james, you might find this interesting, or not. Last night at my lodge dinner the speaker was a brother from Mass who owns 13 dealerships covering 7 brands. Afterwards, I was able to speak to him and passed on your wants as a consumer. He was perplexed that you couldn't find a car to suit you. He said he'd gladly sell you a Smart For2, or a Kia Rio and he'd remove the rear seats for free (that was sarcasm on his part). He pulled out his blackberry and was able to locate 11 Smart dealers in California. He was skeptical of the long term sales outlook for the For2 and hopes the other variants arrive soon. He recalled having lots of 91 CRXs on the lot that he wound up shipping to a dealer in Florida, while he couldn't keep regular Civics in stock.
As far as pickup trucks, he's been selling Toyotas since 1973 and Hondas since 1975 and makes a visit to Japan at least once a year. He said the US trucks and the JDM trucks diverged in the early 80s. The US versions began to offer more size, creature comforts and power while the JDMs retained their strict utilitarian nature. That's about the same time Toyota moved US truck production here because tariffs on imported trucks made them too expensive. In Japan private individuals don't own trucks as they are seen as strictly a work vehicle. He gave me an interesting website:
New Japanese cars,japanese new cars,Japan new car exporter
You can look at all the JDM products. He imported a used Nissan Skyline GT-R through these people. The trucks look very basic. Just what you're looking for.
