Autobello Piccolina

I suspect that the Autobello was originally commissioned by Mussolini some time before WWII - like the Beetle, production only started after the war - so maybe it was an attempt to one-up the Volkswagen.

(I know 1957 is quite some time after WWII, but 12 years of production and labor issues is pretty much par for the course in Italy )

 

It wouldn't be unibody with integrated fenders if that was the case...

... and nope, 1957 is at least a decade too early for "labor issues" in Italy.

 

I'd say it's more of just an autobianchi-style situation, and the VW-sized engine can basically be ignored, because it's for driving fun.

 

Eh, cars are the only thing Italian labor builds on time.

 

Debatable, it's possibly the least efficient field of the local industry right now, mostly due to FCA having too many underused plants at home, and close-to-nonexistent product demand.

 

At least the launches seem to be on time.

 

And here we go, comparing the real world's issues and stats to a video game.
We don't know what happened for the Pickle to be released at the time that it was, etcetera.

 

Well, it all started with a fairly sensible observation - engine displacement being too large for such a small car of the time, with absolutely no equivalent in the real world.

But hey, last time I commented about the numerous "artistic licences" (inconsistencies, in my book) it didn't end well, so I'll grab my coat while I still can...

 

You good fam.

 

Alright...I'm putting this here because there's no Pigeon thread and the Piccolina's the closest to the Pigeon in performance and size.

Speaking of size...turns out that the big 658cc engine isn't the only thing wrong with the little trike boi, at least if it's supposed to be a kei truck. (Link leads to an old thread about RHD vehicles)

While the standard Pigeon is less than 1.4 meters wide excluding the mirror and stabilizers (meaning it might fit into the 1976-1990 kei car regulations there)...


...it's too long to fit into the 1976-1990 kei car regulations. The maximum length of any kei car from that era was 3.2 meters.


The Pigeon, on the other hand, is a whopping 3.29 meters - meaning that it would be doubly (or triply, if you count the mirror) illegal as a kei truck. Its engine's too big, it's too long...


...and it's too wide with the fender flares.


So, we have an odd mashup here: a 1976-era "kei" truck with 1990-era length and displacement and 1998-era width with the fender flares (and maybe the mirror). What?

Was there a mix-up in development of this little plastic boy? Was this solely for gameplay reasons? Was this an intentional bit of sneaky lore (the car companies in Japan were able to lobby for even bigger displacements and dimensions than they were able to in IRL 1970s)? Or is this not meant to be a kei truck at all...and rather, what we are looking at is an export-market version? It'd be reasonable - lots of kei cars got bigger engines when they were exported.

Just take a look at the 1985-1991 Suzuki Carry - that vehicle got everything from 550cc/660cc L3s to 1.6-liter L4s, depending on the market. It never got bigger than JDM proportions when it was exported (save for the huge Indonesian Carry that only shares the name with the JDM Carry), but the Pigeon at least has some historical backing for having such a big engine.

If it is meant to follow era-appropriate kei car regulations, then could this boy get some shrinking when it gets updated? Any modification done to the Pigeon will break all its mods - might as well make it era-correct in the process.

 

always wondered if the pigeon would fit into kei size regs. the fender flares can be ignored though i think, since they're an aftermarket think afaik.

 

Fender flares could also be a quick and dirty solution to implement wider tracks for export markets, see the Suzuki Jimny vs Suzuki Jimny Sierra.

 

And it have RED turn signals, when its not allowed in Japan

 

I like the idea, but it seems as though there aren’t any plans for export models.

Keep in mind, though, that this post is eight years old and the devs could have changed their minds.

 

Both 3-wheelers and kei cars were sold outside of Japan. It wouldn't be that implausible for Ibishu to make both for export, in the form of the Pigeon.

 

It's a thin justification given that the diesel is pretty obviously built to the 1990-up wreckulations, but it could indeed be an export model exported for use by dockworkers and meter maids in other countries. Vehicles built to fit K regulations have the downside of being utterly useless anywhere outside of Japan without some form of upgrade.

 

It's possible - the van's box is a separate part from the standard bed. But the van is classified as a "Factory" vehicle in the car selector...but so is the 600 (which would be legal power-wise, as power limits weren't imposed until 1990; but again, it uses too big of an engine to be legal as a kei car, and has way too much power to be reasonable for most customers). So I don't really know.

This is rather likely. It's probably the major reason why the Pigeon has fender flares in the first place (other than the stability, of course). But see above on my thoughts on that.

O o f. That's another similarity that the Pigeon shares with the original (pre-release) version of the Piccolina - inaccurate turn signals.

And also, the Pigeon is the only diesel vehicle in the game to have a "Carbureted Intake". There are "diesel" engines that run with carburetors, but those are tiny single-cylinder hobby engines that really run on kerosene. Everything else diesel is run with fuel injection - and although the Pigeon's engine isn't very detailed, there isn't a carburetor on it. I don't know why it's still labeled as being a carb'd engine.

 

Easy fix: 658 Diesel becomes 658 Diesel with single-point EFI, and the 600cc becomes 600cc super bike engine with perf. carbs and the like.

 

it would more likely have a mechanical direct injection system.

 

Experimenting with different body style variants:

As a Notchback Coupe:


As an Estate Wagon:


As a Panel Van: