Sometimes a tuner doesn’t bolt someone else’s face onto a car — it hands the car back its own. That’s exactly what Japan’s Damd just did. Its Roots kit throws a modern Suzuki Jimny half a century into the past, straight to the very first Suzuki off-roader of 1970. And this one you don’t measure by numbers. You just stare at it.
The idea is almost insultingly simple — and it nails the model’s character. Forget the conversions into a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, a Bronco or a Defender: here the Jimny refuses to pretend it’s anything but a Jimny. Damd drags it back to its roots with new front and rear bumpers, a reshaped grille, fresh lighting, lower moldings and the obligatory mudflaps behind the wheels. Pay extra and you get different mirrors, a roof that mimics a canvas top, and a roof rack. That last one isn’t a whim — it’s a rescue, because the Jimny’s boot is tiny.
The full package throws in five retro Apio Wildboar SR wheels — spare included — and Bridgestone Dueler M/T 674 tires in 185/85 R16. It’s the wheels that finish the picture. What stands in front of you is no show-stand toy, but a small, honest 4x4 from the past that somehow woke up with modern hardware.
And now the numbers. The kit costs 627,000 yen with tax and paint, but without fitting — roughly $4060 or 300,000 rubles. The base Jimny in Japan starts at 1,918,400 yen, about $12,430 or 919,000 rubles. Add it all up and you land near 2.55 million yen: around $16,500 or 1.22 million rubles.
And here’s the catch. The base isn’t the export Jimny with the 1.5-liter engine, but the Japanese kei version. Under the hood sit just 660 cc, 64 hp and 96 Nm, the body measures only 3395 mm, and the four-wheel drive is part-time. So no, it was never going to out-muscle a full-size SUV. Instead it’s a pocket-sized all-terrain machine for narrow lanes, forest trails and cramped cities, where size beats power.
