Well at least, the strangely modified little vehicle is found in the Northern Region of Arusha, precisely at Usa-River area.
Frankenstein truck?
It is essentially a delivery car, normally seen carting around plastic chairs and tables, sometimes transporting prepared food (and drinks) for parties and meetings as well as carrying other supplies.
The Suzuki Carry can be spotted commuting regularly around Usa-River areas, in Arumeru District of Arusha.
Neither the driver nor the people riding in it are prepared to devulge any information regarding the Suzuki owner or owners or the firm (garage) which modified it
How the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) lets it roam the road despite wearing a disguise not found on any registration log around the globe, is even stranger than the vehicle itself.
The TRA is always sentitive to modifications yet as far as this Suzuki is concerned, the taxman seems relaxed.
We are not sure what exactly has been recorded on the Revenue Authority vehicles’ registry regarding this funny Carry model.
On the other hand, the local traffic police here, who are usually notorious for stopping cars on roads under the most trivial reasons, have somehow also decided to cast blind eyes to the red Suzuki Carry.
The tiny Suzuki is somehow being forced to look and act like a semi-trailer.
The car happens to be the tenth generation Suzuki Carry, (DA/DB52 T) possibly the 1999 model installed with the F6A engine.
This particular Suzuki Carry truck was orginally built as a two-door (and two seats) small pickup with a 657cc engine.
It was meant to carry only two humans. The driver and one passenger on the adjacent seat.
The rest of the vehicle of course being a pick-up, was a flat bed cargo bay.
Now the Tanzanian modified truck now features an extended cabin (Double Cab), which adds a longer bench seat behind the driver, to comfortably sit at least three adults, or four in case they are under malnourished.
Its front cabin featuring a zero overhang, for better approach angle, makes it ugly straight out of the box. The Tanzanian contraption looks even uglier after modification.
… Or Maybe Prometheus vehicle
Outside the unsightly reworking of the chassis and extended cabin as well as lengthened cargo bed, the Suzuki Carry is still the rugged truck that its Japanese manufacturers wanted it to be.
The Suzuki Carry also written as Suzuki Kyarī, is essentially a ‘Kei Truck,’ manufactured by the Japanese car maker Suzuki.
A kei truck, kei-class truck, or Japanese mini truck is a tiny but practical commercial car built to satisfy the Japanese light vehicle statutory class. They are also known as keitora.
Other Japanese car makers such as Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Nissan also make such vehicles.