Brad Shawger was like most other 18-year-olds looking for cheap transportation as his first car. Unlike most other 18-year-olds, he landed on an Isuzu Impulse. It’s probably safe to say many of you have never even heard of the Impulse, let alone seen one in the metal. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro (famous for the first-generation Volks wagen Golf and BMW M1, among many others), it was an important car stylistically, and quite a reach for the Japanese car manufacturer best known for making trucks.
The Impulse—a replacement for the handsome Isuzu 117 Coupe (also a Giugiaro design) that was never sold in the U.S.—owed its existence to the mundane Isuzu Gemini, itself an adaptation of the Opel Kadett, or General Motors’ T-car. Launched in South America in 1973, the T-car platform was first sold in the U.S. as the Chevrolet Chevette for the 1976 model year, and quickly became a huge seller for GM and Chevrolet.
The Impulse started out as the final ace in Giugiaro’s ’70s-production-based
