Junkyard Gem: 1997 Acura SLX

When I’m

prowling wrecking yards

, I’m always on the lookout for obscure examples of badge engineering, and the weirder they are, the better I like them. While I haven’t managed to spot a junked

Suzuki Equator

yet, I

have

photographed such rarities as the

Saab 9-2x

and

Isuzu Ascender

. A few weeks ago, I encountered one of the real oddities of the Honda-Isuzu dealmaking of the 1990s: a 1997

Acura SLX

, a luxed-up

Isuzu Trooper

that sold very poorly and is now mostly forgotten today.

Plenty of

Acura

SUVs designed and built entirely by

Honda

roll out of American showrooms today, but the 1990s SUV boom caught Honda by surprise. The first

MDX

wasn’t ready until the 2001 model year, so Honda made a deal to take

Isuzu Troopers

, apply wood and leather inside and Acura badges outside, and cash in on North Americans’ increasing disdain for

minivans

, sedans, and station wagons.

Americans were very familiar with the Trooper, which was sold here from the middle 1980s until the 2002 model year, when the

Chevrolet

Trailblazer-based

Ascender

went on sale. The

Isuzu

name stuck around on these shores

until 2008

.

The

SLX

was a decent enough truck, but there was no disguising its proletariat Trooper roots from status-conscious SUV shoppers who wanted to look more oligarchic while conquering a half-inch of snow in the mall parking lot. It didn’t help that the 1997 Trooper L listed at $27,800 and the SLX Premium cost $38,300 (that’s about $44,200 and $60,900 in inflation-adjusted 2018 bucks). SLX sales started off weak and plummeted after that.

After 1999, the SLX was done. I spent years trying to find one in California and Colorado wrecking yards, but the few that were sold seemed to be sturdy enough to stay alive for a couple of decades. Finally, this high-mile ’97 appeared in a Denver yard.