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There's a company in Vancouver that does this, Japanoid and as a result it's not uncommon to see Paos, Figaros, and various cute little vans around Vancouver. I think there's another company that specializes in Delicas and I see Delicas pretty frequently. I've thought the same thing as the OP, that there's a real good opportunity here for a side business. I'd do it except that I have zero auto mechanical skills nor do I know anyone who does, and I wonder if such a business would be non-viable if one weren't able to easily fix a few basic things oneself. I notice that Japanoid often has only utilitarian kei pickups in stock for sale so I wonder if selling to urban handymen became their main business model. It's fairly common in Vancouver to see landscapers and such driving little Subaru Sanbars around. I agree that I think Autozam prices are going to spike as soon as these things are legal in the USA. I should really try to grab one now but I don't have the money at the moment. I'd really like a Pao or Be-1 too.
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Sep 28, 2017 00:13
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I see S-Cargos in Vancouver pretty often. People get them for company cars for hauling around stuff in the city. There's three ex-company cars on sale on craigslist right now. https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/search/sss?query=scargo&sort=rel I've never seen a Be-1.
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Sep 28, 2017 17:30
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KakerMix posted:Results are in: Oh man now I want to get into this...
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Oct 8, 2017 03:24
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MY INEVITABLE DEBT posted:
holy that's awesome.
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Nov 8, 2017 04:52
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KakerMix posted:Delivery day Man that looks great. I've been thinking about replacing my rusting winter car for a small off road capable vehicle and I've been checking out local craigslist occasionally for an old, cheap wrangler. It has been disappointing how expensive they are. A Rugger or Jimny could be a cool alternative. I had a look earlier today on JapanCarDirect and no Ruggers/Rockys. Seems like more Jimnys though. How often do these Ruggers come up?
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Nov 13, 2017 01:07
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Yeah that's interesting about the rust. I didn't know this until I googled it, but apparently Japan doesn't often put salt on their roads. I wasn't aware of that. I'm actually in the Pacific Northwest, so snow isn't too much of a regular concern, though you can occasionally get a few snow days. The main reason I figure my current car I drive in the winter is rusting away is because it spent about five years in Quebec winters.
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Nov 13, 2017 08:46
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:https://auc.japancardirect.com/aj-qV6rKDT6IYCZvM.htm I see these guys all over Vancouver. Urban tradesmen and landscapers love them.
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Nov 15, 2017 18:16
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lol coincidentally I just spotted this picture in a news article about the military taking over in Zimbabwe.  It's some sort of Kei truck isn't it?
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Nov 15, 2017 18:35
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How do I interpret the results of this recent nice BE-1 auction ? https://auc.japancardirect.com/aj-5lQViUPIxtCGeBC.htm Start Sold for 198 000¥ 0¥ sold Did this sell for 198 000¥? Or was that a starting bid of 198k¥ but it didn't sell (but it says sold anyway?)
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Nov 18, 2017 22:37
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Turns out a BE-1 rated 3 with only 42000 km sells for 459 000¥. https://auc.japancardirect.com/aj-20oC9DW0k1jAeZ6.htm A bit higher than I would have expected but it was only 42000 km.
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Nov 21, 2017 17:38
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Aside from the few dealers that import tons of Delicas, and skylines I'm not sure there's anyone in Vancouver selling weird kei cars or Jimnys on the side. The Japanoid website seems half broken, which makes me wonder if they're still doing much business. I did some searching on craigslist but didn't find many listings.  https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/cto/d/1998-suzuki-alto-works-jdm/6404690844.html  https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/bnc/cto/d/1992-honda-beat-jdm/6384224959.html Both of these are super cool, but seem a bit pricey by I dunno C$2000 or so? I wish I had any sort of reason to own this cool mini truck with tent.  https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/ctd/d/daihatsu-hijet-minitruck-4wd/6397594322.html I've seen a few Suzuki Sidekicks popup on craigslist for around C$9k that were clearly fitted out by hunters. Maybe there's a local market here for that.
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Dec 2, 2017 21:19
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I think the last time I saw one for sale in Vancouver it was priced at about C$6000. 6k-8k seems reasonable to be but 10k+ is a lot.
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Dec 4, 2017 00:50
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I drove by an amazing looking kei van the other day and thought of this thread. Too bad I wasn't walking by and couldn't take a photo. In looking for more information about kei trucks I found this cool blog about Suzuki Jimnys. Unfortunately it is "in construction" but seems abandoned with the last post being from 2015. There is some neat info about late era second generation JA12/JA22 Jimnys though. There was a special edition called the "Fishing Master." quote:The JA22W Fishing Master was based on the XC Hardtop and was intended for people with fishing hobby. The model was equipped with waterproof seat cover, tray mats, and a ceiling mounted fishing rod holder. It's kinda funny that there were two versions released at this time that seem so similar. I suppose the JA22 engine is slightly better. It seems like all the special editions of this era were JA22s. Unfortunately it seems like around this time they stopped putting cool 80s graphics on the cars. If you want cool graphics it seems like you have to forgo the coil springs and get a JA71 or JA11 instead.
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Jan 9, 2018 22:10
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Lots of AZ-1s are modified, and it seems that this one is. Doesn't that mean that it could be an R just purely from the aftermarket mods?
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Jan 9, 2018 23:59
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I've actually seen one of those tiny firetrucks in Vancouver lol
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Jan 17, 2018 06:03
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The Mystery Of The Daihatsu Taft's Name May Be Solved With such a badass name, I might have to grab a Daihatsu TAFT if a good quality one ever pops up. There's two at auction right now but they both look lousy.
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Jan 20, 2018 05:12
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That one is in good condition, I just don't like the canvas top. haha I suppose it is a lot to ask for a 70s era off road vehicle to be in great condition after all these years.
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Jan 20, 2018 05:56
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Auction for a Isuzu Piazza coming up in a few hours. Phone posting so I can’t post pics (maybe someone else can). https://auc.japancardirect.com/aj-99XehzUlAB6QGD1.htm I never even knew this car existed and I don’t know anything about it other than it was designed by Guigiaro and is pretty. Doesn’t seem like they’re that common.
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Jan 24, 2018 23:16
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You could also buy the Giorgetto Giugiaro designed car that came before the Isuzu Piazza, the Isuzu 117 Coupe. 
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Jan 25, 2018 08:01
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Other than the Delica, are there any other cool adventure 4x4 vans?
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Jan 29, 2018 06:18
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Let's have a look and see what cars I was able to find this weekend, casually walking around my neighbourhood in Vancouver, BC, the Delica Capital of the World™. Oh look it's a Delica Chamonix. I'm sure these relatively newer ones are technically better than the boxy ones but they don't have that boxy charm.  I... don't know what this is, but it's right hand drive!  Oh good one of the boxy Delicas. I think this one was a Super Exceed.  Cute! It's a Pao  TURBO EVERY 
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Feb 13, 2018 09:17
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Is it an interesting enough car to import? Seemed like the odd one out to me. Usually you see people importing cars because they fit a need that isn't met by local automobiles (ie. No 4wd adventure vans = import a Delica!) I also spotted a Hilux Surf, but it wasn't very interesting so I didn't take a photo of it.
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Feb 13, 2018 17:35
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Took the dog out for short walk this morning and spotted this cute micro-box truck.
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Feb 17, 2018 19:22
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I walked by that Honda Street again and snapped this photo, which shows the scale of these kei vans in relation to typical NA vans and street scale.
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Feb 18, 2018 01:06
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Gah yeah It's a Suzuki Every Turbo. Brain fart. Hey got it right the last time I took a photo of it! 
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Feb 18, 2018 01:53
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:They are buying both, two outfits (one in seattle, one in Vancouver BC) buying regular ones and doing pop top conversions on them even. Those two guys are probably snatching up 75% of all the delicas (also town ace, hiace, hombres, homies), etc that are up for sale in japan. Was at the port on friday, 6 delicas were waiting to be picked up. Last time i was there a guy was loading 4 delicas. I wonder do you think these outfits are sophisticated enough that they're handling everything themselves on the auction side, or would they be using a service like Japan Car Direct and simply reselling?
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Feb 27, 2018 09:38
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I was considering bidding on this, but it got pulled from auction! welp. 
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Mar 8, 2018 05:54
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DJ Commie posted:Since you do drive your cars around, have you thought about getting some vinyl clings with your contact info so people can inquire about buying them? Especially since you have hit VISIT at least once (maybe in the Rugger too?) and you'd probably find buyers easily without more work than a $5 cling you can move from car to car. Maybe same idea but custom license plate holders?
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Mar 12, 2018 04:29
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Really nice custom paint job on this little commercial kei truck I walked by earlier today.
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Mar 15, 2018 03:42
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Applebees Appetizer posted:
Yeah the YJ I own I bought from a university student that bought it because it was neat, but then realized she'd have to be commuting over an hour every day for her practicum and she quickly realized how bad of a daily driver it was. Also gas in Vancouver is now C$1.50/L lol.
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Mar 21, 2018 16:18
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Good News! I have boarded the crazy train. My brother and I bought a rural property up north (oh god please don't tell the guys in the Canada Debt Bubble Thread) and we needed a 4x4 that can navigate the dirt roads around there and fit his family. Being the good west coaster that I am, I of course suggested a Delica. I just won this. 445k¥  Inspection revealed no faults of note. No tobacco smell which is nice. I got an automatic one since my brothers' wife can't drive standard. I still haven't found a good Delica resource that exhaustively details all the differences between the limited editions and regular models, so I'm still not entirely sure what extras I get with an "Active World" other than neato graphics. Femtosecond fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Mar 30, 2018 |
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Mar 30, 2018 08:08
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Lord of Garbagemen posted:Are you a Canadian Citizen or US? If you are US are you going to try and import it into Canada? I’m a Canadian. It’s port of entry will be New Westminster.
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Mar 30, 2018 16:26
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Fermented Tinal posted:Femto, care to go into any Canadian-specific details wrt to importing? I'd like to know more about what happens once it gets to BC, when you do get it. Yeah I’ll let folks know what happens. This is all new to me. I’m really curious to see how the process works.
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Mar 30, 2018 20:25
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Jalopnik posted an article today about a JDM Kei car I'd never heard of before... the Honda Z! It's a Kei class 4WD SUV that is mid engined, so there's a tiny front trunk you can never make use of. Here's more info from a previous article they wrote. Does anyone know anything about these? There doesn't seem to be a lot of information on them at all. I could get one since I'm in Canada. They seem quite cheap.
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Apr 25, 2018 02:17
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drgitlin posted:Look what just went live at Ars: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/04/a-beginners-guide-to-the-world-of-weird-and-wonderful-japanese-import-cars/ Oh boy byebye deals. As a Canadian I really should have been on this years ago. Whoops.
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Apr 26, 2018 17:17
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lol I asked my contact in Japan about the Honda Z since I'd never heard of it before and I liked the response.quote:Just a regular kei car really I still kinda want to get one because of how cute it is... 
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Apr 27, 2018 14:11
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cakesmith handyman posted:At that price why not? I'd be buying heaps of kei cars except for the fact that I have nowhere to store them and British Columbia's insurance system makes owning multiple cars expensive. I might get one (maybe a Pao or Jimny?) for a daily driver for the autumn/winter due to the fact that Vancouver now has the most expensive gas in the continent at $1.60/L.
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Apr 27, 2018 15:30
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KakerMix posted:gently caress R31s look cool as hell Extremely cool.
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Apr 30, 2018 16:58
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Can I drive my Canadian licensed sub-25 year old JDM import into the USA without it being crushed into a cube? I know that Canada has more relaxed rules about importing foreign cars into the country than America does, but do these rules apply to the car simply being on the road (being registered in another country) as well?
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May 1, 2018 16:59
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Article on Jalopnik today about the Honda City and the Motocompo that was designed to go along with it.
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May 4, 2018 03:10
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