Isuzu Impulse Turbo Listed for $500 on Facebook Is Worthy of Saving

Right now, sitting on a flatbed in Loveland, Colorado, there's a very special car in need of saving. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's even heard of it, even though it does happen to wear a moderately exotic badge. But for those in the know, this rare 1989 Isuzu Impulse is a hidden gem that deserves to be brought back from the dead. And for just $500, there are plenty of us out there with the means to do so.

Never heard of the Isuzu Impulse? Don't worry, neither have most American car enthusiasts. However, it's a car you're going to want to learn about and, once you do, maybe even put half a grand down for.

In the 1980s, GM owned a big chunk of Isuzu and used its name to sell rebadged cars and trucks in the United States. Most of them were forgettable but, toward the end of the decade, something magical happened. GM let Isuzu go a bit wild and develop its own engine for a more powerful version of the standard Impulse, which was built on a rear-wheel drive, econobox chassis. So this Impulse RS Turbo for sale packs a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 140 horsepower and 166 lb-ft of torque into a rear-wheel-drive hatchback body, as the "4ZC1 Intercooled Turbo" decal on the side window teases. (The listing calls it a turbocharged 1.6-liter, but the first-generation Impulse didn't offer that engine.)