My pal Jonee Eisen is the proud owner of a 1960 Mazda R360 and a 1960 Fuldamobile. In addition to those two micro cars, Jonee used to own a Subaru 360, a Subaru R2, a DAF 66, a BMW Isetta, a Renault Le Car and a string of AMC Pacers. Like us, he’s pleasantly mental. I accompanied Jonee to pick up the shift linkage for that Fuldamobile. Interestingly, the Fuldamobile is about five feet long (seems that way) and the shift linkage is four feet. But you can’t fit a four-foot piece of metal into a 860 lbs. R360 (or for that matter a two-foot piece of metal). Nope, for something that major you need some LUV — some 1979 Chevy Mikado LUV.
Why precisely Chevrolet went with a Gilbert and Sullivan title as an option package for their Light Utility Vehicle is (kinda) a mystery for the ages. Perhaps the marketing department figured that in the middle stages of the mini-truck craze, anything even vaguely Japanese stood as both good MPGs and reliable in the minds of consumers. Being built by Isuzu, the LUV was in reality very Japanese. But how do you let the people know? I got it, Mikado — Brilliant! All humor aside, this is a desirable little truck, what with its trademark Mikado yellow paint, blank pin striping and classed up interior. Never mind the 21 second quarter mile (when new). If you’ve got something to haul that doesn’t require something from the Nimitz-class in terms of gross vehicle weight, the LUV Mikado can get it done with ease. And a little bit of grace in its old age, too.
I surely love me some little trucks.
Is this a clunk bucket though? I had a image of this car being a popular car between the rodders to swap a V8 into?
Love the LUV. And I didn’t even know what a Fuldamobil was until now. And that’s why I read Clunkbucket. Thank you.
It’s a terminally cute automobile, isn’t it?
The best part about Fuldamobiles (and the little Mescherschmits) is that they don’t have reverse gears. To go backwards, you turn the ignition key backwards and the little one cylinder engine goes backwards
So…here’s the thing. It’s not that it’s a 30 year old Japanese mini-truck. It’s not that it’s a shining example of why a pitcher of beer consumed over lunch can lead to odd marketing decisions. No, it’s the bumper stickers that get my attention. Nothing says malaise mobile like an Anderson for president sticker and a Hartford Whalers sticker. I had to remind myself that it’s 2009.
The Mikado. We had one at Scout camp for toting around tents for the summer setup. Sometime in the mid-80’s. It lasted all summer despite all our attempts to kill it.
And because we were in the south, it was the Mick-ah-doo.
This beauty is obviously from a sunny part of our world because LUV trucks in the Midwest rusted upon delivery to the first owner, like most early Isuzu products. Just ask Joe.
As far as Fuldamobils, these little throwaway crap cars were licensed to be made in about a zillion different countries. I would love to find one of the two different Greek attempts.
The Greek Fuldas were the Attica and Alta and were sold up into the late 70’s making Fuldamobils the most durable of the microcar marques. For a crap little car, it’s pretty well engineered. The front suspension design was adopted by Audi for all their rear-wheel drive cars. Of course, it’s slow as hell as the old fibreglass is a lot heavier than you’d think, and it has a whopping big glass window in the back.