June 2024 Wheels by the Waves at Bellows Air Force Station

Andy Kauffman
Jun 16, 2024
2 min read

I believe I was invited to my first Wheels by the Waves at Bellows Air Force Station by my buddy, Matt, in April, 2024. It was icky weather, so Matt and I were the only ones that showed up. I, in my 1997 KS3 Sambar pickup, and Matt in his totally awesome 1994 E-KK4 Vivio RX-R! That was the day l simultaneously learned I could fit in the Vivio and that I wanted one. It has the same EN07 engine family as my truck and vans, it's just this one (EN07X) is DOHC, supercharged, and intercooled, and made 62 hp @ 7,200 rpm (64 PS / 47 kW), and 78 lb/ft of torque at 4,000rpm (10.8 kg/m / 106 Nm). The redline was 9,000rpm. I can't wait 'till Matt gets the little black bean sorted out so I can hopefully take it for a spin. I'm pretty sure that's just going to set the hook further in my cheek and make me want one. Small kei car, around 1,500 lbs (680 kg), manual transmission, stratospheric redline, and angry bee noises? Sign me up! (I'd really like to find an RX-RA, which was the homologated version for motorsport. That one is going to be a bit of a quest I think.) Here's a couple of shots from that April day:

Ok, on to the June 2024 event! Met my buddy, Matt again. This time he drove his white, 1996 Daihatsu Move SR-XX. Turbocharged and intercooled 3-banger. This one is automatic transmission. I drove my 1995 Subaru Sambar Dias Classic (KV4, 5MT). Check out Matt's sweet 90's 3-spoke wheels and neat little fold-down cup holder in the door. Both Keis were a big hit!

My '95 Sambar Dias Classic KV4. The Japanese were really good at designing the seats to fold into all sorts of useful layouts. The horn button is missing because I think the day before we had gone somewher and it got stuck in the on position. I just reached down and ripped the whole thing off. Oops. Thankfully it just pressed back on.