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Junkyard Gem: 1994 Isuzu Rodeo 4WD

After a decade in which Isuzu-built Chevrolet LUV pickups, Isuzu-engined Chevrolet Chevettes and Isuzu Geminis with confusing "Opel by Isuzu" or "Buick/Opel Isuzu" badges, Isuzu finally began selling Americans its vehicles with Isuzu badging in the early 1980s. There were Isuzu cars, sure, but the P'up pickup and (starting in 1984) the Trooper SUV showed that Isuzu was likely to rake in the most yen by selling trucks on this side of the Pacific. The three-door convertible Amigo appeared here in 1989, but it was a little too small and silly to sell much among the suburban-commuter set. For the 1991 model year, a five-door Amigo sibling showed up: the Rodeo. The early Rodeo is getting quite rare today, but I was able to find this fairly clean '94 in a Denver-area self-service yard a few months back. These trucks, which were based on the same chassis as the P'up (known as the Isuzu Pickup after 1987) sold well in Colorado. You could get the first-generation Rodeo with rear-wheel-drive, but the four-wheel-drive version made more sense if you wanted to slog through snow and mud in the Rockies (or just feel safe when crossing a parking lot dusted with the white stuff). This truck has true four-wheel-drive, not what eventually became known as all-wheel-drive, but at least the higher trim levels had automatic locking hubs instead of the manual sort that forced you to stop and kneel in the mud to switch. Americans loved automatic transmissions nearly as much in 1994 as we do today, but they cost a lot more relative to manuals back then. This truck has a five-speed manual. The MSRP on this truck was $19,249, or about $39,075 in 2022 dollars. If you wanted it with an automatic transmission, the price went up to $20,349 ($41,310 today). The air conditioning in this one cost an additional 850 bucks (1,725 bucks now). The engine is an Isuzu 3.2-liter V6, rated at 175 horsepower. This truck was built at Subaru-Isuzu Automotive in Indiana; Subaru eventually bought out Isuzu's share of the joint venture and now only Subaru models are built there. Just to add another manufacturer to the mix, Honda sold rebadged Rodeos with Passport badges (and rebadged Troopers as Acura SLXs). This one was well-cared-for, looking clean for a machine with close to 200,000 miles on the clock. We can assume that some costly mechanical ailment finally sent it to this, its final parking place.

Junkyard Gem: 1990 Geo Storm

General Motors began selling rebadged Isuzus in the United States all the way back in 1972, when the Isuzu Faster pickup showed up here as the Chevrolet LUV. A few years after Isuzu began selling vehicles in North America under its own branding, The General began selling Isuzu I-Marks as Chevrolet Spectrums; when the time came to create the Geo division to sell badge-engineered Suzukis, Toyotas and Isuzus here, the Chevy Spectrum became a Geo and a sport compact based on the Isuzu Piazza appeared in Geo dealerships as the Storm. Today's Junkyard Gem is a first-model-year example of the Storm, found with lots of miles and plenty of rust in a Denver-area car graveyard recently. Isuzu began selling this car as the second-generation Impulse for the 1991 model year. Few American car shoppers were interested in that car, but the Storm sold well. For the 1991 model year, a "Wagonback" version of the Storm was added to the lineup. The Storm was discontinued after 1993, and Geo itself got the axe in 1997. The 130-horsepower GSi version of the Storm was one of the best quickness-per-dollar deals of its era, but this car is the base Storm with just 95 SOHC horses under its hood. An automatic transmission was available, but this car has the standard five-speed manual. How much did it cost new? The list price was $10,390, or about $24,741 in 2023 dollars.  This one got well past 200,000 miles during its career. The rust is nasty. This car might have been a runner at the end, but corrosion plus high miles, manual transmission and defunct brand all conspired to send it to this place. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The new Geo Storm is rolling in now. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. So cheap! This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The JDM headlights definitely looked better than the sealed-beams we got here.

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