{"id":47388,"date":"2020-09-22T13:14:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T13:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/?p=47388"},"modified":"2020-10-06T14:58:30","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T14:58:30","slug":"isuzu-117-coupe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/isuzu-117-coupe\/","title":{"rendered":"Isuzu 117 Coup\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nowadays, Isuzu is only known for off-road vehicles. In the late 1960s, things were still different, as the 117 Coup\u00e9 proves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1916, the Japanese shipyard Ishikawajima and the Tokyo gas and electricity works merged to cover other fields in addition to the existing business areas in the future. Two years later, for example, the company was already offering vehicles of the British brand Wolseley under license in Japan and started producing the Wolseley A-9 itself from 1922. Shortly afterwards, trucks and light commercial vehicles were also added. In 1929, the automotive division was spun off as an independent subsidiary ‘Ishikawajima Jid\u014dsha Seisakusho’ (Ishikawajima Motor Works). As early as 1940, cars were given the nickname Isuzu, derived from the river of the same name at the Ise shrine, which became the brand name in 1949. During World War 2, the company merged with DAT and built military vehicles. DAT split up again immediately after the war and became Datsun, the predecessor company of Nissan. In cooperation with the British Rootes Group, mainly other licensed products were developed between 1953 and 1962, before the Bellel was the first in-house development for the middle class on the platform of the Hillman Minx. The Bellett followed in 1963 for the compact class, which was also available as a beautiful Coup\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed by Giugiaro at Ghia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As the successor to the Bellel, Isuzu developed a new model with rear-wheel drive under project code 117, which debuted in 1967 as the ‘Florian’. In addition to the four-door sedan, there was also a five-door station wagon, which was later removed from the program due to low sales figures, and a two-door Coup\u00e9, which was already on display as a prototype at the Geneva Motor Show in 1966, but didn’t enrich the model portfolio until two years later. Here the Japanese brand retained the number 117 and didn’t look for a new name. While the Florian was designed in-house and received only two minimal facelifts until the end of production in 1983, the Coup\u00e9 was designed by the Italian coachbuilder Ghia, who at the time had a contract with Giorgetto Giugiaro. Rumor has it that he was inspired by the Fiat Dino Coup\u00e9, which he designed shortly before at Bertone. During the first three years of production, only about 50 copies per month could be handmade. This situation only changed when General Motors joined Isuzu in 1971, which allowed the Japanese brand to set up a large-scale production facility.<\/p>\n\n\n

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