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Find Of The Day: Anime-Edition Microbus

If you’re interested in today’s Find Of The Day, gather your loonies and your toonies quick; bidding ends Tuesday evening. What is it you’re bidding on? Why it’s the cutest little Subaru Microbus you’ve ever seen.

Subaru!? Yes, Subaru. Now before you get all excited Ms./Mrs./Mr. Car Nerd, there’s no turbo-charged flat-four Subaru engine hanging out of the back of this Micro Machines Microbus. This vanlet sports an inline four-cylinder engine. Sad face emoji. But it does have a supercharger! Ironically enough an EMPI supercharger (but not that Empi). Happy face emoji! And like all great Subarus, it’s all-wheel-drive. Japanese schoolgirl squee!

[See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com]

So what exactly are we looking at? Well this is a Japanese-market Subaru Sambar. Sambars came in two configurations – pick-up truck and Dias van. Sambars are Kei cars: very basic tiny cars with small displacement motors. Kei cars are taxed at a lower rate than traditional cars and owners do not have to provide proof of parking to own a Kei car. They almost look small enough to sell from a vending machine. Japanese girl giggle!

Interestingly, Subaru sold their own retro version of the Sambar, the Dias Classic. Maybe it was this model that inspired companies to bring back the iconic Microbus. Through a quick face transplant and a butt-lift, this 1990 Sambar becomes a 1960’s-something Samba. And while no one will mistake this itty-bitty Bus for an actual one, it’s still quite convincing.

So grab Shotaro Kaneda, Sailor Moon, and Speed Racer and bid on this faux Volkswagen. But you’ll need to leave your neighbor Totoro and Pikachu behind; this mini-van only seats five.

Check out the auction on bringatrailer.com for more information. This Kei van is in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Current bid: $4000. Bidding ends 9/11 at 5:40 pm EST.

The post Find Of The Day: Anime-Edition Microbus appeared first on VWVortex.



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