IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: Honda TN-Acty (first gen) ~ Kei truck

Today's video is sponsored by Adrian Flux
The video content features a first generation Honda TN-Acty and if you like to follow along with text, the about section part of the video is below:
Today we’re out in a Honda TN-Acty, which was a micro van kei truck style vehicle created for the Japanese domestic market and was designed to comply with the Japanese 1975 regulations whereby taxation classes changed and vehicles over a certain dimension with a certain engine size no longer fitted the bill.
The Acty came to market in July 1977 and replaced the TN36 and the T360 and was fitted with the EH engine - a 545cc 2 cylinder water cooled, buzzy little thing which as you’ll see on test, does fly once put to the test. It’s only 28 horse power, but honestly, it’s a lot faster than you think it’ll be!
Funnily enough, although the Acty was sold in Australia for a brief period of time, it was the engine which halted sales down under because Honda were concerned the engine was underpowered for hillier terrains across the rest of the country.
The Acty as you might’ve expected, is rear wheel drive and the model we’ve got today is the 2 door pick up truck which is what they were at launch. If you’ve ever seen the 5 door vans, they were introduced two years after launch in 1979.
It’s also worth noting, the model we’re testing today is the much lesser spotted first generation which was made from 1977 to 1988 - we know this is an early one because it’s a pre 1982 facelift where the lights were changed to look more wraparound - this retains the first generation pre lift front end styling.
As you can probably see, this is a pretty petite little workhorse and she’s just over 133 inches long, 58 inches wide and has a height of just over 68 inches; making her a lot smaller than her competitors like the Bedford Rascal and Suzuki Super Carry.
However, despite being pint sized and only running the 545cc engine, it can carry up to 772lbs of load - which is pretty good going and makes it incredibly practical - although I imagine at full load the cruising speed would be ridiculous.
Although it’s always to be taken with a large pinch of salt, I did run the Acty through how many left dot com and the website is showing less than 100 licensed for road use - so even if we are liberal with those figures, it would seem the days of the average small goods seller running one for their business is long gone.
I also thought I’d give a nod to the Acty’s acting credentials too, because if you’re of a certain age you might be getting flashbacks to the late, great comic Rik Mayall and the Mr Jolly Lives Next Door series and if you’re slightly younger, the friendly faces of Sooty and Sweep and the Sooty Mobile; which was in fact is rumoured to be the first Honda Acty to be imported into the UK.
So that’s a little on the Acty and her history, let’s pop inside and have a closer look at the dash layout.