Comments on: Register a tiny truck in Cally?

Question: Register a tiny truck in Cally?

asavage — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 00:34:25 -0800

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?

By: kcm

kcm — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 00:41:15 -0800

I'd start with Bajaj.

By: ninjew

ninjew — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:46:02 -0800

A similar question (link to my response).

By: buggzzee23

buggzzee23 — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 04:52:46 -0800

How about an American Micro Truck?

By: toxic

toxic — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 06:03:42 -0800

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.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 09:50:19 -0800

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.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 09:51:51 -0800

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.

By: AmbroseChapel

AmbroseChapel — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 14:24:44 -0800

>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.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 15:03:09 -0800

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

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

(forgive the tangent!)