“Kelly’s car has been cared for very well and changed many parts to new ones.”
If you were ever after a slice of surf memorabilia wrapped up in the genius that is the Japanese Kei car, well, you’re not going to stroll past Kelly Slater’s 1990 Honda Street four-wheel-drive.
Kei cars, also known as “kei-jidosha” or “light automobiles,” are a unique category of small vehicles in Japan with specific size and engine displacement limitations set by the government.
The dang things are everywhere in the land of stagnant real estate, millions of made over the years, and Kelly’s has a wheelbase of 75 inches, a 660 cc engine with a top speed of sixty-five miles an hour. It is, if you need perspective, the size of a refrigerator laid on its side, yet surprisingly spacious inside, fitting four adults inside real easy.
Kelly’s Honda has a miserly 24,000 miles on the clock, is painted a gorgeous two-tone navy blue and white and a with a grey-and-off white cloth interior.
Room for sleds, your pals, and it ain’t gonna faint if you get it near a little sand, although it is recommended to replace those tiny 12-inch wheels with something that’s gonna give you clearance and bite.
Price? Twelve gees.
But who knows? What is the buyer can’t get finance? Or there’s a change of mind?
You gonna buy?
And why Kelly selling such a pretty thing?
You can afford anything you want to haul your ass around in with a 5’6″ . And you get this……? What Day fuck ever.
I believe Jeffrey Dahmer fit more than 4 adults in a refrigerator. Not sure if his was Japanese?
With what seems to be enough money to sustain his and his family’s lifestyles, you would wonder what drives a person to not donate the vehicle to a charity or worthwhile recipient, interesting values on display by KS.
Raimana disappointed about the decision probably.
Bit of a squeeze for ol Raimana, I think.
“Regrettable sale. My Chinese girlfriend just had a baby. She said we can name the kid Kei-Eleven but the van has to go..”
Any surf pics you can share?
If you have to finance that, you cannot afford it.
Is Kelly running short on coin?
Shintaro Van Slater it is!
Xox
Imagine a Golfcart you need to register, insure, and safety check every year, and if you take it on the freeway or up a hill everyone behind you will want to kick your Ass for slowing traffic. They barely hit 55mph under the most perfect flat road conditions, and they’re minimum 20yrs old requiring constant maintenance. Steering on passenger side to…lifes different in Japan… Who knew?…. more as the story calls Triple AAA….
Yeah, that’s exactly the type of car I can imagine Kelly owning.
A boring tight arse till his end day
Little known fact, Kelly actually invented the van life movement.
Ke11y Sprinter
i love those little nuggets. local company gives the suzukis etc a good farm upgrade, perfect for round here.
https://www.impactoffroad.co.nz/vehicle/2000-Suzuki-Carry/13322?s=1
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
OMG those teeny wheels are so cute.
Twelve glorious inches!
Kelly slater man of the people
(not newborn people)
When you’re stateside, you can only find those high mileage ran through Japanese models. My years in Japan I’ve been able to enjoy some low mileage(sport package)models. Mostly the ones that could go up and down the coast with me, ferry rides and could handle my load.
yep. thing about Japan is they make the fees so high on older cars that they turn them over pretty quick, you can get them for a steal. same as electronics. they tend to rotate household appliances every couple of years. Bulk item day is like Christmas.
buddy of mine used to go around on bulk item days, grab what looked good and ship everything in a container to PI. made a fortune selling barely used Nippon appliances.
Socially mandated planned obsolescence rather than built into the product as most other places. Interesting.
Speaking of planned obsolescence, The Inertia and Kooks-R-Us; I saw this ad recently and LOLd.
Yeah OK there’s a grain of truth here but still squarely aimed at SL Man.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
purely a consumer driven economic plan.
if you make people believe that what they purchased three years prior is completely outdated, you keep them buying…and it works. it’s how the Japanese economy became so strong.
The frightening part about it is, everything you buy in Japan is outdated within three years, because of their goals to rapidly advance technology(s).
One of the most incredible places I’ve ever lived.
Where’d you live? Was just there 10 days in late July on way back home. Osaka-Kyoto-Tokyo jaunt…even took the train out to Kamakura for a day and got a knee high wave with my son. Somewhere down the line thoughts of teaching ESL and escaping there to live out into retirement, surfing the southern islands and getting some cheap land. Mind the earthquakes, of course. But we loved it there.
Lived mostly in Tokyo (Nogizaka) over a span of 8 years. About a year of that in Osaka.
Incredible place, fun surf even near Tokyo, Chiba and the islands, but you don’t need to go to the islands to score. Housing is expensive in the cities, but great prices just outside and with the incredible JR rail system, you can be in the city pretty quick. Chiba (Ichinomiya area) or Kamakura are nice places to live, close to the surf and more laid back coastal communities. Even Shonan is pretty inexpensive (beach town 30 minutes from Tokyo) . Great snowboarding as well in the nearby mountains.
I absolutely loved living in Japan. Very safe, and for the most part people are very kind. Once you make a few friends, they’re friends for life and always there when you need them. Japanese surfers are usually pretty cool to Gaijin. Respect paid, respect given.
Pick up an inexpensive van or ute for coastal cruising and take the trains to the city. In Tokyo, you can bike or motorcycle everywhere.
One of the best things about Japan is the transportation systems. Good idea for the retirement plan. Plenty of employment opportunities for a white boy. You’ll do well there. Life is pretty relaxing outside the cities…..and you get used to the earthquakes.
I suggest we put in a few bucks each to buy it.
Then set fire to it in the Ehukai Beach Park carpark…
There can be no doubt cheap as chips Kelly needs a little street cred.
His no James dean.
If he was he would only have 4 world titles.
Not sure if it’s a good idea to try and sell it on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
Just typical Ke11y throwing a little shade…
He needs to free up cash to buy some land in Syria.
Gotta love the footage of people walking out of the presidential palace with office chairs and kids throwing rocks at statues. Nothing like a Middle East regime change.
I’ve seen lots of footage of M.E. regime change over the decades.
Nothing in any of them were 1/10th as bizarre as some of the shit that was seen (and found) when the US attempted regime change.
Apparently the new leader says “it’s going to be a beacon for the Islamic state” which means it’s going to be another hell hole.
Middle East has been hopeless my entire life.
Statue suurfing
It’s a thing now