Our KV4's Birthday: 01 November 1995
In mid 2022, we had a small fleet of Kei vehicles: A 1996 Suzuki Carry dump truck, a 1995 Suzuki Carry truck, and the 1996 Subaru Sambar Dias Classic van with the wheelchair lift in it. We purchased the 1996 Sambar van in hopes of using it with a family member who was in a wheelchair, but we also wanted a really nice Sambar Dias Classic van with a manual transmission for ourselves. Imagine our surprise when not only did we find a nice one, but it was here on O'ahu, and already registered and on the road!
We met the owner and checked out the van. It looked to be in good shape, and already had a set of aftermarket 13" wheels and a ~2" lift with "lift up" springs from Forest Auto Factory in Japan. It's surprising how tall the van is, especially with that extra bit from the springs. When I was the van, even I, Gorilla Man, have to get a step stool to reach all points of the roof.
The "Classic" front that my wife and I love so much. It's such a cool look! (Oops - that's Mrs. Projekt-EN07 in the passenger seat.)
Rear of the van. On the top of the hatch, passenger side, you can see a dent. It looks like someone backed into something and creased the hatch. Eventually that will get fixed.
Not only does it have a sliding door on each side, but the door windows roll down!
Close-up of the Forest Auto Factory "Lift Up Springs."
Closer shot of the A-Tech "Final Mind" GR wheels in 13." The van came with...snow tires on it. <shrug> We got a new set of 155/65 R13 tires from an online retailer and swapped those out.
Here's the driver's seat. The little coiled-wire cup holder on top of the cover over the brake fluid reservoir has come in handy a few times. You'll notice a button (it's orange) on top of the gear shifter. That's the "on / off" switch for the 4WD system. The last time I was around 4x4 vehicles, you had to get out and "lock the hubs" manually. That was more than a few years ago.
Rear seats and cargo area of the Van. Everything in pretty good condition. Even with the rear seats in this configuration there is more than enough space for our Costco / Sam's Club runs.
Previous owner showing us the different configurations for the rear area of the van. You can have the seats up (as above), fold the backrests of the seat forward, or...
fold the entire seat assembly flat with the floor. (one still "up" but you just have to flip it forward and it becomes a very large, enclosed area for cargo. With everything folded flat in the back, I laid down and put the top of my head against the back of the center column, and we successfully closed the rear hatch. We figure the available, fully enclosed, flat-floor area is at least 6' (183 cm) x 4' (122 cm). It's really nice to have the option of a covered space if the weather is yucky and you don't want to take the Sambar truck, which...as of this post hasn't been properly introduced yet. (also, say hi to my old VW GTI which has since been sold. Man, that was a fun car - 6MT, of course, and a great 2.0L turbo engine. Unfortunately, that green color became very dark at night, and people kept trying to hit the car. One successfully.)
We bought the van and brought it home. With the massive assistance from a good friend, we put a new "head unit," replaced the worn out 4" x 6" speakers in the lower dash, and added a powered, enclosed 10" subwoofer under the rear seat ledge. It's not going to win any sound competitions, but with the doors closed it sounds pretty dang good. We also ran a rear camera. That was a job I don't look forward to ever having to do again - took a good hour, hour and a half to fish the damn wire through the tiniest spaces in the side of the rear hatch. The resulting pull-out screen for the "head unit" and rear camera makes backing up a lot easier with the reduced vision afforded by the solid coverings where the rear side windows would be on our KV3.
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