Rare 1993 Trooper Rs 2-door Off-road Configuration on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Junkyard Gem: 2000 Honda Passport 4WD

The suits at American Honda Motor Company must have spent the bulk of the 1990s tearing out their hair in frustration as their rivals raked in big money from the sales of ever-more-profitable SUVs, even as American car shoppers lost interest in sedans and hatchbacks. Oh, sure, the Civic-based CR-V appeared here for the 1997 model year and sold well enough, but the lack of a larger SUV pained Honda more with each passing year. With the Acura MDX and Honda Pilot not ready for showrooms until the 2001 and 2002 model years, respectively, some stopgap had to be found. Isuzu stepped up and made a deal with Honda: the Rodeo would get Honda badges and become the Passport, while the Trooper would show up in Acura showrooms with SLX badges (for the 1994 and 1995 model years, respectively). Here's one of those Passports, found in a Denver-area self-service yard. Things got even weirder in the Isuzu/Honda world around the turn of the century, with the Honda Odyssey getting Isuzu badges and being sold as the Oasis. Fast-forward to 2009, and the only Isuzu-badged vehicles available new here were rebadged Chevrolets: the I-Series pickup (Chevy Colorado) and the Ascender (Chevy Trailblazer). The Passport name has some interesting American Honda history, stretching back to the first Honda vehicle sold here (and the biggest-selling motor vehicle in human history): the Super Cub. American Honda Motor Company couldn't use the Super Cub name on our shores, because Piper Aircraft had been selling a small plane called the Super Cub since 1949, so the motorcycle was called the Honda 50 over here. Eventually, this bike got a 70cc engine and became the Honda C70 Passport, sales of which continued through the middle 1980s. That means the Passports sitting in your local Honda dealership right now got their name from a one-cylinder motorcycle. General Motors has a Passport connection as well; when GM created the Geo brand to sell rebadged Isuzus, Suzukis, and Toyotas in the United States, it created a marque called Passport to sell the Daewoo LeMans as the Optima in Canada (all the other vehicles sold by Passport dealers were Isuzus). So, Honda's need to offer SUVs in its American dealerships led to an arrangement with GM-connected Isuzu to sell these trucks with a model name bearing links to both companies. So much history in the junkyard! Just as Geo-badged Toyota Corollas (mostly) got Delco radios, so did the Passport get Honda radios.

Porsche revives Pink Pig and Rothman's liveries for Le Mans

Long-time fans of Porsche, particularly its motorsports history, are in for a treat at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The company took two of its 911 RSR race cars and gave each of them a famous color scheme from the past. The designs are part of the company's 70th anniversary celebration. The first and most unusual paint scheme is a modern rendition of the "Pink Pig." The design was used on a Porsche 917/20 in 1971. Just like the original, it's finished in a pale shade of pink with dotted lines marking out sections of the car. Each of these sections has a label for a different cut of meat from a pig. The other livery isn't as strange, but it's no less recognizable. It features a blue, red and gold color scheme of tobacco company Rothmans. Rothmans was a sponsor of many racing Porsches over the years, and the colors appeared on everything from Le Mans racers to the Paris-Dakar 959. This version on the 911 RSR notably lacks any tobacco branding or advertising. The two 911s with the retro colors will be competing alongside 8 additional 911s with more modern liveries. They will compete in the GTE classes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Cummins and Isuzu to collaborate on prototype electric truck

Cummins, the company known best for its diesel engines, just announced a partnership with Isuzu to “create a prototype medium-duty, battery electric truck” for North America. Exploration of electric powertrains isnÂ’t totally new for Cummins, as itÂ’s talked about a transition to electric since 2017. In fact, Cummins even revealed a battery-powered truck back then, too. This electric truck with Isuzu is new, though, and itÂ’s going to put the Cummins PowerDrive6000 powertrain into IsuzuÂ’s F-Series truck that you can see in the photo above. Cummins does not detail specs for its PowerDrive6000, but weÂ’ve seen the drive unit used in a hybrid concept from Cummins previously. It provided 50 miles of electric range when the battery pack in that truck was full, but with this being a full battery electric vehicle, we suspect that Cummins and Isuzu are using a much larger battery pack for more range. We donÂ’t have any vital specs like range or power, but we suspect those will come at a later date. This year will see Isuzu and Cummins put the truck through a pilot and demonstration phase in North American fleets. After thatÂ’s been completed — assuming it is successful — the partnership could see Isuzu and Cummins collaborate on building battery electric trucks for commercial use here in North America. “We are excited to be working with Isuzu to accelerate decarbonization within the partnership,” said Amy Davis, Vice President and President of New Power at Cummins. “ItÂ’s through our joint commitment in innovation that we provide our customers with safe, reliable zero-emissions solutions.” Related video: