BOSTON – When Raymond Moy drives through Boston, heads turn. The Quincy man with a big personality drives around in a tiny car – a Daihatsu Mira Van, imported from Japan. The car is only 4 feet wide and 10 feet long and can fit into practically half a parking space in a street spot.
“It’s really easy to find little spots where we can just kind of fit into because somebody either messed up the spot or it’s just a little gap where you happen to be able to fit,” he joked as he squeezed into a parking spot.
The small cars from Japan are popular among a group of enthusiasts nationwide. They’re called Kei cars, short for kei-jidÅsha, which literally means “light automobile.” Moy himself has a collection of nearly 10 of them – his most expensive one cost just $10,000.
Why were Kei cars banned in Massachusetts?
However, despite the three he has on the way from Japan, his ability to drive them on the roads was abruptly halted when the Massachusetts RMV announced in June that it would no longer allow the cars to be registered to drive on Massachusetts roads.