Junkyard Find: 1986 Isuzu I-Mark Hatchback
In the late 1980s, if you didn’t want to buy your Isuzu Gemini as a Geo/Chevrolet Spectrum, you could get it as a genuine Isuzu. I-Marks are (and were) very rare, though we have seen an ’87 in this series), and so this one with gigantic ISUZU badging has some historical interest for the true connoisseur of cheapo 80s hatchbacks.
The only I-Mark I’ve ever driven was the needs-some-TLC ’81 diesel in the clip above, and it was a fine car. However, that was the earlier Chevette-sibling rear-wheel-drive version. Today’s I-Mark Junkyard Find is the front-wheel-drive sibling of the Holden Gemini (among many others).
That’s the 70-horse 1.5 liter 4XC1 engine right there, close cousin to the engine in the early-90s Lotus Elan.
It was cheaper than the Civic, Corolla, and Sentra, and… it was cheaper.
This one almost made it to 100,000 miles during its 27 years on the planet.
It probably still ran when towed away, but expired tags spelled its doom.
When a car owner knows that the junkyard is the likely next stop, the Cotton Candy Little Tree usually gets replaced by a New Car Scent tree. That’s the law.
You want luxury? An I-Mark with factory sunroof in 1986— that’s luxury!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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Love those icons on the climate control.
My first new car was a 1986 Isuzu I-Mark, I am still driving it almost 30 years later with about 85,000 miles and counting. Finding parts is a bear I admit, but I really have not needed to do a lot of repairs. I did just last week had to replace the original ignition coil. Heck it has not even needed clutch work.