2004 Isuzu Other on 2040-cars

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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.

GM recalling 250,000 SUVs over door electronics

After a door-fire investigation that dates back to February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has officially announced a recall today that affects around 250,000 General Motors SUVs for a faulty driver's door module. The recall applies to the Buick Rainier, Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 9-7X from the 2006 and 2007 model years, as well as the 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL for vehicles sold and/or registered in the Snow Belt.
Road salt use in these midwestern and northern states can lead to corrosion of the driver's door module on these GMT360 and GMT370 vehicles, which allows water to come in contact with the circuit board. If shorted out, the vehicle's power door locks and power windows will not work, and could possibly lead to overheating and, in some circumstances, a fire. No official word on how many total vehicles caught on fire, but back in June, 28 fires had been reported to the government agency. A fix for the problem is still being worked out, but all affected vehicle owners will be notified by GM.
Scroll down for the official NHTSA statement.

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.