{"id":36514,"date":"2022-11-20T12:03:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T17:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=36514"},"modified":"2022-11-20T12:03:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T17:03:47","slug":"junkyard-gem-2000-honda-passport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=36514","title":{"rendered":"Junkyard Gem: 2000 Honda Passport 4WD"},"content":{"rendered":"

The suits at American Honda<\/a> Motor Company must have spent the bulk of the 1990s tearing out their hair in frustration as their rivals raked in big money from the sales of ever-more-profitable SUVs, even as American car shoppers lost interest in sedans and hatchbacks. Oh, sure, the Civic-based CR-V<\/a> appeared here for the 1997 model year and sold well enough, but the lack of a larger SUV pained Honda more with each passing year. With the Acura MDX<\/a> and Honda Pilot<\/a> not ready for showrooms until the 2001 and 2002 model years, respectively, some stopgap had to be found. Isuzu<\/a> stepped up and made a deal with Honda: the Rodeo<\/a> would get Honda badges and become the Passport<\/a>, while the Trooper would show up in Acura<\/a> showrooms with SLX badges<\/a> (for the 1994 and 1995 model years, respectively). Here’s one of those Passports<\/a>, found in a Denver-area self-service yard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Things got even weirder in the Isuzu\/Honda world around the turn of the century, with the Honda Odyssey<\/a> getting Isuzu badges and being sold as the Oasis<\/a>. Fast-forward to 2009, and the only Isuzu-badged vehicles available new here were rebadged Chevrolets: the I-Series pickup<\/a> (Chevy Colorado<\/a>) and the Ascender<\/a> (Chevy Trailblazer<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Passport name has some interesting American Honda history, stretching back to the first Honda vehicle sold here (and the biggest-selling motor vehicle in human history<\/a>): the Super Cub<\/a>. American Honda Motor Company couldn’t use the Super Cub name on our shores, because Piper Aircraft had been selling a small plane called the Super Cub<\/a> since 1949, so the motorcycle was called the Honda 50<\/a> over here. Eventually, this bike got a 70cc engine and became the Honda C70 Passport<\/a>, sales of which continued through the middle 1980s. That means the Passports sitting in your local Honda dealership right now<\/a> got their name from a one-cylinder motorcycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

General Motors<\/a> has a Passport connection as well; when GM<\/a> created the Geo brand<\/a> to sell rebadged Isuzus<\/a>, Suzukis<\/a>, and Toyotas<\/a> in the United States, it created a marque called Passport<\/a> to sell the Daewoo LeMans<\/a> as the Optima<\/a> in Canada (all the other vehicles sold by Passport dealers were Isuzus<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, Honda’s need to offer SUVs in its American dealerships<\/a> led to an arrangement with GM-connected Isuzu to sell these trucks with a model name bearing links to both companies. So much history in the junkyard!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Just as Geo-badged Toyota Corollas<\/a> (mostly) got Delco radios, so did the Passport get Honda radios. Actually, this radio probably was made by either Mitsubishi or Fujitsu TEN, but it has Honda labeling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The first-generation (1994-1997) Passports could be purchased with either a straight-four or a V6 under the hood, but the 1998-2002 models all came with this SOHC 3.2-liter V6, rated at 205 horsepower.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The cheapest 2000 Passports had two-wheel-drive and five-speed manual transmissions, but this one is an optioned up four-wheel-drive with a four-speed automatic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The interior is worn but not completely trashed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The digital gauge cluster means I can’t read the odometer without powering up the truck’s ECU<\/a>, but we can assume the final mile total was respectable.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The MDX<\/a> appeared the year after this truck was sold, and the Pilot<\/a> the year after that. Sales of the Isuzu-built Passport overlapped those trucks into 2002, but ceased thereafter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the first Rainshine Little Tree<\/a> I’ve found in a junkyard vehicle. I don’t think this scent will topple Black Ice<\/a> and New Car Scent<\/a> from their place at the top of the Little Tree hierarchy, but it may have more success across the pond on Wunder-Baums or Arbres Magiques<\/a>.<\/p>\n