NZ Performance Car – September 2019

His choice may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Chris

tells us that finding a Mira with four doors and

dual sunroofs was just too good to pass up. With it

packing 63.4kW inside a 550kg frame, we wouldn’t

complain, either

With the cylinders bored out to 72mm and a

custom Kelford unit calling the head home,

there’s plenty more to be drawn out of the

three-banger, and Chris has every intention

of seeing it up in the 90–100kW range

the

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he words ‘kei car’ and ‘performance’ are so seldom

used in one sentence that the only recorded uses we

could find are in reference to the lack of examples. It

makes sense; the defining characteristics of a kei car

effectively dictate that it will be tiny and slow, with

the trade-off being crazy fuel economy — regulated from the

factory by maximum dimensions, an engine capacity of 660cc,

and a power output of just 47kW. They’re perfect daily-drivers

and perhaps the last choice for a thrilling drive. However, for

those proficient in Japanese (or in Google Translate) and with the

patience to scan the depths of the Internet, there are secrets about

these little fuel-savers that would have us all happily sitting behind

the wheel of one of our own.

Think about it: with featherweight figures on the scales and

potential for solid power increases, the recipe is there for the taking

— you just need to know how to read it. The design-lab madmen

who were responsible for crafting these things almost certainly

wanted us to discover it too — why else would they have made

limited-edition sports variants that saw little huffers hung off the

side of bulletproof three-bangers? They were showing us how to

do it in the only way they could. Over-engineered for reliability and

underdeveloped in terms of power to satisfy legal requirements,

these vehicles are class-A examples of how to beat the system.

Feature-car owner Chris O’Neil found the recipe young, when

hacking around in beat-up Honda Civic and pushing the limits of

an inherited Fiat Uno. When a new project was on the cards a

couple of years back, he didn’t take much convincing about what

it would be based on.

“I had just started a new job, and my [fiancée] and I were

planning our wedding, so I thought I could really do with a project

car to manage the stress levels,” explains Chris. “I recalled that a

mate of mine, Tim Hart from Compact Motorsport, had a Daihatsu

Mira sitting on his back lawn that had been stripped in preparation

for a full track car overhaul. One phone call, and I was over there

the next day picking it up.”

Chris tells us that it was the rarity of this particular Mira

that solidified the deal. In 1990 specification, it’s the very last of

the L200 generation, and it not only boasts four doors, which

is uncommon enough, but also has the nearly unheard of dual-

sunroof option. Exhaustive research by Chris revealed very little

about this unicorn configuration, and he believes that it might very

well be the only example residing in Australasia. To do the car the

PAINT: Resprayed in 2K pure

white by Bradley Woodger

and Chris

ENHANCEMENTS: Panel beaten,

TR-XX front bumper, TR-XX

rearbumper

INTERIOR

SEATS: TR-XX

STEERING WHEEL: OMP

INSTRUMENTATION: TR-XX

cluster, Turbosmart boost gauge

ICE: Kenwood KDC-BT530U

Bluetooth head unit, Kenwood

KFC-M604P six-inch three-way

2 70W components