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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: 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.

Future Classic | 1990-1993 Geo Storm and Isuzu Impulse

You don't see a lot of Geo-branded cars on the road these days, despite the fact that the General Motors' captive-import brand was actually pretty successful for around a decade. Perhaps the most recognizable vehicle to roll into Geo showrooms was the Prizm, which basically amounted to a rebadged Toyota Corolla built in California (which means General Motors was competing against its own Chevy Cavalier in the compact sedan market). And then there were the Geo Metro sub-compact, known for years as the most fuel-efficient vehicle you could buy in the United States, and the spunky Geo Tracker SUV that carried on for several years wearing Chevrolet badges after Geo's demise. Those are all interesting vehicles, but for this article we're going to focus in on the sporty Storm model. Like the other Geo vehicles, the Storm was sort of a joint venture, in this case with Isuzu, the Japanese automaker best known for making SUVs and big commercial trucks. Back in the day, though, Isuzu had some legitimately intriguing little cars in its showrooms. The Storm was based heavily on the second-generation Isuzu Impulse (known as the Piazza in other markets). And, well, you see even fewer Isuzus on the road these days than Geos. MotorWeek | Retro Review: '90 Geo Storm GSi Why are the Geo Storm and Isuzu Impulse future classics? They may never actually be "classics" in the same way a Ford Mustang or Chevy Camaro may be, but they are still interesting cars. And for potential buyers of a certain age, memories of gawking at sleek-looking Geo Storms everywhere you looked mean the nostalgia factor is high. If nothing else, we're pretty sure a nicely kept Storm or Impulse would draw a certain crowd at a local car show. While the Storm was way more popular with American buyers in the 1990s, the rarity of the Impulse means it's probably the more desirable option if future collectibility is a factor. What is the ideal example of the Geo Storm or Isuzu Impulse? The most valuable version of the duo is surely the rare Isuzu Impulse RS (the silver car above) with all-wheel drive and a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that spun out 160 horsepower and 150 pound-feet of torque. According to reports, only about 600 of these machines were sold in the States — complete with "Handling by Lotus" badging (General Motors held sizable stakes in both brands at the time) — which means they aren't very easy to find for sale.