Minneapolis Street Sighting: Isuzu VehiCROSS 4WD

I love Japanese vehicles, and I tend to make that known here on The Automotive Way; unfortunately, around Minneapolis, most of the Japanese vehicles I see are of the garden variety-- typical Honda Civics, Toyota Camrys, and the occasional Suzuki Swift, and for light trucks, the standard of my sightings is the typical Toyota Tacoma or Nissan Frontier that has somehow escaped being hacked into a minitruck.

As a young child, I was fascinated by oddball Japanese makes, and I still am. Isuzu is a make I have always wondered about, because when I was growing up, I noticed that a vast majority of their products had been rebadged for other brands--or were in-fact cheaply badge-engineered versions of vehicles sold by other makes. Case in point, the Isuzu Trooper and Acura SLX, and the Chevrolet S10/GMC Sonoma and Isuzu Hombre. But what happens when Isuzu churns out a vehicle nothing like anything else available? The result is this--the VehiCROSS.  Although the mechanicals are pure Trooper, the styling is all its own. And it looks--well, see for yourself. I like these, but many potential customers found the styling quite polarizing; as a result, production was extremely limited, and the VehiCROSS is a scarce find today.

I have seen a scant ten or fifteen throughout my life, and most of the ones I've seen have been silver like this one; they also came in black, white and yellow, with green and red being even more rare than the normal colors.

I adore this example; yes, its quite dusty, and yes it could use a good wash, but I applaud the owner for not letting it rust. All the appropriate trim and badges are in place, including the much-gone 4WD badge on the tailgate. I am sad that this example suffers from suburbanitis and it will never see a dirt road in its life. Then again, I haven't seen this one since I shot it nearly three years ago, so I don't really know what became of it.

I like these, and because they're quite scarce, I'm glad I shot this. I haven't seen it since, and I haven't seen another VehiCROSS since. I would love to find another one someday, and do a better shoot of it.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Isuzu Vehicross

I try to refrain from posting modern cars, but sometimes, there are vehicles that are too quirky to pass up. Interestingly enough, my buddy who runs California Streets seems to think so, too. Like he, these have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. They came out when I was young enough to think these absurd designs were in some odd way cool. Apparently, Hot Wheels thought the same, because I remember having a silver one and a yellow one when I was younger.
Isuzu as a whole fascinates me; their entire portfolio is comprised of both rebadges of other company's designs, a slew of vehicles which people could deem either ugly or bland--or both. The Vehicross fits the ugly bill pretty well--if you're a generic car enthusiast. I find them not only a sign of the times (2000-2003 was the pinnacle for some rather awful "futuristic" designs, IMO.)

















Oddly enough, this particular Vehicross is in better condition than the example my friend found; granted his is a much rarer example, but that doesn't make my sighting any less special. Fitted with beefier tires, and rather "tough" looking wheels, it appears this rare ute is set up to tackle whatever nature throws at it. Like most "brodozers" here in the Midwest, this Isuzu probably never sees a speck of dirt. The factory paint is flawless, and the trim appears to be in excellent condition. On most examples, the cladding has likely faded from black to gray, and this truck is no exception. I can't recall ever seeing one where the cladding isn't faded. Even the yellow one I spotted last summer had faded cladding.
Would I sport one? Most definitely. Would I do mine up like this example? Probably not. These are unique trucks that should be left alone, or as near to stock as possible. There aren't many left, and they should be treated as such. If you're an offroad enthusiast do the Vehicross world a favor and buy youreself a Wrangler. I have no problem making these into capable rigs, but to cut one up as a trail rig is just blasphemous. The lift kit and "bro" wheels on this one are pushing it into the distasteful side, but I don't completely hate it. It's rare, and interesting--this it fits on this blog. I wish I would see more of them, but what fun would that be if these had the same presence as a Honda Accord?