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Junkyard Gem: 2005 Isuzu Ascender

We know the GMT360 platform best as the basis for the Chevrolet Trailblazer and GMC Envoy, but there were four additional trucks in the GMT360 family: the 2002-2004 Oldsmobile Bravada, the 2004-2007 Buick Rainier, the 2005-2009 Saab 9-7X, and the 2003-2008 Isuzu Ascender. All these trucks were more or less the same, but the Isuzu is by far the rarest; I searched for a junkyard Ascender for months before I found this one in Arizona. Exact production figures are tough to find, and some will tell you that the Saab 9-7X is even more rare. In wrecking yards, though, I see SaaBlazers pretty regularly, but it has been like pulling teeth to find an Ascender. Perhaps the Saab name adds more value than the Isuzu name, when you're searching for a used SUV. Isuzu dealerships in the United States sold Ascenders until the fateful day in 2009 when the company packed up and left the country. Had the Daewoo brand stuck around in the United States past 2002, we might have seen a Daewoo-badged GMT360 as well. Ascenders were built in Ohio and Oklahoma. This one, photographed in Phoenix, came from the latter plant. Most of the GMT360s could be had with various flavors of V8 engines as optional equipment, but nearly all of these trucks came with the Vortec 4200 4.2-liter straight-six. My 1941 Plymouth project car is getting one of these engines. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "When it comes to power and space and value, three out of three is not bad." Featured Gallery Junked 2005 Isuzu Ascender View 20 Photos Auto News Isuzu ascender

Junkyard Gem: 1998 Isuzu Oasis

When I'm crawling through a big self-service wrecking yard (as I do at least once a week) in search of interesting discarded vehicles, the top of my "look for" list always includes weird and obscure examples of badge engineering, the weirder and more obscure the better. So far the Nissan-made Suzuki Equator has eluded me, but I have managed to shoot such junkyard badge-engineering oddities as the Mitsubishi Precis (Hyundai Excel), Acura SLX (Isuzu Trooper), Saab 9-2X (Subaru Impreza) and Saturn Astra (Opel Astra). Isuzu's dire need for a minivan in the late 1990s led to a deal with Honda to sell the first-generation Odyssey as the Oasis (even as the Trooper became the Honda Passport). Few bought the Oasis, but I found one in a Denver yard a few months back. Pure Honda throughout, down to the VTEC badges on the engine. This is the 2.3-liter F23 four, rated at 150 horsepower for 1998. Sold new in Denver, will be crushed in Denver. Though Americans bought many a Geo or Chevy built by Isuzu during the 1980s and 1990s (not to mention the big-selling Isuzu-made Chevy LUV truck of the 1970s), the Isuzu brand never really caught on over here. By 2009, Isuzu was gone. The first-generation Odyssey was well-made and efficient, but it was designed for the Japanese home market and thus was too small for most American van shoppers in 1998 (most of whom were moving to SUVs around that time, anyway). You could fit a lot of people and gear in this small-footprint machine, but that was more important in crowded Japanese cities than in sprawling American suburbia. Collectible? Not at all. But an interesting piece of automotive history. I can't find any Oasis ads online, so let's watch a JDM commercial for the first-gen Odyssey, featuring the Addams Family. Featured Gallery Junked 1998 Isuzu Oasis LS View 17 Photos Auto News Isuzu Automotive History

Junkyard Gem: 1986 Isuzu I-Mark Hatchback

Thanks to the long global reach of The General's tentacles, Americans looking for economy cars at GM dealerships during the middle 1980s could buy Suzukis (the Chevrolet Sprint), Opels (the Chevrolet Chevette), Daewoos (the Pontiac LeMans), and Isuzus (the Chevrolet Spectrum). Just as Mitsubishi sold Mirages in the United States while Chrysler continued to sell the Mirage's Colt sibling, Isuzu moved in with the new front-wheel-drive I-Mark to compete with its Spectrum twin. These cars weren't big sellers and they didn't last very long on the road, but I managed to find this '86 in a Denver, Colorado, self-service wrecking yard. The I-Mark was known as the Gemini in its Japanese homeland and in Europe; the front-wheel-drive second-generation Gemini debuted in 1985. This one didn't make it to 150,000 miles, unlike most of its Honda, Toyota, and Nissan competitors, but it was pretty cheap when new. The hatchback listed at $7,149 in 1986, dismayingly more than the stripped-down '86 Civic 1.3 hatchback ($5,479) but closer to the similarly equipped Civic DX hatchback ($6,699). If you were really brave that year, you could have purchased a new Hyundai Excel for a mere $4,995. This is the base engine, a 1.5-liter four rated at 70 horsepower. Believe it or not, an I-Mark Turbo was available a year later, and it boasted 110 horses. My favorite thing about 1980s Isuzus is the way the HVAC controls are labeled. You can choose between "wind in your long, feathered hair" and "wind on your high-heeled disco boots" settings here. This car is in very nice shape for a dated econo-commuter from a long-departed brand, considering that it survived for a good 20 years while being worth approximately scrap value. For the very strong owners of decade-old Chevy Vegas, the Isuzu I-Mark seemed like a wise choice. Some of the first appearances of the soon-to-be-legendary Joe Isuzu were in I-Mark ads. Priced at only $9!