Good morning, and welcome to another fun-filled Shitbox Showdown! Got some really special stuff for you today, and I hope you like the color yellow, because you’re going to see a lot of it. One of these cars you’ve probably heard of but haven’t seen for sale in quite a while; the other you probably haven’t, but if you’re a longtime reader, you know the place selling it.
But before we get to that, let’s check out yesterday’s results, although we probably don’t need to. A Buick Roadmaster, especially a wagon, especially a later model with the LT1, is just going to win. Doesn’t really matter what it’s up against.
But is that really true? That’s something to keep in mind for future Showdowns – Roadmasters always win, but so do Saabs. And Honda Civics. I should try to find some of these perennial winners and pit them against each other, and see what you do with them.
For today, however, we have other, weirder fish to fry, in the form of a limited-production Isuzu SUV with a face only a nurse shark could love, and a bizarre little kit car based on an old British econobox. Lots to talk about with these two; let’s dive right in.
2000 Isuzu VehiCROSS – $2,200
Engine/drivetrain: 3.5 liter dual overhead cam V6, four-speed automatic, AWD
Location: San Fernando, CA
Odometer reading: 204,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives but cuts out randomly
Isuzu had a good long run of really cool SUVs: the Trooper in all its generations, the Rodeo and Amigo, the Axiom, and this weirdo, known as the VehiCROSS. It features a quad-cam V6, all-wheel-drive, and love-it-or-hate-it styling. Personally, I’m not a fan, but I’m glad it exists. We need more oddball car designs. Isuzu used ceramic stamping dies to build the VehiCROSS – they’re cheap to make, but don’t last very long, perfect for short production runs. Fewer than 6,000 VehiCROSSes were built.
Mechanically, it’s a parts-bin special, stealing drivetrain and chassis components from the Trooper. It’s a body-on-frame truck, with a sophisticated all-wheel-drive system that apparently works very well off-road. The short wheelbase and minimal overhangs help as well. This one is a mixed bag condition-wise; it runs well, and the air conditioning even works, but it cuts out randomly. The seller isn’t specific about whether it just cuts out for a second, or conks out and has to be restarted.
It’s generally in good condition cosmetically. The leather seats have some wear and tear, but that’s to be expected north of 200,000 miles. Outside, the clearcoat is peeling, but it’s straight and rust-free.
Whatever you think of these things, because of its rarity, it’s bound to be a collector’s item eventually. And this is about the cheapest one I’ve ever seen for sale. The stalling/cutting out problem can’t be that hard to fix, and the commonality with Trooper parts should make it easy to find what you need.
1993 Banham X99 – $2,500
Engine/drivetrain: 1.4 liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed manual, FWD
Location: Nashville, TN
Odometer reading: 34,000 miles
Operational status: Doesn’t run, and needs suspension work
Banham Conversions was a British company that made kit cars for many years. Banham’s cars included Porsche replicas based on rear-engine Skodas, an Austin-Healey Sprite replica based on the Austin Metro, a front-wheel-drive Ford RS200 replica based on an Austin Maestro, and this car, the X99, which was based on a later Rover Metro and is absolutely in no way a replica of an Audi TT. Or at least, that’s what Banham said, before Volkswagen AG took them to court over the resemblance. How does such an odd little British kit car find its way to Nashville? It’s part of the Lane Motor Museum‘s collection.
The Metro used to build this X99 was apparently a GTi model, owing to the twincam K-series engine under the hood. This engine puts out right around 100 horsepower to the front wheels, which must move this little car right along – I imagine it weighs less than a stock Metro GTi. The listed 1993 model year confuses me a little, because Banham didn’t start selling the X99 kit until 1999. My guess is 1993 is the model year of the donor Metro.
This car doesn’t run at the moment, and the funky Hydragas suspension needs some work. Rover Metro parts are thin on the ground here, but I’m sure everything you could possibly need to fix up this car is just an internet search away.
Luckily, the body and interior appear to be in good shape. And yeah, it looks quite a lot like an Audi TT, but I bet if you parked them side-by-side, you would have no trouble telling them apart. I’m a little surprised that the Lane is letting this go, and for so cheap, frankly. It looks like a great little project for the right person. Hell, if the timing were different, that person might be me.
Both of these need some love, but I think they both deserve it. The price of admission is fair enough on both, and neither one should be too difficult to deal with. And either one would turn heads at a car gathering, especially with the screaming yellow paint. So which one will it be?
(Image credits: Craigslist seller and Lane Motor Museum)
That Vehicross is a very good deal for several reasons:
1. Best looking CUV ever made.
2. It is priced just a few hundred what the used motor would cost.
3. The 3.5L motor is a GM 6 cylinders so parts no problem.
4. The transmission is the 4LE60 GM so tested and easy to source.
5. Has all the original equipment included the easy to lose and break pieces.
6. The roof rack cross bars are rare and cost almost $500 when you can find them.
7. In 22 tears of ownership the only repair (not including maintaining items) was a leaking rear mainseal covered under 10 year 100,000 mile warranty.
8. The color Proton Yellow is the best from white, red, green, yellow, 2 silvers, and black. Not sure if they had a blue one.
9. Borg Warner 4WD as well as small footprint for excellent off road performance.
The bad:
1. Front seats needed recovered
2. Clear coat peeling
3. Headlights rubber weather stripping peels off.
4. No pop unlock in glove box to open cargo door. Available aftermarket
5. Limited rear visibility and no back up camera. Available aftermarket
6. Body panels hard to replace but many are still on the road.
Note I think the 6,000 built figure is low, that is built for the US MARKET another 4,000 were built for Japan and a few other markets. You can find these everywhere from Russia, to Australia, Asia North and South America.
At least the Isuzu is a real car. That Banham is just a shit show.
I was all set to vote for the Banham just because I’d never heard of one. And then I saw the phrases “doesn’t run”, “needs suspension work” and “kit car”, and my vote immediately shifted to the Isuzu, even though it’s ugly as sin.
Anyone else think it was an Audi TT with a really bad body kit?
Vehicross, no brainer.
My vote goes to the X99 mainly for the weird factor.
As much as I’m typically drawn to weird things, this thing is just bad. And an example that being different isn’t always a good thing.
The elephant in the room…what will it cost to pass smog here in Cali? A disco brand. A car never sold here . No to both.
NOPE! NOPe Nope nope nope…[trails off into the distance]
Unpopular opinion: I always liked the Vehicross’ styling and even thought a couple times about buying a used one. So it gets my vote here.
The only bit I didn’t like about it was the crappy 4L30E transmission Isuzu used on these. Not a bad transmission on its own but it’s totally unfit for this application. I guess a rebuild and in-line cooler should not be that much on one of those?
Vehicross. Weird enough for me to like it in spite of it being ugly and not having any interest in that type of vehicle plus that kit is completely unappealing—shittier TT when I could buy the real thing for cheap and with a chassis and engine from a car that was never sold in the US. I will never understand why anyone makes these kinds of half-assed kits of other cars. Like, have a dream of designing your own car, but building one in its entirety is way too expensive (like earlier kit cars, some of which were quite attractive and even successful as race cars and are appreciated today)? Sure, design a body and interior for an extant vehicle or on your own chassis using major components from production cars. Or maybe there’s a ready market for something too rare and/or otherwise unobtainable that could be sold for a lot less as a kit and designed to be almost indistinguishable from the original, OK, I get that, too. But a terrible copy of a mediocre and not very expensive car that’s distinctively styled enough that copying it poorly stands out especially strongly for its failure? WTF.
Nope to both today.
VehiCROSS is a STEAL. That thing could be big fun for very little money.
Agreed, I think for the price it’s worth trying to find the gremlin. Something that amazes me about these is how good the cladding looks, I see a fair number around here in AZ (including the Ironman edition) and none of them suffer the same fate as say the Avalanche, with white crusty cladding.
I remember when I was growing up a dentist (I think, or maybe he was a lawyer) in my town used to park a silver Vehicross in downtown Orland, I always thought it was funky and cool and the Vehicross has lived rent free in my mind since. It seems like it would be a cool oddball, but useful vehicle.
The bones of classic British malaise crossed with hand-made kit is the recipe of someone with a bottomless pit of patience & money. NFW.
Isuzu for the easy decision here.
I don’t care what problems it has, you had me at VehiCROSS.
It’s legitimately a good thing that the VehiCross is several states away from me, or I’d be getting the third degree from my wife about yet another project car in the driveway.
Vehicross all day long. In repaired condition it’s worth more money and unlike a kit car it might actually be more fun to drive. Not to mention that a Vehicross is way more interesting that a Rover pretending to be an Audi TT.
I had a buddy in SF who traded his not-very-old W201 C Class for a new VehiCROSS.
He may have been slightly offended from all the pointing and laughter.
Why would a museum want a kit car?
Something to sell in the gift shop?
Loving that comment
More to the point, why would they get rid of it? They know cars and they want to unload this POS.
Well everyone who knows me knows how I voted.if closer I would buy it for parts.
As soon as I saw it, I wondered what your comment would be
I’ve been waiting for your take! Tell me yours is yellow too.
I figure I have coveted over the years but a heck of a deal. I am looking for a motor and this is priced a couple hundred over used motor prices. If close I would do it. It has all the parts that usually get broken or lost. And the bars holding that roof rack cost almost $500 if you can find them.
Kinda busy pumping my flooded basement out now have to go.
Done
cool car in shitty condition > uncool car in shitty condition
Sorry, but this doesn’t actually clarify your vote.
Hey everyone, I found the Banham voter!
The Vehicross. It’s a car I’ve actually, ya know, been inside, and I cannot imagine the amount of whiskey and cries of “Toss the car in the harbor with the tea” I’d need to unleash in order to effectively troubleshoot that other… uh, aspiring transportation appliance.
I had a Trooper, and other than some dumb gotchas with maintenance (maintaining tension on the idler arm is pretty critical, and the spark plugs are right at the perfect place where wrenching on the one furthest forward puts the swing of the socket wrench right at the positive terminal of the battery, should you need a reminder to always disconnect the battery before working on parts carrying voltage) it was pretty reliable. I sold mine at around 210,000 miles. The Vehicross is the same engine, which never really gave me any grief.
You’ll still see some of the older mini-SUV’s (older Rav4’s, Vehicross, Suzuki Samurai, that kinda thing) on the trails, but the Vehicross was always a little special; it’s got the power of the Jeeps and 4Runners of that era, but it’s just… so… tiny (note: not any lighter, just smaller). They’re the perfect solution for people that want to go Jeep places but have things like floormats and functioning air conditioning.
I’m actually a little tempted, just because a lot of the old iron (like the Monteros and Xterras) are seeing a resurgence, and this is almost certainly going to be snapped up fast.
eeeek a British car? The Isuzu wins by default.
Too bad it wasn’t based off a Geo Metro. Then it would actually be a good car.
I’d take literally any form of transport over a Metro. Anything.
Neither.
Voted VehiCROSS because I enjoy voting for things, but I wouldn’t wish either of these on anyone.