In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show Dec 14, 2023

Exploring the World of Japanese Mini-Trucks and Reviewing the 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor

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Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30 minute mini version of the In Wheel Time car show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am.

Central In Wheel Time car talk.

Outie, it's the In Wheel Time car talk show.

Just ahead, we're going to talk with David McCrishan about the Texas Import Society, along with Tim Odom about Tim's tiny trucks.

Find out how those two things go together.

Plus, we'll have the upcoming events calendar and we'll have Mars review.

You're going to love it.

We're going to have Mars review, Echo Chamber about the new Ford Maverick trimmer.

Sorry, Mars, I know Mars is listening or watching.

Later you'll hear from Jerry Emmons about the Wally racing RStudio this morning, along with the latest used car market stuff.

Outie, along with David Ainsley, who's filling in for Mr Mars this morning.

King Conrad DeLong, we always need more.

Jeff Zeekin, I'm Don Armstrong, Glad that you could join us today.

Okay, so let's find out about this.

Tim Odom, the owner of Tim's Tiny Trucks in Huffman, Texas.

He's one of the largest, I guess I don't know what key.

What is KEI, Tim?

What is that?

That's it's pronounced KEI car and that is a classification of vehicle in Japan.

They're all small cars.

They're regulated by the government what size they can be, linked with height as well as the size of the motor.

Okay, we import them here into the country.

People like them.

There's a large market for street legal vehicles just because they're so fuel efficient and economical, easy to get around.

I'll have to interrupt you and just say this I never understood why the manufacturers in America and the popularity of trucks that they don't go back and make an S10 or an original Ranger Right that size.

There's a desire for it.

I know it's there, but they don't do it.

So you're filling the gap.

You're doing it.

Yeah, yeah, that's what we're going for.

We also have a large segment, all of these vehicles, because they're so small.

They're four wheel drive, so there's a lot of people that like them for off-road vehicles.

So they use them as gear lease buggies, and farmers, ranchers, use them as utility vehicles as well.

Is that the Dihatsu stuff that you see every now and then?

So everything that we carry that's new is Dihatsu, and Dihatsu is just.

They're one of the best for the newer stuff.

But you have everything Suzuki, subaru, dihatsu, which is a subsidiary of Toyota.

All of the major Japanese manufacturers have been in one point some way with a K car.

What does David McChristian have to do with the Texas import society?

So there is a little bit of a legal kind of gray area when it goes to getting these vehicles titled and registered.

Texas Department of Motor Vehicle Policy says that these trucks specifically aren't eligible for title because they don't meet federal motor vehicle safety standards and EPA requirements.

After 25 years you meet two exemptions from the federal government allowing these vehicles to be imported to get exemptions from safety and from emissions.

So Texas doesn't recognize those exemptions and they don't have to.

They have the authority to regulate them how they want.

But we are advocating for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to align state policy with the federal exemptions that these 25 year old trucks are provided.

So if I wanted to buy a new tiny truck and I call you on the phone, you'll say OK, well, what do you want?

And then I would say this is what I want.

You tell me how much it costs, but you guys would do the paperwork to allow me to get this Dihatsu.

So the new stuff would never be street legal.

Everything that is 25 years old or 25 years or newer at the time of importation is not street legal.

So if you want a new Dihatsu, it's going to be off-road.

Use only the older stuff.

That's what David is working with with the Texas DMV to make it easier to license these and get them on the road.

For some reason they've kind of gone against them.

So if I go to Japan, if I go to Japan I find a 26 or 27 year old tiny truck that I want.

You guys will help me get it over here.

Sure, yeah, we can do that.

We do custom orders If there's something you like.

I have a business partner in Japan that helps me on that side with exporting everything and getting it in the country, and, of course, we have a whole team of people that help us on this side with everything getting them in.

But, yeah, if you find something in Japan that you've just fallen in love with and it's 25 years or older, we can get it in the country for you.

And would it be street legal?

It would be to an extent.

Every state and every county has their own rules, so these are what they call gray market vehicles and, honestly, david is probably a lot more knowledgeable about that than I am.

Well, okay, David, that's your turn, buddy.

Yeah, like in my area, the Tax Assessors Office is where we get our titles and registration.

I took my truck down, no problem and got a title and registration.

Some of the bigger areas Bear County, travis County, san Antonio and Austin in North Texas you go to the counter and they can't get a title because this is a mini truck and mini trucks can't have a title in Texas.

So not every jurisdiction, every region of Texas kind of operates under the same rules.

They should.

There's the policy there but some choose to enforce it and some choose not to.

So is that part of the reason?

Because when I hear D'Hatsu, d'hatsu had a retail operation here in the United States for a very short window of time, but you see D'Hatsu's kind of at the golf course kind of thing, which means that they're not on the street, but they're here and they're being used.

They're just not street legal.

Sort of like a big version of a tuk-tuk, in a way.

Yeah, so I'll go back a question where you said in Texas, where are you at right now?

I mean, where are you doing your business if you can't have it in Texas?

So we're located in Huffman, Texas, right outside of Houston.

Okay, and again, a huge portion of my business is the off-road segment of it.

We started out importing for street legal use and when Texas kind of started going against it we switched more towards the newer stuff, the off-road use stuff, which is a huge portion of the market, and that's where we're working with David.

David is making huge steps in trying to get these things legalized for us, where it's a lot easier to get them licensed and on the road.

And that's what confused me when he said in like the San Antonio Austin area they won't do that, but yet he's still here working in the vast majority of the I guess the Houston Market Huffman area as well.

Sure.

Yeah, so is there any inventory of these off-road use vehicles, or do you just do it on a per-order basis?

I carry a huge inventory.

Actually, I have you guys on my phone.

If you guys want to do a little walk around the lot, I can show you everything we've got.

Sure, yeah, let's do that.

Let me get a walk out there with you.

Yeah, Because you know and I realize the reason that they're not allowed on the road, because some of these, I think would fit in the back of a full-size pickup truck with a long bed.

Yeah.

So the biggest reason that they're not allowed on the road is NHTSA's safety regulations.

Somebody would have to do crash testing on them and they would have to meet all the US safety regulations.

Bumper regulations, airbags yeah, the regulations are free, they go are exempt.

We're losing it yeah we're losing it.

We lost you.

It's the distance away from the building.

Yeah, we lost your signal, so how long does it take for you to make or to get a title, tim?

So a title on a street legal vehicle is really not that hard as far as time-wise, it's just a legality of it.

So basically you just need to get the paperwork.

You do have to inspect it, take it to the DMV.

We're in Harris County, which makes it everything a little bit longer just because of how big it is here, but yeah.

Those are pretty neat.

I like them yeah.

Yeah, so this is the new Dihatsu, and this is a little shaky here.

These are the new Dihatsus, so this is our inventory.

This stuff would all not be street legal, but these are really good off-road.

And here's four-wheel drive, as AC has heat.

These things are really advanced.

The new ones these have collision avoidance and parking sensors and stuff that you just would never get on.

What we're competing with is the side-by-sides can-and-polaris, stuff like that as utility vehicles.

So, yeah, you get a lot of options that you would never see on the utility vehicles and the price is a lot better.

These new Polaris, I mean, you want something with a cab and AC.

You're looking at $40,000 to $50,000.

Wow, and something like this.

These are the highest end.

These have everything you can think of, and these go for $27,000, $26,500.

The price point is really there.

The first ones on the end that you saw those right there.

What's the value of those?

Those are $28,000.

So these sell for $26,500.

This is a Dihatsu which is again built by Toyota, and these have all the options you could think of and of course, we do a lot to them and we buy these.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

What?

What use would those be the people who are buying them?

What are they doing with them?

They're using them as a utility vehicle.

So this would be a replacement for a Canam or a Polaris, you know.

Instead of a utv you would get something like this here Okay, just driven on private property.

Correct yeah, yeah, off-road use some of the stuff we have that is street legal.

I can show you guys, I'd be so tempted to take that this grocery store.

This one here would be street legal.

This is legally exempt.

This isn't considered a mini truck, so this one actually would would not be an issue right now.

This is a Suzuki Jimny, so they've been making this.

This is actually what the samurai body came from here in the United States, but this is 660 cc turbocharged engine in it and it is course, four-wheel drive.

This is one we had rebuilt.

This is actually a 93 that had a frame off restoration down.

How many do you have on your property?

How many do you have on your lot right now?

About 25.

Well, I like that one.

It's got a little Box set up.

It looks like the beer truck yeah it is.

This is a Refrigerated, insulated cooler.

Yeah, but it is a beer truck, that's your beer truck, yeah, yeah, when your cooler can't hold enough.

We got something like this, I think, for a deer camp, something like this would be great.

You know, you can feel it full eyes, fill it full of beer, put your deer in there, whatever you need.

Put your deer in there.

Oh, whatever oh wow, we have this one here.

This is a real decommissioned Japanese fire truck.

How cool is that.

Yeah, you've missed some of them down there.

What would what?

how would you wind up with something like that on your lot there?

We imported it from japan, so that's a and you think that there's a market, somebody's gonna want to buy that.

I think you know no truck maybe the Huffman fire department would like an addition to their.

You know I thought so I want to walk around the front here and show you guys the front of it.

I thought, so this is actually the fifth one that I've imported, um, and the fifth one I sold and I thought the fire trucks would do well, but it's always property owners and they like uh, property owners and and people with kids, because the kids just love the old fire trucks.

But, um, this actually has a 65 horsepower transfer pump on the back of it that works.

So people, you know a lot of the property owners are using them to move water and whatnot In the fire trucks.

People like them just because, uh, how good of shape they're in.

This thing only has, uh, 3,900 miles on it.

Oh my wow, what year is it?

It's a 1999 wow, it's great shape.

You got one next to it with the, the beds kind of raised up, scissored up, that's a scissor lift.

That's a deer lease.

That's your deer there you go, the deer stands.

Where do you get parts for these?

Yeah, yeah, this one.

We actually don't have it uh listed yet because I I made a project out of this one.

I've got a guy building a custom four by six, uh fiberglass deer stand, uh deer, blind to go in the back it's uh and the whole scissor lift system's on a remote, so you'll be able to go in, go in and and basically be a mobile deer blind.

That won't be top heavy Boom.

It's gonna fall right over.

I don't know.

We have outriggers on it.

Oh, there you go, four little outriggers that come out with trailer jacks that stabilize it when you're up in the air.

That is so nice.

What a great business, and I assume that you're successful because you're still in business.

You've got 25 on the lot.

Yeah, I've been importing them for about five years.

Where do you advertise this stuff?

Uh, so we do a lot of social media advertisements, um so, and that's where the bulk of it is, and of course we're on a pretty busy, uh, road, road, frontage road out here at Hussman.

So oh, that's awesome.

I'm gonna go get one, I know.

I love those things I like the first ones he showed with the big racks on the roof that the uh, the camel and the first ones also look like kind of an extended cab version as well.

They are.

That's called a jumbo cab.

So you have an 18 inches of extended cab, which gives you a little bit more room.

So I've got a question while you're doing that.

So I own one of these, I'm, I've got it and it says purpose for my property, but I take it out on the road and I get caught.

What's the penalty?

Uh, you know, I I'm sure it would be the same.

I I don't know the the legality of it, but I I would guess it would be the same as driving like a side-by-side, driving an unlicensed vehicle on the road.

No, confiscated put you in jail, would you?

have any Epstein, I'd just kill him on you.

I don't know if it's that serious.

These are you, oh they're only off road, off road I like that one.

That was pretty new, because they don't meet them.

Years ago I knew a guy.

I knew a guy that actually took vehicles that were not Um.

Legal here in the united states and made them legal.

Um, really, yeah, that made them legal and uh, it was, he was a mechanic and um, he had to have a special license to do this, but um, he made them legal.

Uh, I don't think that was a safety concern, I think it was more of epa kind of stuff, but uh, at any rate he did, and he did quite well in his business, uh, by, you know, converting these things to make them Uh legal here in the united states.

I think they're pretty cool, but these are all street legal in japan.

Yes, yes, they are street legal in japan.

Now are these considered JDM's?

oh, yes, definitely, yeah, yeah, this is.

This vehicle has never been produced for outside of the JDM market.

We import them and.

I had to themselves.

They've never put this vehicle outside of Japan.

Can you imagine going to a JDM meet on a Friday night?

That would be so cool well, and, and, and.

Then have your scissor lift bed go up with your importation of stuff?

is this generally the market that you play in?

Is the Truck, semi truck kind of vehicle you don't play in like the, the hot rod, nissan?

stuff right.

You know we do, and I can't get them in the country.

I don't keep a stock of them, it's just outside of my market.

But we we can definitely get them for people and it's just on an order-by-basis with the hot rod style stuff.

So do they also make these in a, for lack of a better phrase?

Yeah, that's what I'm looking people movers yeah, this is a deck van.

In the deck van they actually take the van body and they put a little truck bed on the back of that.

I'll walk back to you guys.

So it has just a little truck bed on the back big enough for your cooler.

That's it, yeah yeah, barely big enough for your golf clubs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, these are popular as well and of course, their four-wheel drive, so they're off-road use.

But we have a huge market with the four doors, with sporting clay shooters, so we have a lot of people that buy those for sporting clay tournaments and whatnot to get around in.

That's awesome.

So what's the typical range of price for these things?

He said.

But 20.

Okay yeah, well, prices start around 8,500 on the use stuff, something like this, like that be 17,000.

You know another 17,000.

I think this one's 16,000.

So, yeah, they're kind of all over the place in prices just because we carry such a variety of conditions, age and whatnot.

So how do we, how do we get in, how do we get in touch with you guys?

I mean, where do you?

We find you.

So we have we actually have just rebranded.

We have a new website, triple t powersportscom, that has all of our Japanese stuff on it, as well as some.

We carry Motorcycle side-by-sides, four-wheelers and stuff like that as well.

Tell everybody where Huffman Texas is.

Huffman, texas, northeast of Houston, right outside of the umbil area, right by Lake Houston Got you Cross 1960 and make a left.

Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, cross 1960.

Make a right on 2100 and we're right by the.

You'll see as soon as you turn on the 2100.

On the last, Okay perfect, all right.

Well, hey, it's great to talk to you guys cool.

Yeah, very, we're gonna have to get back in touch with you guys in, and when you get some new inventory that you think is Unusual and neat, give us a call.

We want to get you on and talk about it.

Sure, let's do that, sounds great.

David, christian and Tim Odom.

Thank you guys, and we'll talk to you again soon.

Thanks, I think, Fun, yeah, yeah, fun, fun.

All right, let's see Michael's, mind you that if you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email.

The address is info at in wheel time comm, and be sure, and follow us on Facebook too.

Time now for let's.

Let's do this.

Let's, let's do the 2023 Maverick trimmer review that mr Mars has recorded for us for today's playback, and.

Yeah, the sound quality is awesome.

Yeah, it's.

This is from a 1935 phone booth, and here now is mr Mars with the review of the 2023 Ford Maverick.

Okay, mr Mars, hello this week I had a chance to drive the 2023 Ford Maverick.

This is a compact pickup that was first reintroduced in 2022 under the Maverick name.

That does come in three trim levels and excel, excel T in a lariat, but you can also get some packages to add on top of that, such as the trimmer, which is what we ended up with.

So we had the 2023 Ford Maverick lariat trimmer all-wheel-drive vehicle.

Again, this is a compact truck.

Up front You're gonna find LED lighting, automatic headlights, power side mirrors, we've got some power sliding rear window, got molded splash guards in the front and the rear Trimmer packaging all the way around, and it comes with a full-size spare to go along with the 17 inch dark aluminum wheels.

This is the off-road package, so it's all got skid plates and a lot of other features on it that you're gonna want to go a little bit off-road.

Now, inside, we're gonna find front bucket seats.

The second is a flip-up seat with Storage underneath.

It got an 8 inch center stack touchscreen on it.

That's where you're gonna find your rear view camera.

You're gonna find your Ford sink 3 and all your infotainment and convenience controls also has wireless charging now under the hood.

What's gonna make this go?

There is an option for a 2.5

liter hybrid, but we happen to have the 2.0

liter equal boost, which is the turbo version.

This does produce 259 horsepower, 277 pound-feet of torque, backed by an 8-speed automatic transmission.

Now you package all this together like this and you can tow up to 4,000 pounds.

It's a haul rating of 1,500 pounds as well.

Now Ford says that you should get a combined of about 25 miles to the gallon on the vehicle.

I got 19.3

across the hundred and sixty four point nine miles that I was able to drive this vehicle.

It is an off-road package so it does have that off-road suspension, the skid plates, the heavy-duty shocks, so it's got a very firm ride and there was some noticeable wind noise at speed.

That, yeah, it was noticeable.

Now, now the base Model price for this will get you 2419 into a Maverick.

Now the base trim price that we were working with is 27955.

Add on the trimmer package and a few other things and ends up with an MSRP of 37485.

Now to compare that, about the only compact out there right now is the Hyundai Santa Cruz and they haven't released the 2024 pricing yet on that vehicle.

There are more Coming in the pipeline.

Apparently it's still not the really small Compact or subcompact vehicle.

It is a four-door vehicle.

It doesn't have a separate bed.

It's kind of a unibody type vehicle, kind of a almost like an SUV, the CUV type vehicle, but it combines, tries to make the best of both worlds.

So if you're looking for a compact vehicle that will do a little bit of hauling, do a little bit of off-road, do a little bit of everything.

You might want to look at the 2023 Ford Maverick trimmer package and that's my review of the 2023 Ford Maverick Lariat trimmer all wheel drive.

Direct and live from mr Mars.

Thanks, mike, direct and live from mr Mars mother's house.

Hey, I think it was a bathroom with that echo.

Oh, he said he went to mom's living room because it had a carpeted floor.

Oh, yeah.

What we didn't hear, that at all.

All right, let's do the events calendar Conrad.

Saturday, january 13th, from 9 to 11 am Is the Chick-fil-a on Ellison's pre-opening event car show.

They're offering all participants to come on out, get gift cards for free chicks, chick-fil-a Sandwich and nuggets.

So if you want some free Chick-fil-a it'd be worth going.

And that's going to be at a 22 159 FM 529 and Katie, and sign me up, I'm a Chick-fil-A fan.

And then Rudy's presents a fire up car and truck show and that'll be January 20th at 9 am to 2 pm and that's going to be the Rudy's at State Highway 249 in Tombaul.

Also January 16th is the cars and coffee.

Toys for Tots toy drive and that's going to be at where we at West Houston on Westheimer, 26600 Westheimer Parkway, and that's put on by West Houston.

Muscle toys for Tots drive and then the Tombaul VFW Stuff the Bus toy drive.

That's tomorrow and that's going to be at the Tombaul VFW and that's it all right.

Well, he's left me a task here and this is going to be the recalls.

What we have here is the first one is a BMW of North America, the steering gear improperly tightened on the BMW 230i, 330i, the x3, the x4, all of the 2024 model.

So they're already out, they're already coming back.

Doors may not oh, our doors may open while driving on the Ford Fiesta 2015 models.

Well, for Fusion 2016, the Lincoln MKZ, which, well, those are pretty nice cars we're here, the doors.

A good thing.

Only got four of them, sometimes two that many of them won't open.

Here we go with a Volvo car USA.

The front passenger airbag may deploy improperly the safest car in the world.

Yep, it's on the s60 and it's the 2019 through 2024 models.

We've got a Rivian automotive deactivated defroster and defogger system controls.

Don't do you know?

It's the Rivian RS7, 2022 to 23.

The Rivian R1T, which is the 22 to 23 model.

Then we've got the seat belt bracket improperly welded on the what Cadillac Lyric.

Oh my god, 23 to 24 models.

That's terrible, you know.

That's just tragic.

There loose seat belt buckle attachment bolt on the Chevrolet Silverado EV for 24 model and the GMC Hummer EV for 23 24 miles like a lot of ED recalls, because there's more out there.

People are, you know, flying out they.

They are broken, don't build them right.

Yep, high voltage battery may fail and cause what a thermal event.

In the Jeep Wrangler 21, 23 models, oil leak from unsecured hose.

On a Land Rover Range Rover 24 model oh my goodness bring your graham crackers, marsh marsh, mellows and chocolate and have a smore sure you secure your hose missing internal bushing and brake calipers on the Nissan Rogue 21 model, and the last one I have is the driver's airbag inflator may explode on the BMW X3.

Oh, we just did that but it only explodes once only one time, and then there you go.

So that's what we have on the recalls you ever watch an airbag explode?

I've seen a violent yeah, I've done them.

You can do it with a 9 volt battery.

No, it's not and say we did not not.

A good thing, listen, we want to.

You know, scary, yeah scary yes, it is scary fast.

Hey, I want to remind everybody that this program is available 24 7 on iHeart radio.

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About this episode

David McCrishan and Tim Odom discuss the growing popularity of Japanese mini-trucks, known as KEI cars, and the challenges of importing and titling them in Texas. They explore the utility of these compact vehicles for off-road use and their appeal as economical options. The episode also features a review of the 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor, highlighting its off-road capabilities, pricing, and features, making it a versatile choice for those seeking a compact pickup.

Original notes

Want to know more about the world of small, fuel-efficient Japanese trucks and their journey to Texas shores? We've got you covered!

We're joined by Tim Odom, owner of Tim's Tiny Trucks, who shares insights on the surging demand for these vehicles and the diverse ways they're being used. We also uncover the legal maze surrounding their import and registration, as David McChristian, a man on a mission to align Texas state policy with federal exemptions, enlightens us.

Ever wondered why certain off-road vehicles aren't allowed on the street? We tackle that question head-on at a dealership's lot, exploring a variety of models, including a feature-packed Dihatsu and a street-legal Suzuki. Stick around as we discuss the potential uses of a decommissioned Japanese fire truck and touch on a unique scissor lift deer lease vehicle.

And it doesn't stop there! We shift lanes to the 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor, a compact pick-up oozing with features. Our own Mike Marrs, shines a light on the highlights from the LED lighting to power side mirrors, not forgetting the turbo 2.0-liter engine.

We also flag upcoming car events and recent recalls. Lastly, we introduce you to the iHeartRadio App and the InWheelTimeCarTalk App as go-to platforms for all your car news and reviews.

So, buckle up for a thrilling ride through this episode of In Wheel Time Car Talk program!

Be sure to subscribe for more In Wheel Time Car Talk!

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In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show

In Wheel Time Podcast | Automotive talk with Don Armstrong, Michael Marrs, and Jeff Dziekan

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31:36

Exploring the World of Japanese Mini-Trucks and Reviewing the 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor

Ford Maverick

Ford Ranger

Suzuki Jimny

Suzuki Samurai

Renault Wind

Tesla Semi

Volkswagen Golf

Lotus Excel

Hyundai Santa Cruz

Hyundai Santa

BMW 230I

BMW 330I

Ford Fiesta

Ford Fusion

Volvo S60

Rivian Rs7

Gmc Hummer

Chevrolet Silverado EV

Jeep Wrangler

Land Rover Range Rover

Bmw X3

Nissan Rogue

About this episode

Original notes