2000 Isuzu Rodeo Ls Sport Utility 4-door 3.2l on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1984 Isuzu P'up

General Motors, wishing to sell a small pickup to compete with the likes of the Toyota Hilux and Nissan 521, began importing the Isuzu Faster for the 1972 model year, equipping it with Chevrolet LUV badges. Ford brought over the Mazda Proceed as the Courier the same year, while Chrysler turned to Mitsubishi to provide the Plymouth Arrow Truck and Dodge Ram 50 a bit later on. Once GM introduced the all-Detroit S-10 for the 1982 model year, however, the LUV's reign ended. Fortunately for fans of the Light Utility Vehicle, Isuzu began selling these trucks under its own badging here in 1981. This truck was called the P'up, and sales continued through 1987. Here's one of those P'ups, found in a Denver boneyard last month. This truck has the long-bed option. The purple paint and black stripes appear to be non-factory items, as the engine-compartment paint is silver. Under the hood, we see the 1.9-liter G200Z engine, as used in the Impulse and early Trooper. It had 86 horsepower on tap, which made this truck quite a bit zippier than the version with the 58-horse diesel (several decades back, I had a job that involved driving a diesel P'up and I can state from experience that the oil-burning P'up was an agonizingly slow machine). Still, this truck must have been on the poky side, what with its (optional) three-speed automatic transmission. What's this— air conditioning in a compact pickup? That was still something of a blasphemous idea in the middle 1980s. Someone installed a functional cold-air induction system involving an aftermarket air cleaner protruding from the hood, above the carburetor. Let's hope there was a filter element in here, because it doesn't do a carb any good to suck in bugs and dirt (not to mention filling with water while parked outdoors during rainstorms). This is by far the most common sticker found on vehicles in Denver-area wrecking yards. The Incredibles Empire appears to get mightier with each passing day, though I see plenty of stickers from other cannabis-related businesses in these yards. Fox Street Wellness is still around, though under a new name. What better vehicle for picking up a bag of Girl Scout Cookies weed ("best reserved for experienced cannabis consumers") than a purple P'up with hood-mounted air cleaner? Today, the Purple P'up's final parking spot is just a few miles to the north of this dispensary.

GM, Isuzu shacking up on global midsize pickup development

General Motors and Isuzu might not be financial partners anymore, but it would seem that all those years working together still leaves a strong bond between them to work on new vehicles. Their latest collaboration is co-developing a next-generation midsize pickup to launch at a still-unannounced point in the future. Potential buyers of the upcoming Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon have no reason to fear their purchase becoming obsolete, though, because there are no plans to sell these jointly created models in North America. As part of the deal, GM and Isuzu have already agreed to share components across the trucks and purchase the parts together to get a better deal, according to Reuters. However, the actual manufacturing was agreed to be kept separate. The first inklings of this deal cropped up a year ago when the two automakers signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop a new pickup. The future GM and Isuzu models are joining the mini-boom of midsize trucks that is about to hit around the world. Nissan already announced its latest Navara, and Toyota was spotted testing replacements for both the Hilux and Tacoma. Plus, Honda has hinted at a new Ridgeline sometime fairly soon in the US. News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Mark Renders / Getty Images Plants/Manufacturing GM Isuzu Truck

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.