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Junkyard Gem: 1997 Acura SLX

When I'm prowling wrecking yards, I'm always on the lookout for obscure examples of badge engineering, and the weirder they are, the better I like them. While I haven't managed to spot a junked Suzuki Equator yet, I have photographed such rarities as the Saab 9-2x and Isuzu Ascender. A few weeks ago, I encountered one of the real oddities of the Honda-Isuzu dealmaking of the 1990s: a 1997 Acura SLX, a luxed-up Isuzu Trooper that sold very poorly and is now mostly forgotten today. Plenty of Acura SUVs designed and built entirely by Honda roll out of American showrooms today, but the 1990s SUV boom caught Honda by surprise. The first MDX wasn't ready until the 2001 model year, so Honda made a deal to take Isuzu Troopers, apply wood and leather inside and Acura badges outside, and cash in on North Americans' increasing disdain for minivans, sedans, and station wagons. Americans were very familiar with the Trooper, which was sold here from the middle 1980s until the 2002 model year, when the Chevrolet Trailblazer-based Ascender went on sale. The Isuzu name stuck around on these shores until 2008. The SLX was a decent enough truck, but there was no disguising its proletariat Trooper roots from status-conscious SUV shoppers who wanted to look more oligarchic while conquering a half-inch of snow in the mall parking lot. It didn't help that the 1997 Trooper L listed at $27,800 and the SLX Premium cost $38,300 (that's about $44,200 and $60,900 in inflation-adjusted 2018 bucks). SLX sales started off weak and plummeted after that. After 1999, the SLX was done. I spent years trying to find one in California and Colorado wrecking yards, but the few that were sold seemed to be sturdy enough to stay alive for a couple of decades. Finally, this high-mile '97 appeared in a Denver yard. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

GM-Isuzu joint venture assembles 1.5-millionth Duramax diesel

General Motors and Isuzu have officially stitched together 1.5 million Duramax 6.6-liter diesel engines. The joint venture between the two manufacturers started in 1998, and now the DMAX plant employs 517 workers in a 584,000 square-foot facility. GM introduced the Duramax turbo diesel engine to the US market for the 2001 model year, and it can be found trucks like the Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD as well as the full-size Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans. In its current configuration, the engine yields 397 horsepower and 765 pound-feet of torque at just 1,600 rpm.
Of course, the big oil burner has plenty of tuning potential as well. As you may recall, a Duramax-powered truck recently set the land speed record for towing a vehicle at 142 miles per hour.
GM owns 60 percent of the joint venture, with Isuzu laying claim to the remaining 40 percent. The facility is located in Chicago. You can take a look at the brief press release below for more information on the milestone.

Isuzu truck concepts include honeycombed ‘toaster on wheels’

Isuzu took to its hometown auto show to highlight its work in developing next-generation transport trucks, showing eight vehicles and four powertrain systems at the 45th Tokyo Motor Show. The most notable of the bunch are a pair of concepts: the FD-SI, a light-duty delivery truck designed around principles found in the insect kingdom, and the Elf EV, an all-electric version of its light-duty workhorse featuring a large-capacity battery with rapid-charging capability. From a design perspective, the FD-SI will get all the attention — much of it probably of the bemused sort. In truth, it looks like a futuristic toaster on wheels, a rolling box structure fitted with honeycomb patterns on the side panels and a glass cab windshield that seems borrowed from a heavy-duty construction crane. It turns out the honeycomb motif is no mere design whim; Isuzu says its designers focused on the "group intelligence" of insects and tried to apply that principle to the delivery vehicle. So the honeycomb exterior is replicated in the cargo space as hexagonal tube-shaped boxes, which the automaker says is a good compromise between strength and storage space. Inside the cab, the driver controls and seat have all been centralized, with the steering wheel retractable, to encourage smoother operability and more comfortable living space for the driver. "We want to support the drivers, the front-line people of "Transport," with unconventional ideas," Isuzu says. The Elf EV, on the other hand, is a zero-emissions, low-vibration delivery truck powered by a lithium-ion battery that'll take the vehicle at least 100 km, or 62 miles, on a single normal or fast-charge. It sports a 4x2, rear-wheel drive transmission with independent suspension in the front and leaf suspension in the rear. Here's a quick list of Isuzu's other Tokyo offerings: A 6x6 all-wheel-drive truck, featuring single wheels on all axles, built for rough terrain such as areas hit by major natural disasters. 80th anniversary editions of the Giga heavy-duty truck, geared with a remote monitoring system to transmit vehicle data for remote analysis to ensure safe driving; the Forward medium-duty truck, which boasts 10 percent higher fuel economy than its 2015 version; and the internal-combustion version of the Elf light-duty truck, which is sold in the U.S. as the N-Series.