Remember the Daihatsu Rocky? No? That’s OK, several vehicles of this type sank without a trace during the late 1980s and early 1990s (e.g., the Dodge Raider), and Daihatsu itself fled the United States in 1992. I see Daihatsu Charades in self-serve wrecking yards about every six months these days— including this ’89 and this ’90— and I don’t bother photographing most of them. A Rocky, on the other hand… well, let’s just say that this is the first Rocky I’ve seen anywhere in at least five years. How many are left on the street in North America? Hundreds? Dozens?
There must be at least one in the Denver area, because this junked example has been picked clean.
These little trucks came with a 1.6 liter engine and front- or four-wheel-drive.
Are project Rockies worth anything? Apparently not.
Right after I photographed this Rocky, I felt compelled to go on eBay and buy a vintage Daihatsu Racing sticker for my travel laptop. I also got a Daihatsu patch for my race suit.
I was so inspired by the sight of this Rocky that I dove down the rabbit hole of 21st century Daihatsu mini-SUV ads, and there I found some seriously frenzied Daihatsu Terios-thrashin’ stuff. Perhaps Daihatsu will return to the US soon, with a Rocky-badged Terios. All right, let’s watch some Rocky ads!
The actors in this JDM Rocky ad need to lay off the helium, is all I have to say.
In Germany, a romantic approach was used to pitch the Rocky (badged as a Feroza in Europe).
For Australia, the Rocky (Feroza) was compared to the body of Surf Iron Man Champion Guy Leech.
Another Australian (or maybe New Zealand) ad shows the Turbodiesel Rocky, which was apparently half Ferrari and half tank.
Also an excellent choice for surfers who liked to crash through sand dunes. Wouldn’t some of those impacts have set off the airbags? Oh, right— pre-airbag era, carry on!
You have a Clermont Lounge sticker? Thank you for the flashbacks to alcohol infused bad decisions of 10 years ago.
I used to go there when I lived in Atlanta nearly 20 years ago and was hanging out with Cabbagetown rockabilly dirtbags. Truly a place of bad decisions. Got the sticker from an Atlanta-based LeMons racer.
I remember these. I’m not sure what kind of performers or how durable they were, but they were cute as a bug’s ear.
A friend had one about twenty years ago. He’d bought it new and put a couple hundred thousand miles on it. Unfortunately, once Daihatsu was gone, parts were hard to come by. This was in the days before universal utilization of the internet, and tracking down brake parts and wheel bearings in 1996 was difficult enough that he bought a new truck and retired the Rocky to one of his family’s farms. He replaced it with a new Dodge Ram 2500 4×4 IIRC, which must have been quite a change after driving about a thousand miles a week in a Rocky with a ragtop.
I bet performance wise these little guys were right on par with the Samurai. And every bit as tippy.
Not to mention the few Rocky’s that do manage to make it on to Ebay still sell for very little, even with lower mileage and in very good condition.
Show proof! They never show up, and when they do they’re crap!
If, and when, one shows up, Sir, I will send you a notification.
I’ll be sure to place a bid on it for you, as well.
And once you bring it home, get used to everyone asking, everywhere you go… “what is THAT?”
“Die-a-WHO?”
Hello i own 2 rockys first one i got 20 yrs ago and she still on road …got 2nd one about 3 yrs ago as a parts car it has all the bells ans whistles..and it runs as well justinside shot to hell from weather exposure over the yrs..i wouldnt sell mine for anything plan on passing down to my daughter as her 1st car..tuff lil things the stories i can twll ya lol…
These were far more powerful than Samarais, not that it means they were actually powerful. They were closer to the Sidekick/Tracker four cylinders of the day in performance though.
It’s not hard to beat 63 horsepower…I’d guess these Rockys had somewhere around 100, give or take 10 horsepower.
Yes, I bought new and owned a Sammy for 5 years. Had to have the trannie rebuilt at 65k and put a total of 95k miles on it before selling it. I think the Rocky was a better effort all the way around and had a wider stance/was much less tippy than the Sammy.
Rockys were 4wd, with independent front suspension like a Sidekick. The Samurai had live axles front/rear, and were much better off-road. The Samurai was not very “tippy” compared to other SUVs of the time, like the Bronco II, S-10 Blazer etc.
The Rocky wasn’t a bad vehicle off-road, and they were stable on-road as well. They were fun little trucks as were the Samurai/Sidekick/Sportage and originally these all had real 4wd systems with low range transfer-case gears. Some of the Rockys even had a limited slip rear differential. They weren’t marketed well, and their car line was mostly junk. Finding parts is probably a nightmare these days.
You sure these were FWD? I seem to remember them having conventional layouts with a real High/Low range conventional transfer case and transmission. The Orientation of the motor and the beefy transmission tunnel in your example support this. I thought they were more in line with the Samurai.
They were not FWD.
These are RWD/4WD with a transfer case and built with BOF, just like a Sammy.
Yes, mint one on E-Bay…6 grand starting bid LOL but it does look like a real 4×4 not a FWD based deal.
Here is a local CL ad:
http://knoxville.craigslist.org/cto/4373681104.html
In recent years I have seen more Rockys than Charades. This amounts to one Charade and two or three Rocky’s.
I remember seeing a Rocky around town…once. Years ago.
But it was in good shape.
On that last video link, glass roof option whaaaaat!?
Clarkson did a test of the Terios in the English countryside probably 4-5 years ago. He liked it and it proved very capable.
I almost bought one of these in ’92. Same dealer had Isuzu, Mits…and something else. I went with the Isuzu P/U. Great trucklet. 4cyl, 5M, 4WD. Short wheelbase. Big fun on Guam running the boonies.
There are a couple Rockys running around Vegas to this day, and a Mitsu Raider I see often.
There are a few of them on the roads of San Diego too. They’re uncommon enough that I point them out to my mostly disinterested friends.
Come to think of it, I had a customer call into my work looking for parts for his Rocky last week. Nice enough guy, he had heard that Toyota owned Daihatsu (which they do) but that’s strictly JDM. Unfortunately I couldn’t help the guy as all I can get is USDM Toyota parts on my catalog….. it doesn’t even cover the Mexican Hilux sold roughly 30 miles south. Going back to the Rocky, he told me that parts are practically impossible to find, even in the aftermarket and these are super rare in junkyards.
I’ve seen maybe 2 of these…. maybe? Very rare. I’ve literally seen more Nissan Skyline GT-R’s (yes, seriously) vintage Corvettes and the like, clean unmolested Jeep CJ5’s, hell even a LaForza!
These are pretty cool and are curiosities….. but here’s the problem…. why would you buy this over a Jeep Wrangler or even a Sammie?
When I was growing up, we would listen to the radio every morning before school (my parents were both teachers). And for a while I distinctly remember hearing ads for the Daihatsu Rocky. I think our local Chrysler dealer also sold Daihatsus. But whoever paid for those radio ads had it pay off as I remember seeing enough Rockies running around town and not thinking twice about it.
Of course, I also remember thinking Daihatsu cars were a total joke on the same level as Yugo. But they entered my consciousness the same time as Hyundai did, so that may not have helped.
I thought that Daihatsu was owned by Toyota and that it designed, engineered and build the bulk of their JDM mini cars. I believe the Charade, a subcompact, had the largest wheelbase of any car they made.
Daihatsu definitely suffered for coming here coincident with a wave of low cost/lower quality cars. While they were tarred with the Hyundai/VW Fox crap-brush, they were also every bit as expensive as the best compacts. The combination made their cars pretty much sale-proof. The Charade looked like a Subaru Justy or Geo Metro on paper, but it cost as much as a Civic. Bizarrely, Charlottesville’s BMW-Audi-Porsche dealer picked up a Daihatsu franchise. I vaguely recall a buy-one-get-one-free promotion involving Charades and 750iLs.
Too bad this example doesn’t have much left in the way of clues to it’s final voyage/owner, other than it ended face-first into a K-rail.
It looks more like a sideswipe while turning right. That’s some nice pre-VOC paint. But the EPA never asks if we’d accept slightly worse air pollution in exchange for quality auto paint, an acceptable trade-off to a guy dealing with #&$@%* water-based paint fade.
A friend of mine has one of these. It’s great for putting around town in the summertime. I’d never heard of the car until I saw his.
During their short life here in the states in the 80’s and 90’s Daihatsu’s were quite a rare find here in the Northeast since their dealer network was mostly in the west and south. Back in the early 90’s I used to see a Rocky like this one tool around Brooklyn. Their mini-compact with a 3-banger was aptly named Charade. A comparable Geo Metro was a better vehicle.
Writer friend of mine may still have hers on her property. The US-market Rockys (Rockies?) got a wider track and bigger fender flares than the JDM versions, because Suzuki Samurai and the number of teen girls who rolled same.
This is a rare find. Apparently it was in an accident and managed to stay right side up.
The Daihatsu Rocky has all but vanished in Australia. I haven’t seen one in ages.
This model was sold as Feroza to the rest of the world, while the bigger brother shown in few of the ads was the Rocky.
Liked mine back in Europe. Economical and nimble but with such a short wheel base the suspension left things to be desired at times.
Reliability was good once a number of supposedly minor thing it came with were taken care of. The dealer jumping with joy yelling sold at what was supposed to be me insulting offer!
http://allentown.craigslist.org/cto/4388172119.html
Wow, I found a Rocky near me. 2 grand is a decent price for such a rare vehicle, but I’d be so afraid of breaking something and finding zero parts that I’d never drive the thing…
Truly, that car is made of lots of unobtanium. It looks very sturdy, in a “third world SE Asian jungle town mud street” kind of way.
Whenever I watch TV shows or movies and see stuff like FJ70 Land Cruisers and old Nissan Patrols, I always get a little bit jealous because those are some tough vehicles…
And yeah, the Rocky definitely looks like a sturdy little off road thing, just like the Samurai did.
They were called Fourtrak here in the UK and came with a 2.8 turbo diesel, a firm farmers favourite as they’d pull heavy trailers and were very durable. Until the rust got to them, (when it did the 2.8 d was whipped out and plonked into a pre TDi Land-Rover as pre 1990 Defenders did not have a good diesel option).
As the Fourtrak, these sold these in the UK well up into the early 2000’s. They were very good trucks, with independent suspension on the latest ones, and a very tough diesel engine. The LWB models seated seven and looked similar to the 2 door Land Rover Discovery. However, there the similarity ended. These were very tough and today are loved by country farmers and people with land they need to drive across and horse boxes to tow. I think they are really the replacement for the FJ/BJ40- a good short wheel base go anywhere Toyota. 25-30mpg with a diesel and rugged 4wd system are good, but sadly rust can be as bad as the old FJ’s, well hidden under plastic bodywork until it is too late. Buy a good one and a mig welder and you can be off roading for years.
ROCKY DAIHATSU FOR SALE IN MICHIGAN. I have a Rocky 1992, fairly good condition, no rust. Green color, hard top. If anyone is interested in purchasing this amazing car email me at mtennant@nmu.edu. I am a college student and need cash, super sad to have to sell such an amazing car.
I have a 1990 red se w/ 152k on it. There are at least 4 others that I have seen here in Colorado Springs. Wish I could post a picture. It looks great and gets a lot of comments everywhere I go.