car- which isn’t.
Perhaps you’re thinking of the Mitsu Expo and Expo LRV? I think the second-gen Colt Vista was based on the Expo LRV, which was the shorter-chassis variant (Mitsu RVR in other markets).
There were (and are) also lots of kei-class vehicles that are basically tiny little minivans. Suzuki had a kei-class van of this vintage called the Every, which I assume shared the Cervo/Mighty Boy platform and running gear.
I think a lot of modern keis are going this way because the minicars are very popular again and a little box is the best way to pack the most usable space into those dimensions.
Excellent. Just the thing for days when I’m cursing every one of the Jetta’s 180″ Do a u turn in less than the width of a two lane road, with plenty of room to spare. Snake my way into my garage no matter how crazy the bonehead neighbors park.
Smallest truck I ever saw. Pretty cute though. Big enough for an appliance , maybe.
I assume that was sort of the point (being cute first and foremost, appliance second).
Japan has a long history of tiny little trucks of various degrees of adorableness — in fact, there were mini-trucks long before any JDM automaker really got into building passenger cars because there was a market for the former well before most people had money for the latter. Something like this cost about half as much as a 1.5-liter Corolla, was much cheaper to run, and made a lot of sense if you needed an urban runabout or delivery vehicle that was going to spend 95% of its life at speeds under 40 mph.
I have had mine since brand new, it’s an awesome Aussie ute