After some luck offering Normal Motors with small Sooner pickups badged as Chevrolet LUVs in North The us (plus some Chevette-related Geminis classified “Buick/Opel by means of Isuzu,” which puzzled everyone), Isuzu started promoting cars beneath its personal identify right here within the early Nineteen Eighties. In the beginning, we simply were given I-Mark subcompacts and P’up pickups. Then the Trooper SUV gave the impression in 1984, and Isuzu joined the suburban-commuter truck sport in a large approach. For the 1989 fashion yr, the little Amigo three-door convertible SUV landed on our shores. Here is a type of early vans, present in still-rad situation in a San Francisco Bay House self-service backyard not too long ago.
As soon as Isuzu made a model with 5 doorways and a forged roof, giving it Rodeo badges within the procedure, the Amigo changed into extra of an afterthought within the North American Isuzu global. Amigo gross sales halted right here after 1995, then resumed for 1998-2000 (and then the three-door changed into the Rodeo Recreation earlier than disappearing in 2003).
Beginning in 1996, Isuzu changed its Amigo-platform-related pickup with a rebadged Chevy S-10 referred to as the Hombre. That intended that Spanish-speaking Isuzu customers may well be disturbed by means of the chance of shopping for a good friend or a guy. The Isuzu corporate itself used to be named after a river in Mie Prefecture.
The Suzuki Samurai kicked off the “cute-ute” craze for the 1986 fashion yr, with the Suzuki Sidekick/Geo Tracker showing in 1989. Round the similar time, frustrating pastel colours and squiggly graphics changed into fashionable. This — and different unlucky Nineteen Eighties models — persevered smartly into the Nineteen Nineties (One guy’s “frustrating” and “unlucky” is every other’s “pleasant” – Ed).
This odometer cannot be proper! I believe a damaged speedometer cable.
The engine is a 2.6-liter inline-four rated at 119 horsepower.
Not like Honda’s VTEC, the variable-cam-timing gadget that made its debut within the 1989 Honda Integra, Isuzu’s I-TEC identify simply stood for an digital gas injection gadget.
The one transmission within the Amigo for the primary couple of years used to be a five-speed handbook, which is on this truck. That three-pedal setup saved the Amigo’s attraction restricted to the small crew of American drivers keen to paintings a grab. The non-compulsory automated changed into to be had for 1992. It’s good to get the Amigo with four-wheel force, however this one is the less expensive rear-wheel-drive model.
This inside appears so great that possibly this Amigo truly did get junked with 57,000+ at the odometer. Checking the California BAR’s Automobile Smog Test historical past (by means of plugging within the VIN), I see that it ultimate took — and handed — a smog take a look at in 2010. Most likely one thing broke at age 18 and it sat in a storage till its ultimate proprietor in spite of everything gave up on it.
Which is just too unhealthy, as a result of this little truck would had been successful at Radwood.
This industrial is for the second-generation Amigo, however it is a must-see because of the homage to the previous Slinky commercials.
As a result of with reference to each and every Isuzu (and Daewoo and Suzuki, for that topic) used to be offered beneath other names somewhere else within the sprawling GM Empire of the Nineteen Nineties, here is a industrial for the German-market Opel Frontera.