If you’re old enough to remember Suzuki’s Samurai, you’ll recall they were EVERYWHERE in the ’80s and ’90s. A favorite in the Hawaiian Islands, too, and probably should have been the official trucklet of the road to Hana. A rough and tough little SUV with a really short wheelbase, it rode like an apple cart and had a tendency to roll over easily.

So why not add a healthy horsepower injection and makes things interesting? Here for your perusal is a purple, paneled version of said diminutive Suzuki ute out of Richmond Virginia. In the video above from YouTuber freakingeagle, we see a little bit of action, but would love to see a little more, and there’s a comment about dropping a 327 in it, which we’d love to see.

The 1.3 Suzuki 4-pot motor was yanked and replaced with a hopped up 3.8 Buick V-6 with custom cam, Holley 390 4-barrel carb, Weiand riser intake, custom headers and exhaust, and a turbo 350 transmission. The dropped front suspension is custom fabricated out of 4-inch tubing, with a narrowed Chevy S-10 axle out back, rolling on big meats and mags.

The exterior is purple base coat with fake hood scoop, sheet metaled in side and back door windows and numerous custom styling tweaks. Inside sports 5 point, Summit racing seats, full gauges and roll cage.

This little SUV won 1st place at the 51st Annual Asphalt Angels Festival of Rods and Customs in Richmond but hasn’t seen much road time with only 600 miles since completion. This would make a great promo rig for a business and after hours, you could lay down some stink on some back roads.