At $15,450, Is This 1992 Isuzu Gemini Irmscher Coupe A Gem Of A Deal?

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Isuzu Gemini is being sold by a company that specializes in importing interesting JDM cars and unleashing them (at a cost) on unsuspecting Americans. Let’s see if the surprise is worth the wallet-lightening.

For most people, the most basic form of transportation is their feet. Stepping up a bit in terms of speed and, to some degree, comfort, there are wheeled options—scooters, bicycles, and the like. A short rung up from those in the milieu of getting from point A to point B is the 1981 HM-Vehicles FreeWay, which we looked at last Friday. It offered the benefit of some weather protection, but would otherwise be about as crude a ride as a beach bike. Lacking a reverse gear, it also lost out to feet in terms of overall practicality. 

Well, to be fair, wearing flip-flops negates the ability to safely reverse on foot, so maybe we should call it a draw. Generally, feet are free, and at $6,000, Friday’s FreeWay proved far from that. Most of you agreed that was too much for a toy, resulting in the lawnmower engine-powered former commuter car falling in a massive 90% No Dice loss.

Japan in the 1990s went crazy for coupes. Heavy hitters were coming out of almost every car maker, from Toyota’s Supra and the Nissan 300ZX, to Mazda’s FD RX-7 and Mitsubishi’s 3000GT. Beneath those were a supporting cast of more reasonably priced coupes, including the Toyota Paseo, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Nissan NX, and Isuzu Gemini. Many of these coupes could be had with muscular turbocharged engines, AWD, and the sort of expressive styling that made them look like they could go fast even if they weren’t quite as capable as their bigger, brawnier siblings.

Here in the U.S., at the same time, consumer trends were shifting from two doors to SUVs, meaning that this tsunami of cool little cars from Japan crested and then ebbed back by the turn of the millennium. Isuzu was at the forefront of this market shift, not only offering a broad selection of SUV models but also allowing other companies to rebadge them and sell them under their own brands. For some reason, that didn’t pan out for the marque, and Isuzu packed up shop in 2009, so far never to return again.

Isuzu sold a series of cars in the States along with its SUVs, but those proved less popular and exited stage left long before the company closed its doors here. The Gemini series of compact cars originated in the 1970s as a badge-engineered version of the Opel Kadett, made possible by General Motors’ partial stake in the Japanese marque and its outright ownership of Opel. Succeeding generations of Gemini were much more an Isuzu jam, although GM continued to have a say in certain aspects of the models as it was selling them through its brands—notably Chevy and GEO here in the States—alongside Isuzu’s own attempts to gain market share.

This 1992 Isuzu Gemini Coupe is one model that was saved for the home market, although the same basic car was sold here as, respectively, the Geo Storm and Isuzu Impulse, albeit with different nose styling. Based on the same platform as those cars, this Coupe has a 180-horsepower DOHC 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine under the hood. That’s paired with a five-speed manual gearbox and torque-sensing AWD, along with an Irmscher-massaged suspension, making this a secure-handling sports car. It’s also pretty-darn good-looking with a shooting brake liftback booty and an Oldsmobile Aurora-aping nose.

This is also, it should be noted, a privately-imported JDM car, which means it is right-hand drive and has a number of labels written in Japanese. The company offering the car specializes in such imports, a fact made clear in its name—JDM Car and Motorcycle LLC. That’s probably a good thing since such a company should be well-versed in all the hoops through which one must jump to make a car’s import stick in the eyes of the Feds and State governments.

There’s been plenty of time for that, too, as the current ad isn’t this Gemini’s first rodeo. A bit of Internet detective work shows that the dealer has put this car up for grabs a number of times over the last three years, and either has been buying it back or has had no luck in moving it that entire time.

It can’t be the car’s fault because it seems pretty solid. As the pictures show, there are a couple of minor boogers in the paint on the front bumper, and the upholstery on the passenger side Recaro seat is splitting. Aside from that, however, it all looks good. Mileage is claimed to be a mere 86K, and the car is said to have recently received a new timing belt and tires, along with other minor maintenance work.

When Isuzu first started selling cars under its own name in the U.S., its ad agency created a fictional spokesperson, Joe Isuzu–played by actor David Leisure–to promote the marque. In a series of comedic ads, Joe Isuzu made outlandish claims about the cars, which were qualified by on-screen corrections. Isuzu eventually dumped the Joe Isuzu character as he had become better known than the cars he was trying to shill.

Maybe this dealer needs a Joe Isuzu-like character to sell this car? Or perhaps the car needs a more approachable price? The current asking is $15,450, and we now need to decide whether the car is worth that much as it presently sits. What do you think? Is $15,450 a fair price to go ‘coupe crazy?’ Or is that too much U.S. cash for this JDM car?

You decide!

Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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