1996 Daihatsu Hi-Jet 4WD, 2Hi-4Hi, 5MT, Great Value · 50,865 mi

If a kei truck is what you are after, start with this 1996 Daihatsu Hi-Jet 4WD, 2Hi-4Hi, 5MT, Great Value, listed as White. It runs a manual gearbox. Identified by chassis number S110P-**2411.

Key figures

• Year: 1996
• Make: Daihatsu
• Model: Hi-Jet 4WD, 2Hi-4Hi, 5MT, Great Value
• Chassis code: S11
• Transmission: Manual
• Odometer: 50,865
• Engine: EFNS 660cc 3 Cylinder
• Colour: White
• Chassis number: S110P-**2411
• Body type: Kei Truck / Mini Truck
• Stock reference: BUC16051

About the S110-series Hijet

S110 is the four-wheel-drive version of the Hijet Daihatsu built from 1994 to 1999, using the 659cc EF three-cylinder. Work-specification trucks on this chassis — the Climber and the various dump bodies — were offered with a two-speed transfer case giving a genuine low range, and with a locking rear differential. That combination in a vehicle this small is the reason S110s ended up on Japanese hillside farms.

Odometer at 50,865 miles, call it 81,900 km. Daihatsu kei vehicles of this period arrive across a wide band of readings, and this one falls in the middle of it.

The configuration

The Hijet's strength is the breadth of what Daihatsu built on the chassis. The same cab-over truck left the factory as a flat bed, a tipper, a scissor lift, a mobile kitchen and a dozen other things, all engineered around a 660cc engine under the cab floor and a frame rated for the kei class payload.

Between $8,000 and $12,000 the market moves from ordinary trucks to better ones: later chassis, lower readings, fuel injection, air conditioning, or a factory option that is hard to find. The step up from the mid band is usually specification rather than condition.

To proceed

Built in 1996, it sits the far side of the 25-year federal import cut-off. Customs entry, import documentation and title work are all done here, and we arrange transport to any state. The figure is $11,000, and a message is all it takes to put it aside.