In April, 1970 the Suzuki Jimny 4WD vehicle arrived. This car was developed
from the Hopestar ON. The body was open with canvas doors and there were 3
seats. The wheelbase was 193 cm, the suspension a rigid axle with leaf
springs front and rear on a separate chassis. The engine was initially the
2-cycle 2-cylinder air-cooled 359 cc, which became water-cooled in May,
1972. At that time a 2-door wagon was added. By 1976 complying with the
revised standards for the kei car vehicles, the engine became the 3-cylinder
539 cc (in the export since 1974), and the length grew to 317 cm by
putting the spare wheel at the back of the car instead of inside; this meant
that in the open version there was now room for 2 opposite seats at the
rear. The car was named Suzuki Jimny 55. By extending the wheel arches, the
width of the car grew to 139.5 cm in May, 1977. In October, 1977 the Suzuki
Jimny 8 was added with a 4-cylinder OHC engine of 797 cc. In October, 1978
an open body with metal doors was added. In the export the cars were called
Suzuki LJ10 with the air-cooled 359 cc engine and Suzuki LJ20 with the
water-cooled 359 cc engine, by 1974 renamed Suzuki LJ50 with the 539 cc
engine, and in 1977 Suzuki LJ80 with the 797 cc engine with a length of
318.5 cm. There was also a pick-up version of this vehicle with a wheelbase
of 220 cm and a length of 362 cm, called Suzuki LJ51 and LJ81 respectively.
