1997 Daihatsu Hi-Jet Super Jumbo 4WD, 2Hi-4Hi-4Lo, AC, 5MT, Rare · 52,455 mi

From our current Daihatsu stock — a 1997 Daihatsu Hi-Jet Super Jumbo 4WD, 2Hi-4Hi-4Lo, AC, 5MT, Rare, white over its original panels, already in the country. Gearbox: manual. Identified by chassis number S110P-126516.

On paper

• Year: 1997
• Make: Daihatsu
• Model: Hi-Jet Super Jumbo 4WD, 2Hi-4Hi-4Lo, AC, 5MT, Rare
• Chassis code: S11
• Transmission: Manual
• Odometer: 52,455
• Engine: EF-NS 660cc 3 Cylinder
• Colour: White
• Chassis number: S110P-126516
• Body type: Kei Truck / Mini Truck
• Stock reference: BUC62965

S110-series Hijet: the short version

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 52,455 miles, call it 84,400 km. Daihatsu kei vehicles of this period arrive across a wide band of readings, and this one falls in the middle of it.

In use

Low range is the feature that separates a working kei truck from a four-wheel-drive one. A second set of reduction gears in the transfer case multiplies torque and divides road speed, so the truck can creep up a slope or out of a rut under load without the clutch doing the work. On a 660cc engine it is not a luxury — it is what makes the gradient possible at all.

The $12,000 to $20,000 band is where specialist kei trucks sit — low-range transfer cases, locking differentials, factory work bodies, late chassis and genuinely low readings. These are not volume trucks and they do not come up often.

The buying process

At 1997 it is past the 25-year mark, which is the line that decides whether a Japanese-market vehicle can be imported at all. We handle the import and title paperwork, and delivery is available to all fifty states. The figure is $15,900, and a message is all it takes to put it aside.