OT: Please Help to get rid off 89 Isuzu Impulse Turbo
 

If anyone does not know about the Impulse Turbo, it was one of the premium "sleeper" GT's in the mid 80's. This is the all Japanese made 1st generation and not the crappy GM made 90's Impulse (Geo Storm). This particular model is rare and is definitley a collector's item.

This is the last model for this generation and all the goodies are in this car. The car has a 2.0 liter 8V intercooled Turbo, RWD with LSD, Handling designed and tuned by Lotus. Recaro seats, power everything, auto climate control. The car is auto transmission and is very quick and very torquey.

I bought this car for my wife's niece (who is teenager) as her first car.
The car was bought off a senior citizen who first owned it since 1989. The car has been garaged, pampered, and maintained perfectly. It only has 65K miles. The condition of the car is immaculate. It looked like it just rolled off the showroom. Its that clean.. I bought the car for $3500 less than a year ago.

Here is the problem. Once my wife's niece took over the car, it was pretty much abused. It got into a fender bender which moved the front bumper a few inches down and messed up the front alignment. Then two days ago, the car started making VERY loud ticking noises (bent valves?).. I am not really sure what happened but the car will still run but will stall after a while. The car is loud and now sounds like a diesel truck. I checked the oil and it looked a tiny bit milky (head gasket?). I am not really sure how this car got to this condition, but nevetheless, it is now sitting on a driveway stuck there.

I figured that it would not be worth getting a new engine for the car. I can try to take the engine apart and inspect the head but I no longer have the time to do such work. I want to sell the car as is for $1500. Is this reasonable? I need to get rid of it soon.

Wow, wish you werent in CA

I love quirky 80s cars :)

ditto...that thing R0x0rs....wish I had the money to get it and fix it up...but am currently in the market for a 1969 Opel GT....*drool*

Yes that thing is cool...wasn't it designed by the same guy as the DeLorean and the Scirocco and the AE86 Corolla? I remember reading a thread on that once...I've never seen one here in Canada, very cool car IMO...if it was stick I would consider it...

Desgined by Giorgio Giugaro..One of the designs that many cars copied.

Pic above is not the actual car (the actual car looks 100% like it though)..If anyone is interested, I will take actual pics of the car and the interior.

Oh, man, if only you weren't on the other side of the country. This is almost exactly what I'm looking for in a project car. Anybody know what shipping from CA to KY would be? XD Oh well... Anyways, good luck on the sale, and hopefully it goes to a good home (which I wish would be me).

-=Kenneth=-

Ha! I had an '88 Impulse right before I got my Porsche. I had a blown head gasket on mine, and the tranny died. Sold it to some kid in Canada for $300. Great car, though. Too bad you're on the west coast. I'd love to have another Impulse.

Does it have the "Handling by Lotus" badge on it? Or is that a different Isuzu?

One and the same!

Hell, I'd buy the car just for the Lotus badge and stick them on my 1991 Caddy that has 210,000 miles on it.

I have always had an affection for those cars. Even though the interior build qualitiy is typical 80's Isuzu ("TOTAL CRAP", said in the manner of Mike Myers' dad in "So I Married an Ax Murderer"), the rest of the car is very nice and they do handle very well (except a little scary in the rain sometimes). That would make a nice daily driver, provided that someone worked out the issue with the engine.

I bet you could make at least $1500 if you put it on ebay. Good luck!

I always liked the interior design on the Impulse, although there were a lot of plastic parts. There were two "pods" on either side of the steering wheel for climate control and cruise control so you didn't have to look away from the road.

Handling was great too!

Why the heck did you give a car like that to a teenager? You might as well have given her a handgun and let her blow her own head off while you were at it!

esanmiguel,

You might try posting the car on Isuzone.net:
http://www.kipanderson.net/forum/

Isuzone is a discussion board for Impulse, Imark and Geo Storm enthusiasts (kinda like Rennlist), so it might be a good place to look for a potential buyer. This is where I posted my Impulse when I wanted to sell it, and I was contacted by several people who were interested.