After some success offering Common Motors with small Quicker pickups badged as Chevrolet LUVs in North America (plus some Chevette-related Geminis labeled “Buick/Opel by Isuzu,” which confused all people), Isuzu started promoting automobiles underneath its personal identify right here within the early Nineteen Eighties. At first, we simply obtained I-Mark subcompacts and P’up pickups. Then the Trooper SUV appeared in 1984, and Isuzu joined the suburban-commuter truck recreation in an enormous manner. For the 1989 mannequin yr, the little Amigo three-door convertible SUV landed on our shores. This is a type of early vehicles, present in still-rad situation in a San Francisco Bay Space self-service yard not too long ago.
As soon as Isuzu made a model with 5 doorways and a stable roof, giving it Rodeo badges within the course of, the Amigo turned extra of an afterthought within the North American Isuzu world. Amigo gross sales halted right here after 1995, then resumed for 1998-2000 (after which the three-door turned the Rodeo Sport earlier than disappearing in 2003).
Beginning in 1996, Isuzu changed its Amigo-platform-related pickup with a rebadged Chevy S-10 often called the Hombre. That meant that Spanish-speaking Isuzu buyers could possibly be disturbed by the prospect of shopping for a buddy or a man. The Isuzu firm itself was named after a river in Mie Prefecture.
The Suzuki Samurai kicked off the “cute-ute” craze for the 1986 mannequin yr, with the Suzuki Sidekick/Geo Tracker showing in 1989. Across the identical time, irritating pastel colours and squiggly graphics turned stylish. This — and different unlucky Nineteen Eighties fashions — continued nicely into the Nineties (One man’s “irritating” and “unlucky” is one other’s “pleasant” – Ed).
This odometer cannot be proper! I think a damaged speedometer cable.
The engine is a 2.6-liter inline-four rated at 119 horsepower.
In contrast to Honda’s VTEC, the variable-cam-timing system that made its debut within the 1989 Honda Integra, Isuzu’s I-TEC identify simply stood for an digital gasoline injection system.
The one transmission within the Amigo for the primary couple of years was a five-speed handbook, which is on this truck. That three-pedal setup saved the Amigo’s enchantment restricted to the small group of American drivers prepared to work a clutch. The elective automated turned out there for 1992. You can get the Amigo with four-wheel drive, however this one is the cheaper rear-wheel-drive model.
This inside seems to be so good that maybe this Amigo actually did get junked with 57,000+ on the odometer. Checking the California BAR’s Automobile Smog Examine historical past (by plugging within the VIN), I see that it final took — and handed — a smog examine in 2010. Maybe one thing broke at age 18 and it sat in a storage till its final proprietor lastly gave up on it.
Which is just too unhealthy, as a result of this little truck would have been a success at Radwood.
This industrial is for the second-generation Amigo, nevertheless it’s a must-see as a result of homage to the outdated Slinky advertisements.
As a result of nearly each Isuzu (and Daewoo and Suzuki, for that matter) was bought underneath completely different names elsewhere within the sprawling GM Empire of the Nineties, this is a industrial for the German-market Opel Frontera.