Register a tiny truck in Cally?

September 17, 2006 12:34 AM

I have a small commute (10 minutes) and I want a small truck. Real small.

I had my sights set on a Piaggio Ape (that three wheeled flatbed truck that's only 10 feet long and EVERYWHERE in italy), then on the Kei truck from Japan. Only thing is: even though these suckers can get over 50 mpg in some cases, they're not necessarily leagally registerable (sp?) in the US.

Probably even more so in my state (California).

Has anyone out there had experience with bringing trucks of the Micro variety into cally and successfully registering them for road use?

Bonus Question: any suggestions to other micro trucks and potential US dealers of such?

posted by asavage to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

I'd start with Bajaj.
posted by kcm at 12:41 AM on September 17, 2006

A similar question (link to my response).
posted by ninjew at 1:46 AM on September 17, 2006

How about an American Micro Truck?
posted by buggzzee23 at 4:52 AM on September 17, 2006

Seconding a Bajaj three wheeler (which is ultimately a Vespa design with about 25 years of Bajaj evolutionary changes -- not quite the same as the Ape, but somewhat similar). The American Micro Trucks aren't street legal in California. San Francisco has at least one Bajaj dealer.

Because a three-wheeled vehicle is technically a motorcycle in California, that's about the only way you're going to get something keicar sized on the road legally -- unless it's old enough to be exempt from airbag and smog regulations.

There are some exceptions for low-speed electric cars (called Neighborhood Electric Vehicles) like these from Gem, as long as you don't take them on a road posted with a speed limit higher than 35MPH. But I doubt you want to show up at work in what amounts to a golf cart.

The three-wheelers that the metermaids prowl SF in have been known to show up at auction as well. It wouldn't take much fabrication to put a small truck bed on the back of one of those.
posted by toxic at 6:03 AM on September 17, 2006

Note that the AMT site says their trucks are "limited by law to a top speed of 25 mph." I have no idea why this is.
posted by chrominance at 9:50 AM on September 17, 2006

Oh, and with regards to importation: a small company called Japanoid already does this in Canada. Their FAQ suggests it would be very difficult to import Kei cars into the States for road use.
posted by chrominance at 9:51 AM on September 17, 2006

>Note that the AMT site says their trucks are "limited by law to a top speed of 25 mph." I have no idea why this is.

Because if you corner too fast narrow-wheel-base trucks just fall over? I saw this happen once to a Japanese micro-truck. Three blokes got out of it, lifted it back onto its wheels, got back in and drove away. It was like a cartoon.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 2:24 PM on September 17, 2006

Because if you corner too fast narrow-wheel-base trucks just fall over?

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

(forgive the tangent!)
posted by chrominance at 3:03 PM on September 17, 2006