Sorry, Hemi ‘Cuda fans, but this is one of my most prized CC finds. As you know all too well by now, CC is about documenting the cars that were once so (kind of?) common on our streets, and now are mostly gone. When is the last time you ran across a gen1 I-Mark? There’s probably a thousand Hemi Cudas (genuine or clone) for every I-Mark still soldiering along. And let’s not forget that in addition to just its rarity, the I-Mark also represents GM’s first big global car adventure. The T-Cars were made and sold by the millions all over the globe. I assume you recognize a mildly disguised Chevette or Opel Kadett C when you see one?
The global car concept has been around for a while. The new for-1973 Kadett C (still RWD) was designed to be built throughout the General’s far-flung empire. In Europe, the Kadett offered coupe, sedan and wagon versions. Vauxhall in the UK created the hatchback Chevette, almost identical (externally) to the US built shitty little Chevy, except for the grille. But for the Asian region, GM designated Isuzu to adapt and build the T-Car, called Gemini, both for production in Japan, as well as in Australia as the Holden Gemini. Even Korea built a version of the Gemini, the Daewoo Maepsy. Yup, Daewoo was already building GM small cars thirty years ago, but a long way off from designing them.
There are two main reasons this I-Mark is still in service: they both have to do with the fact that its a diesel. That means its damn near indestructible; unlike the fragile Olds diesel the Detroit GM mothership cooked up, the Isuzu-designed and built diesels have a legendary reputation. Equally as tough as the 2.2 OHV four found in the little Isuzu diesel pickups (and a few S-10s and Blazers), of which there are several still around hereabouts, the 1.8 overhead cam diesel was newly developed for the I-Mark. And let’s not forget that the Isuzu gas four was a tough little number too; the diesel engine was actually based on the gas version. Yes, the T-Car may have looked alike externally the world over, but the Isuzus had a drive train that was in a whole different league than all the rest. Of course, it was also the Isuzu diesel that was available as an option in the Chevette. Haven’t found one of them with the tell-tale BIODIESEL sticker on the back, yet, but who knows?
The second reason is that the biodiesel boom in places like Eugene has given cars like this a whole new lease on life. A few years back, anything with a rugged diesel motor had a ready market and surprising value. That died down along with oil prices and the biodiesel bust, but this I-Mark is still clattering along. And man, do they ever clatter.
When we first moved to Eugene in 1993, we knew a family that lived two blocks down the street that had this exact same kind of Isuzu. And when I went out to get the paper in the morning, I could hear him start it up, like buckets of marbles-sized hail falling on a parking lot of new cars. Unbelievably loud, but his already then-old Isuzu just wouldn’t stop clattering, no matter how much he neglected it. It’s probably still at it in Portland somewhere.
Another factoid: this car was sold in the US as the Opel-Isuzu in its first couple of years, from ’76 through ’79. It replaced the Opel Kadett, which had fallen on hard times, along with the value of the dollar. Or was it a called the Buick Opel by Isuzu? Who remembers? Joe Isuzu, undoubtedly. The point was that GM was offering a Japanese built version of the Chevette at its Buick dealers. But who cared? Certainly mot Buick dealers. They were all-too eager to rid themselves of the little tin cans cluttering up their showrooms. So Isuzu set up its own shop in the US in 1981, and the rest is history, although not one with a happy ending.
This I-Mark is parked in front of its owner’s place, which is dominated by a very intensive gardening operation. Perhaps he’s growing the feedstock to keep his Isuzu fed.
Count me in as a T-body fan. That I-Mark cuts a rather handsome profile, especially with those rims.
The ’84 Chevette I owned from 1986 to ’93 was a great car. The T cars responded well to regular maintenance, but heaven help you if you neglected them. Mine was a 4-speed, no A/C and power nothing, which helped, because that left little else to break. A good set of radials and some gas shocks gave decent ride and handling. No body rust when I traded it for my next car. That’s saying something for a non- garaged central Ohio car.
I always thought that the US Chevette should have offered this body style as an alternative to the hatchback.
I’m just speculating here, but it could be because this hatch roof line looks so much like the Vega hatch. If a Chevette hatch was released in ’76 that looked like this, consumers might think the Chevette was a freshened Vega. Or had Vega roots. Rather than a new design. It may have hurt sales, having this Vega-like roof line. The more formal Chevette roof line may have compared more favorably to the Rabbit.
Here the Golf/Rabbit was in a different market it was much more expensive than either the Vauxhall Chevette or the Isuzu/Holden Gemini and much less popular, it may have been better but it had the beetles reputation to overcome first.
Yeah, after the Vega debacle, GM certainly didn’t want any new models in Chevy showrooms that even remotely looked like a Vega. But they could get away with it at Buick dealerships.
Interestingly, using an existing foreign platform for the Vega was something Delorean claimed to have espoused in his book. IIRC, he said that GM’s 14th floor arrogance was so high that it was felt that a home-grown designed and engineered Vega would be far superior to anything created off of something already being sold by GM elsewhere. Of course, the 14th floor still held a grudge against Delorean for the 1964 GTO and weren’t too keen on listening to anything he said.
Delorean does, however, take credit for the outrageously expensive ’75-’76 Cosworth Vega. It got great reviews, but it came close to being the same price at not just two regular Vegas, but you could get nearly three Vegas instead of a Cosworth. The Cosworth was only $900 less than a new Corvette.
At the time, I was surprised that GM kept the Vega Kammback model going after the Vega line was cancelled, and called it the ‘Monza Wagon’. With no sheetmetal freshening, beyond the front clip. IMO, it let the smell of the Vega linger. I know, they needed a small wagon. It had a different front clip, but the 1979 Monza wagon still looked clearly like the 1970 Vega Kammback. Well, it outlasted the AMC Hornet. GM didn’t seem to make advanced small car development in North America, a top priority in the 1970s.
I do appreciate that the quality control and engine, by 1979, were far superior to 1970. No comparison. But burdening it with the same styling. I can’t see a dealer putting these on their front lot, let alone the showroom.
If only they had delivered the Cosworth Vega much sooner…
Yeah, DeLorean wasn’t all he’s cracked up to be as we later found out…..they had a “grudge”? Yet they continued to promoted him up from Pontiac to Chevrolet to General Motors Vice Presidency?
GM kept selling cars with Vega “roots” all the way until 1980, hell, even the devil itself, the Vega, kept selling in the 200,000 plus unit numbers all the way until 1976, when it was already pretty much at the end of it’s life cycle.
Not to apologize for the Vega, but there were certain things that American cars and American car designers were better at, and driving situations that American cars better designed for like high speed long distance interstate driving, air conditioning systems, automatic transmissions, etc Opel Kadetts, for however much “praise” people want to heap on them, weren’t really great at handling much of these situations either.
I’m not heaping praise on the Kadett/Manta by any means. But starting from total scratch, certainly made the Vega an even bigger risk. It might help explain why they stuck with the very conventional Chevette for so long.
And GM kept selling cars with Kadett C roots in the US until 1987. Germany knows a thing or two about high speed, long distance travel and we only ever got a stripper version of this platform as the Chevette in the US. There were much more powerful engines and well-appointed cars available in Europe that certainly would have been more at home on US roads.
That said, the Vega’s failures were largely due to cost-cutting and quality control issues that a US-built Opel design likely would have suffered from as well. It’s almost certain that Chevrolet would have had less headaches with an Opel engine, but beyond that? Who’s to say. That GM would have saved a lot of time and money by just using one platform across both continents is certainly a valid argument, but the Vega was still a solid car from a design perspective that was let down by rust and a half-baked powerplant. It handled well, got good mileage, was relatively comfortable, and as much as I like Opels, I think the early Vegas were better looking.
I was thinking, rather than GM producing two mediocre car lines, why not create a better car adaptable to take on the likes of the Datsun 510 or BMW 2002? Only, more robust. I guess we aren’t optimistic, that’s a goal that GM would have placed in their sights at the time. Surely, at the R&D stage, the durability and engine shortcomings if the Vega were revealing themselves already, before introduction. But that was built in to the costs they were willing to put forth.
When the Vega was being developed, Opel was still selling a decent amount of cars in the US through Buick showrooms which were no doubt seen as BMW and Datsun competitors. That situation changed very quickly in the early 70s, so I’m not really sure why something more along those lines was never developed on the H-Body platform. Aside from the people that worked most closely on them, I get the impression that GM’s corporate policy on small cars was that anyone who bought them must be: A) the parent of a teenage girl who had just graduated high school, B) poor as fuck, or C) communist, and that if it ran over the target cost of building each car then it wasn’t worth doing, cuz screw those people. The original 1960 GM compacts were more along the lines of a 510 or 2002 – technologically advanced, high quality vehicles that everyone (well, most people) loved and they sold several hundreds of thousands a year. They were deemed not profitable enough per unit and dropped after a few seasons. I’m sure when it came time for the second go-round with the Vega, there was no way GM was going to make that “mistake” again. What a shame…
The Vega was one of those cars that made GM re-think some of its testing practices actually.
The Vega was still pretty good considering how equally crappy little cars were at the time, as Sean Cornelis, little cars were a kinda viewed as a “screw that” market for a while, the original target price for the Vega was going to be $1900 bucks or something like that.
if cosworth vegas were only $900 cheaper than a vette u can count on how many CV will fly off the shelves in a year.
Similar to the 914/6 which was priced so closed to a real 911.
The folks with lots of money and no brain ofcourse will want anything different.
I thought this looked familiar,it does look a bit nicer than the Vauxhall Chevette.Were they any better at rust resistance?The Chevette was the last Vauxhall with a reputation as a bad ruster
Would the economodders love these or what? I frequent an economodder site and there are some extremes that others go to that I would not.:
A Nash for the 1980s.
I remember when the auto mags road tested these at the time, they were described as old school. But the diesel engine, and it’s mileage, made them worth considering. The same could apply to the Chevette.
The last time I remember the Chevette had any significant mention in the mags, was the introduction of the 5 door, then the diesel.
I could learn to love something like this.
DAEWOO MAEPSY…now, there’s a name that should be brought back!!
Sounds like a car with a medical disease.
“Doctor, I’ve got Daewoo Maepsy”.
“Have you had it before?”
“Yes”.
“Well, you’ve got it, again”. [rimshot]
Isn’t Daewoo Maepsy a character in “The Hobbit” ?
Bless it’s heart. Looks like a Datsun and an Escort mated. I like it!
I WANT ONE!! The rarity factor is compelling, not to mention the quality I associate with the brand. And if you think these are cool, you should see the Japanese market Gemini ZZR (the RWD I-Marks were also called Gemini at home), with its twin cam engine and flush headlights.
GM should’ve given more money to Isuzu to make good compact cars for the US. It’d have averted all sorts of experiments with NUMMI, Saturn, etc.
Perhaps GM could also have avoided all the costs of the Vega/Astre, and made world class Kadetts or Mantas.
+1. Just imagine how different GM history would be if this had happened.
Opel imported Isuzu diesel engines for their Vectra and those are the ones that last better so its not just GM NA that cant build decent diesel engines
“As you know all too well by now, CC is about documenting the cars that were once so (kind of?) common on our streets, and now are mostly gone.”
which is exactly why I come here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a post on CC and thought “Holy crap, I haven’t seen one of those in decades!”
They also make great race cars:
The Isuzu/Holden Gemini had ist own one make race series in Aussie no diesels though far too slow and these heaps are popular with boyracers who repower them, on circulates in Napier with 4/71blown Rover V8 hanging out the bonnet/hood.
Just try and find a pretty Gemini coupe that hasn’t been monstered by boy racers! An excellent little car in its day, for me one of GMs greatest hits.
Their biggest fault is the Rodeo ute motor bolts right in voila instant power
Back in 1977 Buick had an ad campaign where they supposedly got Car and Driver to conduct a non-biased review of five small cars (Buick Opel, VW Rabbit, Datsun B210, Toyota Corolla, and Subaru DL). They triumphantly then had a two page ads with the results in which the Buick Opel by Isuzu predictably came in….second. Yep, they admitted that they did not win the comparison test (the Rabbit did). I attached the second page of the ad with the results..the first page was simply bolded text stating ‘The Thrilling Conclusion of the Buick Opel 5 Car Showdown’ and a photo of the Opel
Wow-that’s a rather odd ad. Where did you find it?
I remember this ad. Motor Trend carried this one too. Rather self-deprecating as many AMC ad spots used to be. Not the brightest strategy. Maybe if they would had advertised a significant price advantage over the VW to go along the the second place finish, they could mitigate the negative inferences of the ad with a positive one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Isuzu_117_coupe_001.jpg
A stunner of a car. Back in ’11 I was on a tour of Kyushu with my GF and in one small town, the tour bus passed by vacant lot overgrown by foliage .
At the edge of the lot was a derelict one of these,along with a whole yard full of other old JDM junkyard finds. The bus was going so fast that the only other I made out was a late 60s Nissan Laurel 1800. I felt like screaming for the bus driver to stop.
Wow that’s a beauty. I instantly thought “Italian”, sure enough Giugiaro penned it.
My former father in law had one of these- something to drive his mistresses around in while Mama-San looked after their sons !
There is a red 117, a later version with square headlights and rubber bumpers driving around Adelaide. I asked the driver what it was doing in Australia, she said her husband worked for GM/H and that it had been brought in for feasibility testing back in the day. The 117 is prettier than the Dino Coupe.
Oh, I’ve seen it around North Adelaide- got a bit of panel cancer, but a seriously cool car!
N Adelaide is where I used to see it. The driver seemed really reasonable, she knew there was something a bit special about the car but for her it is just a runabout. The only reason I didn’t make an offer was that I had just bought a car.
Its similar to some of the self depreciating humor that Doyle & Bernbach used for VW ads.
After Vietnam and Watergate, hubris went out of style. (Not for long.)
Back in 1977 Buick had an ad campaign where they supposedly got Car and Driver to conduct a non-biased review of five small cars (Buick Opel, VW Rabbit, Datsun B210, Toyota Corolla, and Subaru DL).
A bit of a commentary on the low level of Japanese auto technology of the late 70s. Notice the Honda Accord was not included. As I recall, some Corollas had a pathetic 1.2L engine, and others had a delightful 1.6L hemi. Wonder which one they chose for the “impartial” test?
Motor Trend diverged from their usual British Leyland bashing for the “Opel by Isuzu”. First abusing the thing for the blatant badge engineering, then savaging the particular car being tested, the “Sport” model, as the “sport” package amounted to little more than a few decals. As I recall, the tester didn’t find any real failings of the car, unlike their list of sorrows for BL products. It was just GM’s cynical posing that he objected to.
Used to see these all the time, A good look for sure. Had a big Isuzu dealer in town, was always busy, lots of radio/TV ads….. slowly faded away,,,,
Never seen one of these before
This sure is a neat vehicle and one I have never ever seen before, but I will keep an eye out. So, why do these Diesels clatter so much compared to other Diesels?
Cold engine
What a find! I can vaguely remember seeing these as a young child, but it’s been well over 20 years since I last laid eyes on one. Such a strange and wonderful mix of differing automotive philosophies – handsome fastback styling, gutless but thrifty diesel engine, loud decals with some very sweet alloy wheels (aftermarket?), and a fairly plush interior for an American market subcompact of the era (there’s faux wood trim to be seen if you look hard enough). A good reflection of the I-Mark’s wildly diverse DNA.
All of these I’ve ever seen online were 2-doors equipped with the diesel engine, which was probably the least popular combo when they were new. Aside from that ad up above, I’ve never even seen a picture of the sedan (not in the US, anyway) and all Isuzu passenger cars have now become a rarity on this continent. What a shame, they made some cool stuff that was, by most accounts, pretty well-built. I’ve always been a fan.
I can’t help but point out that in the UK, this would be called a “Mark I I-Mark”.
Nice peek at the DS behind that Kadett. A little real beauty puts a car 20 years younger in its place.
You’re right of course, a DS is a beautiful car. But that isn’t really the point of CC – it’s not all about the film star good looks of full-blown “classic” cars, but the simpler pleasures of tidy little vehicles that were well conceived and still give pleasure. In the real world I’d rather have a light, fun little car like the Kadett that would be cheap to fix and easy on the eye, rather than the DS. Not to say I wouldn’t have a DS as well, but not on my current salary.
I’d rather have the DS (not that I could afford it!) but the Kadett is still a great looking car.
I like the Kadett better.
In the 10th grade we went on an excursion to the Holden assembly plant at Acacia Ridge in Brisbane were we saw Holden Gemini diesels being assembled. We got to walk around the entire line. Fascinating to see these and Holden Kingswoods being put together. never drove the diesels, but drove a few of the 4 door sedans. They were tough little cars that were quite popular in Australia.
I work around the corner from that plant,in Archerfield. Didn’t realize they built Geminis there…now a warehouse complex.
My sister bought a two door Gemini as her first and first and only new car in the 1970s.It had a petrol engine and looked ok until she crashed it badly.They were an average handling car until General Motors-Holden got two German engineers from Opel to fix the handling deficits, Radial Tuned Suspension. They were as prone to rust as most Japanese cars of the period.Geminis were also prone to overheating and blowing the head gasket.A friend gave me a lift to collect my 1968 Peugeot 404 in his four door Gemini and I was amazed at the level of wind noise,very loud.The drive home in the Peugeot was limousine quiet and far more comfortable.In 1985 the new Holden Gemini RB was sourced from Isuzu,front wheel drive and galvanised.I still see many worn RBs on the road and no rust.I hired a Gemini on the isle of Crete in 1981,no Citroens available that time,it was the Opel version and had a more comfortable ride than the Australian version.
My mom had a 1981 I-mark, it was the last car her father bought new. I remember on the harsh Minnesota winter nights it seamed the best thing to do was leave it running through the night, if you had something important to do the next morning. Unfortunately the little guy dropped a valve in colorado in ’94, impounded and sold for scrap we never saw him again. 1.8 auto, 0-60 in about half a minute, and filling it up once maybe twice a month, the makings of a memorable little car. Also the only one I’ve seen, a little silver two-door like this one with blue interior…..Miss that little guy.
The Isuzu I-Mark diesel is a car that I encountered during my childhood. The father of a close friend owned one, a four door sedan, IIRC. He married late and was quite a bit older than most parents that I knew, and a bit eccentric, so the car suited him. He was the sort of person who would have bought a Mercedes diesel, but could not afford one, so the I-Mark diesel fit his desire for a car that would last for several decades, with absolutely no concern for what anyone else might think about it. I do not remember ever riding in it or even looking inside it, but I remember it clattering quite loudly on startup.
What a find, I love it. I’d love to find a Rallye trim Buick Opel by Isuzu but I fear that the vast majority have gone onto the crusher long, long ago. Comparing the I-Mark and Opel cousin as rare as a Hemi Cuda is not too far off the mark.