(first posted 12/31/11)
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the toughest old Japanese pickup of them all?
If it said the Isuzu-built Chevy LUV, would you argue with it? Well yes, the Toyota pickups of the times also have a stellar rep, at least until the 22R switched to a single row timing chain in 1983. I’m not exactly an Isuzu/LUV expert, but I have yet to ever hear of any specific fundamental weakness of these trucks. But then one doesn’t exactly hear a lot of complaints about all the other Japanese trucks of those times either. So maybe the mirror is just flipping a coin.
Does the front half of this car look strangely familiar? That’s because Isuzu’s new-for 1972 pickup, the somewhat oxymorically-named Faster, borrowed pretty much all of the Isuzu Florian’s front end sheet metal. The Florian was a rather odd car for a Japanese sedan, in that it was made almost unchanged for over fifteen years, from 1967 to 1983.
Along the way, it did manage to pick up a Brougham Era front end. Thankfully, the LUV was spared that. Speaking of, let’s get back to that. But who knows if I’ll ever encounter a Florian, so this was my one chance to slide it in.
GM bought an ownership interest in Isuzu in 1971, at a time when the Big Three saw the rising sun shining brightly in California, and they all scrambled to get in on the action. Mini-pickups were a big part of that, the hot new genre at the time. That quickly bore fruit in the form of the Chevy LUV (Light Utility Vehicle), the first result of Isuzu signing an agreement with GM whereby all their products would be sold through GM’s vast distribution network.
The LUV was the first Japanese mini-pickup I ever drove, in Iowa, in around 1974 or so. A boss of mine had one, and occasionally I drove it to Cedar Rapids and back. Needless to say, it was a pretty elemental thing, as all members of these genre were. The ride was harsh, no power assists of any kind (obviously), the drum brakes so-so, it was pretty noisy, but then none of that was new to me, given that I was transitioning from a ’63 Beetle to a ’68 Dodge A100 van at the time. And of course, the cabin was more than a bit tight for someone my size.
But the appeal of these trucks was obvious: the were basic transportation that could haul a load, and do it very economically. The kids in California loved them, if for no other reason than to haul their motorcycles out to the desert, along with big coolers of beer. Detroit didn’t want to get left out of the party, so Ford brought over the Mazda-built Courier, and Chrysler had Mitsubishi-built Arrows and such.
Their tinny bodies probably made them extra-susceptible to the tin worm, but their underpinnings were built for the long haul. Isuzu used their G-Series gas engine in these, a 1.8 L SOHC development of what was powering the Florian and such back in the early sixties. Well proven indeed. And Isuzu’s primary focus on light and medium trucks seemed to have a trickle-down effect.
The little four came with 75 hp, and later got a raise to 80. Curiously, these trucks never offered the option of a five-speed, which was getting pretty popular with Toyota and Datsun buyers. Yes, they were buzzy on the freeway.
In 1978, a long-wheelbase version joined the LUV-fest. Their up-rated suspensions gave them a maximum payload of a rather hefty 1635 lbs in their 7.5 foot long bed. There’s a hard little worker.
We’ll assume our featured truck is a 1979, although it could be a 1980, the last year before the major re-style. The big news for 1979 was four wheel drive, and unlike the early Toyota trucks, it used independent front suspension with torsion bars. That gave them a lower ride height, but still 7.5″ of clearance.
This particular truck is obviously well cared for and in very good condition. Someone is into this for the long haul. Right down to the upgraded seats and the horns on the hood. There’s still a fair number of these LUVs around here, but this is the nicest of the bunch. 1979 was the peak year for LUV, with a bit over 100k sold. Not too shabby; no wonder GM decided to get into the game with their own compact truck.
Once, I even caught this one hanging out with this other toy gem, a Suzuki pickup. We’ll get to that one before long again. Toy trucks indeed, and ones that promise to be around for quite a while yet.
The LUV reappeared in its second incarnation for just two years (1981 – 1982) before GM struck out on its own with its all-American S-10. That forced Isuzu to open its own dealerships, and re-brand the pickups into the P’up. But that’s another story: Puppy Love.
Nice, honest and hard working truck
I had that ride w/o the horns (nice touch)it ate toyotas
When I was a kid I had a toy version of one of these, same color and even had the same graphics on it! I wish I still had it…
Love those 70s graphics packages. Hmmmm… do you think its a 4X4?
Schaper had a Chevy LUV in their battery-operated “Stompers” line. I had one a while back. And yes, the featured truck is a 4×4; one can see the knob for the transfer case shift lever in the interior shot.
I had no idea until now that the Isuzu pickup had common tooling or pedigree with a passenger car. Cool!
A surprise to me, too. A Japanese Champ.
It does explain the odd door cut of that truck. I never understood why so much space was wasted there. Now it fits…cut the front-half of the sedan off, graft a sort of rear-panel stamping onto it, hang it on a truck frame, and presto!
Never drove one of those – I remember from Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, it tested poorly against the Datsun. And I did like my King Cab…but somehow, the more elemental styling and finishing of the LUV always resonated with me.
But those designs and simpler times, are gone.
The earlier Isuzu Wasp featured a Bellet cab too. Needless to say they are pretty rare!
LUV:
L ight
U tility
V ehicle
Or at least that’s how it was explained to me!
Happy New Year everyone!!
Or as my buddy who owned one for a number of years called his
L ittle
U seless
V echile
None the less he worked it pretty hard and did a lot of landscaping work with it.
But yes your definition was the official one.
It looks like they even used the same front door from the sedan, which explains the unusual angle of the back of the door somewhat.
All in all they were pretty good little trucks, a number of my friends had them over the years. Including one who had the 4×4 with the same graphics and color scheme as the one featured today.
The rust was usually the worst on the beds and this one seems to have escaped that problem.
The seats like so many Japanese vehicles of the time didn’t last very well underneath a fat American’s butt and the springs and frame often gave out.
I had a white one, ’74 I think. It had the quad headlights. I bought it in pretty beat up shape and drove it around Seattle when I was at the UW. It never stranded me and never failed to start no matter how badly I abused it. It got crunched by a hit and run while parked in the U District so I had to scrap it. It was a mule.
Props for sneaking in the pics of the Florian, which I hadn’t yet seen nor probably ever would.
I’ve known a couple of guys with these trucks, and don’t remember any ill words spoken of them. Interesting that the one shown has shiny new license plates, as Oregon doesn’t have a replating program like WA does, and older rigs like this one commonly still have rather old plates on them, sometimes the originals from new.
I don’t know what those seats are out of, but they look identical to the ones my neighbor installed in his 1972 Torino.
Having spent some good time in my friend’s ’78 LUV nearly 20 years ago, I knew that front end’s profile when I saw the clue last night.
His was the 2WD variant though and was white with the black interior if I recall and had a canopy, a basic metal one at that. The only thing was, if you loaded them up with lumber and a trailer full, it WAS a bit underpowered, but still a decent little truck for the times. He used it for a summer of driving all over central Puget Sound helping instal hot water heaters for a friend’s business so put A LOT of miles on it and I drove it a little too and it’s not a bad truck at all.
I remember my friend being impressed with how sprightly the little 79 Civic our mutual friend had in comparison to his LUV and if I’m not mistaken, the Civic was the CVCC variant so was not encumbered by smog stuff – yet.
Anyway, he drove it 3-4 years and put plenty of miles on it, including a trip with all his worldly goods to Kansas City Kansas where he and his then fiance lived and were married while he went to grad school in the Missouri side of the city at the University of Kansas, Kansas City and sold it there as he got tired of peeling himself out of the car due to it having no AC which was a negative in those hot, humid summers. He bought an ’85 Jetta GLI with working AC to replace it (they have been back out here in Puget Sound since ‘1996).
I’ve spotted a ’72 here in that odd yellow/green paint it had about a couple of years back here on the hill, along with an ’87 Sprint 5 door and the early round headlight Brat – all on the same street too.
Wow, that facelifted Isuzu Florian is one odd creature! Do they came out like that from the factory? Looks like someone pasting parts from a bunch of different cars to make that car’s front end, which totally doesn’t match the rest of the car!
BTW they did sell the LUV down here back then, but I think it was the generation after the one in the article. They quickly developed a reputation for rusting quickly.
Wow never seen a Florian great a new year and I learn something on the first day The LUV was sold here but morphed into the Holden Rodeo and Isuzu Big Horn /Holden Jackaroo 4×4 wagon is on the same chassis its lately been rebadged Colorado but is still an Isuzu ute.
That’s a good point – the circle has been closed with the current Colorado, although the version sold in the US has different engines than the rest of the world. For example in Australia it came with a 2.4L 4cyl, 3.6 HF V6 or 3.2 diesel. I can see the diesel not working but why would they make a specific 5cyl rather than using the V6 that goes into everything?
Mazda BT50/Ford ranger also has a 5 cylinder diesel could just be a me too.
I guess I’ll be the one dissenting voice here. I remember when these were current, and I remember lots of nightmare stories about them. One of Car and Driver’s editors from their glory days had one too, and he once detailed some of his LUV ownership horror stories in his column. A friend’s family had a later P’UP diesel, and it aged like milk during its short life. I also had a girlfriend whose Trooper II died a premature death due to what seemed like a minor overheating episode. As a service writer, I used to see Rodeos that were mechanically decrepit well out of proportion to their actual age and mileage. I’ve also recently read of a Passport that was falling apart as evidence that Hondas can be hit or miss. I don’t think Isuzu fading away from our market was pure happenstance.
Isuzu heavy trucks seem ok as far as Japanese trucks go but the light duty stuff has never struck me as being worth buying Toyota utes and 4x4s are preferable, having driven an early 80s Rodeo it was awful I cant imagine paying money for one. I see Isuzus being sold here under their own brand now completely seperate from GM Holden though the new Chevy/Holden Colorado is made in Tailand by?
That was caused when GM sold its share in Isuzu, Holden lost the rights to the Rodeo name & facelifted their version into the Colorado, while Isuzu started selling their own version with the old styling.
I’ve only driven two Rodeos, an early 90’s 4 cyl manual 2wd double cab which was LPG only as the EFI petrol pump was dead, it had 250k+ miles on it. The other was a 98 V6 auto 2wd double cab which was more comfortable than the other Japanese utes of the time (I drove a lot of different vehicles with work), and a bit wider in the cab. The V6 was a bit heavy on fuel though, can’t remember fuel figures now but I’d think about 15mpg unless you are talking pure highway.
Joe Isuzu frequented the airwaves and LUVs abounded within California’s San Joaquin valley where rust was never much, if any, of a problem.
In the wondrous institution of dismantling yards every mini-pick-up was considered a “keeper” and tended to linger as the clamoring herd gathered to grab needed parts, add-ons for their trucks lacking the few options available but not present on their own truck or bought goodies that originally came from JC Whitney OR were fabricated from whatever or wherever to be useful on the now-being-dismantled trucklet.
Simpler in many ways times.
Happier times?
My memory says so.
Not as many desperate folks even with high unemployment in the valley.
Sure do miss those basic simplistic trucklets of the past.
Of all the mini trucks I’ve owned or driven, the LUV was definitely the worst. The seat had a built in lumbar stabber, the engine was gutless but indestructible. Mine had added options of no tailgate or front bumper. What a great little beast. My ’85 Nissan was a King Ranch in comparison.
I also had a girlfriend whose Trooper II died a premature death due to what seemed like a minor overheating episode.
Can’t answer to that specific Trooper, but my loose network of fellow Trooper owners all love the mountain goat ability and Landcruiser-like reliability of our Troopers. The only weak link I have found on mine is the GM-sourced transmission….they crap out around 80k….
I never understood the attraction of the Rodeo…while a great visual design, if you test drove one back to back with the competition, it was very apparent who the minor leaguer was. To think Honda was desperate enough to rebadge one as the Passport, although Isuzu in exchange did get the superb Isuzu Oasis…
Anyone remember the Space Cab, with the low-dropping side window?
I remember the Space Cab! Weird part was, the early ones had a window that ran on the same line as the normal driver window. Only the later ones had the “low-dropping” side window. Either way, a bizarre but distinctive feature.
Some of them also spelled out “SPACE CAB” across the top rear of the cab.
Great little trucks and tough as nails. Known as the Isuzu KB in other parts of the world. Got 330K out of my ’75 with swapped in ’78 engine and trans with nothing more than a diet of headgaskets and clutches, the two weak links in these. And I was not nice to it, even jumping it many times in a gravel pit we used to wheel in…NOT ONCE did it leave me walking however. Being the oldest automaker in Japan (1914) I think they learned how to build trucks…
Friend of mine in the day had a 4×2 ’77 LUV. I had my Courier. Both trucks rugged, a little behind then contemporary Datsuns and Toyotas, and both the LUV and my Courier were (literally) screaming for a 5th gear. But, hey! Kept us from driving over 65mph!!
Girls thought our trucks were “cute” !!
I went to San Rafael; Dave the guy with the LUV went to Redwood. Both schools had a clique of guys with little Japanese trucks, usually with the white RV spokers (which my Courier eventually got).
Prototypical Marin high school/college guy small truck in the mid to late ’70’s usually was the Datsun “Little Hustler” with the obligatory white RV spokers, although one guy broke the trend with an SR5 Toyota which ate our LUVs and Couriers/B1600s for lunch. And yes, there WAS the Courier bodied Mazda Rotary Pickup! Fast, but fuel and oil thirsty!
I think I shared this clip before, but it does have a LUV in it so I thought I’d post it again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsV33Lj1OEg
With three teenage boys growing up in northern MN, I must say the 4×4 LUV held up extremely well.
As pictured here, only available in Latin American Countries a 2001 Chevrolet LUV SUV (photo on the right) which was in fact based from that little Pick-up Truck’s Chassis. The design was similar to the 1983-92 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer 4 Door SUV (photo on the left).
I owned a florian, had a 1600cc isuzu engine, nikki carburettor, 4 speed box, bucket seats, carpet, clock, heater with fan, twin mirrors, and plenty of other extras that larger cars in the 60s never came with. it would also manage 99mph so it went pretty well too. i have only ever seen 4 in my 40 years.
I purchased a new 1979 LUV 4×4 Mikado red/orange color with the graphics in June 1979 in Omaha for $7,100. I added AC to it and had it undercoated and paint treatment. It was a cute little truck indeed. My wife and I and our 2 kids all rode in it while the kids were small and enjoyed it. It was good on snow and ice. Gas mileage was so-so. The paint quickly faded and Miracle Shield re-treated the paint under warranty during their five warranty years. The head gasket leaked a couple of times and had to be replaced. The timing chain broke in our driveway. Chain tensioners were wiped out and some valves got bent. The engine had to be taken out to get the oil pan off to clean out the chain, etc. debris. The body rusted and holes were starting in the cab floor when I got rid of it. I managed to squeeze nearly 10 years and 90 some thousand miles out of it. What started out as a cute little truck really turned into a POS.
Wasn’t the Buick 3.8L was a popular engine to swap into these?
Yes. I think SBCs fit, too.
On my 2nd “visit” to Japan (while in the Navy) I was stationed on a base where a family had 2 Florians…a sedan and a wagon. The sedan looked very much like the red/burgundy one pictured while the wagon was that olive green that many Japanese car companies used in the early 70s. The sedan and wagon were the same from the rear doors forward. I never got close enough to them to get the model name, so at least now I know what they were called.
My brother once owned a Chevy LUV (the 1st in a string of compact trucks that would include a rotary engined pick up) and rust through was the weak point of these trucks. They were very rugged and reasonably well-built, but after a “few” Pennsylvania winters it was no longer able to pass inspection. A co-worker had the “facelifted” model. The starter went out one day and the cost of a re-built starter was supposedly $200+, and that was 25 years ago.
BTW, wasn’t the 4wd model called Rodeo in some Asian markets?
My ex father in law had an 86 P’up. A simple capable little truck. My only bash was that the bed was just an inch too narrow to carry 4×8 sheets of plywood or Sheetrock and the edges would get chewed up by the stop flanges for the tailgate.
I liked them. Only beef was the front-hinged hood. As I remember, the ’79 LUV was about the first 4X4 truck with IFS (not counting that unicorn Jeep Gladiator of 1962). Toyota’s 1980 4X4 pickup made do with a straight axle/leaf spring front suspension, and thus set much higher than the LUV 4X4 did.
We had a 1980 Chevrolet Luv pickup. We Bought a Cab Over Camper top from JCPenney and had it put on the truck. We went camping a lot. The truck served our family well for over 20 years and then it was sold and we heard that it was still going strong at 25 years. Just as a side note, I had replaced all the radiator hoses with copper tubing because it was hard to find formed rubber hoses at the time.
may be the trucks should have been sent over as frames and engines and gotten american steel for the exterior .
Can not believe the ranger and dakota are not made in usa any more , leaving chevy & toyota & datsun as the only mid size trucks
AND no small trucks at all .
All i need is a small truck [ get thru city traffic and tight country trails] and power to tow a trailer , [lawn equip / camper ]
Miss my 90’s iszu pick up !
It’s nice to see a LUV that survived without being mutilated in the quest to build a drag racer, an-off-road rig, or one of those silly and pointless “bagged” things. I’d put the factory bench seat back in it and ditch the grill-guard and the dippy horns attached thereto.
I remember this generation Chevy LUV. My aunt and uncle owned a 1979 Chevy LUV for a number of years. Although it wasn’t very fast, it was a good worker. They used it for everything you could think of using a pickup truck for. Work, play, etc.
The ’87 P’up LS I bought in 1990 was the most reliable vehicle I’ve ever owned. Mine had a 2.3/5-speed combo. I added a cap and AC. I wish small trucks were still an option here.
Torsion-bar IFS, interior lay-out and pedal placement made it a more comfortable ride than my current ’96 Tacoma, and the lower stance made it a better handler as well.
Downsides included requiring a new timing-belt at 60K-mile intervals, crash safety compromised by a light-weight cabin, no airbag, and a rigid steering column (which, fortunately, I never had to test) and of course today, Isuzu is pretty much an orphan in this country.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Didn’t that 1.8l sohc engine see service in the buick by opel by isuzu version of the chevette, which later became the I mark? And my favourite of the chevette variants, the daewoo maepsy!
Hah, I just saw a nice one, 4WD, clean and driving on the freeway but not a “Bring A Trailer” style resto, just yesterday. The CC Effect lives on.
The Holden dealer where I did my apprenticeship had the long wheel base version as a breakdown vehicle. We’d flat tow-with a solid tow bar anything we couldn’t fix on the roadside. Drum brakes and four on the column made it ‘interesting’
We were all pleased when it was replaced by a Holden V8 ute with automatic and disc brakes.
My 79 Luv was worth every penny of the 5400$ I Spent,one unadvertised feature was you could roll a Honda CB400 into it, shut the tailgate and it wedged in so tight,it didn’t need to be tied down, that left just room for my waterbed frame and a trash bag full of clothes, I could deploy rapidly anywhere, my 80s life