Damn shame.That little red 4×4 being hawked by Joe Isuzu is exactly the way I remember these.

One thing I never did like was the SpaceCab variant. Thanks for a great article, Perry.P.Roberts….my brother in law owned a rough short wheel base 1st series petrol Rodeo flat tray.He and I built and renovated many fine passive solar timber houses and did some very fine cabinet making out of rare Australian and imported timbers.His Rodeo was old,battered and tired and despite carting very heavy loads of timber and tools,not once did the Rodeo fail to proceed.The same series,non turbo diesel,wasn’t exactly a fast ute.The 1993 turbo diesel,2.8 litres,is quite fast accelerating.I rarely use the turbo in it because am not a speed hog.I get 35 miles per gallon from it and it will carry 1.6 tonnes.My bros petrol Rodeo was also held together with wire and the engine treated with Nulon and it kept going,surprisingly.The house we built every day after building other houses,every weekend,Christmas and New Years Days for several years.The other side,the middle 3rd is floor to ceiling double glazing and then more glass fitted into the roof shape with a clerestory.A big and tough job.Is “flat tray” a flat bed with the sides that hinge down?

It definitely held its own against the comparable Nissan Hardbodys and Toyotas of the day. It’s somewhat of a mystery to me why the Hombre even happened; after all, the mechanically similar Rodeo was still being made in Indiana, and was also offered with a new, dual-airbag dashboard, which should’ve been easy to adapt to the existing truck.Eventually, with the S10’s overdue replacement, the Colorado/Canyon, the Isuzu pickup made a comeback of sorts, in widebody format with GM engines, but once again American buyers rejected its back-to-basics ethos. Trucks were getting bigger, plusher and stronger and by the mid ’90s, Isuzu’s mainstay was unable to keep up. I had a chance to drive a particularly beat up 1982 diesel 4×2, its final year before Isuzu completely took over marketing of the truck with the P’up. Side triangle / pass-through windows whistled at high speeds, so I caulked them shut at some point (sorry, purists). Mine is a base model 2WD short box, 2.3, 5 speed. The only saving grace was their ability to sell at very cheap leader rates. Rated Power: 1.0 kW.

I’ve not seen one in years, though, I think the last I saw was a rodeo.I’d dig one of the 4x4s with a 5 speed.

I’ve also had people laugh on the phone when I tell them what I’m after. It was rather rusty, it looked like it had been fished out of Buzzards Bay.Ive driven a couple of Holden badged examples recently turbo diesel they are ok probably on par with a 2.4 Hilux on performance so quite slow and noisy but good for what the one I drove is used for its a runabout for a farm tractor used for contracting and gets dragged along behind a large John Deere, Ive been in an early non turbo Rodeo 83 ?
I do love the wing window, however.These were honest trucks and I would have had one when they were new. Research 1988 Isuzu Pickup LS prices, used values & Pickup LS pricing, specs and more! Please come back with an electric version of something as durable and ‘utility’ as this for the next generation!Got to this site a little late. We don’t roll such practical machinery here in the States, except for larger (maybe 1 ton) commercial vehicles. For a while, too, it may have seemed to corporate HQ that SUVs would pay the bills in the US and that revamping their basic, low-profit compact pickups for American tastes was hardly worth the effort. Very minor fixes continue to amaze me with how much they improve performance (for example, tire balancing). It’s a lot more convenient and cheaper than renting one when you need it. Its styling stood out to me then and they still look attractive to me today. With the 31″ tires, rollbar/brushguard installed and painted in a good color these were really sharp. Loved that truck! I just drove it back from Austin (70 highway miles) and has about 172k on it. I borrowed a Honda Passport (rebadged Rodeo) years later and I had the same quality concerns. Known for being both tough and cheap, Chevy imported it to the US until 1982, badging it the Light Utility Vehicle.

It did well by him for years and he wrecked it when he was drunk. These came with the then optional and class leading 31″ factory tire/wheel package. The dashboard is particularly car-like, much as with the Nissan and Toyota pickups which also shared so much of their interiors with their SUV derivatives. Even though I only drive it about 25 miles a year and only around town it is always handy to have since it is the only truck I have. These actually hold up pretty well (their predecessors, on the other hand, were particularly bad rusters), and were pretty popular in the US for the first couple years they were sold. The P'up received the same engines as the LUV; either an 80 hp (60 kW) 1.8-liter gasoline … It rides like a Radio Flyer, primarily because of the extremely stiff rear leaf springs. Isuzus must come stocked with angels.I came of age as a driver in this thing and it is still a scary ride for those who can’t handle the un-modern.