Mitsubishi Type 73 light truck (first generation)

The first-generation Mitsubishi Type 73 light truck, known as the Kyu, entered production in 1973 on the chassis of the Jeep CJ-3B that Mitsubishi Motors had been building under licence from Willys. Mitsubishi then modified it into the CJ-3B-J4 and CJ-3B-J4C, and later replaced those with the CJ-5A-J54. Both gasoline and diesel variants were produced, more than 200,000 in total, and production continued until 1997 after the second-generation Shin trucks entered production in 1996. The Kyu were exported, mostly declared as military surplus, to the Philippines and South Vietnam, where the South Vietnamese army used them as one of its main jeeps beside the Willys M606, M38A1 and M151A1 during the Vietnam War, and to New Zealand for civilian use. Base models for personnel and light cargo transport were designated J24A, J25A and J23A, with other variants carrying radios, recoilless rifles or missile launchers.