We'll get no response from Isuzu America as they're basically dead-men walking. Once Isuzu returns to the US with a re-vamped product line they'll be even more distanced from "legacy" products. We're pretty much on our own as far as the US operation is concerned.

As enthusiasts of an Isuzu product our advantage for longevity is the inherit build quality of their products. Yes, we do have some design issues. But in the overall picture of the VehiCROSS they're all relatively minor, cosmetic even. As Isuzu is primarily a heavy-truck company, they lean very much to standardizing as many components as possible across their product lines. What does this mean for us? Vast interchange parts availability. With the exception of specific cosmetic parts we can source replacements from the Trooper, Rodeo, Axiom, Amigo and even the NPR medium-duty truck.

There will always be things like the cladding and hood insert, among other parts, that pose supply issues. But a few enterprising people will offer aftermarket replacements from time to time. Otherwise you have to be resourceful and creative. That's just the nature of owning any limited-production or rare vehicle.

As the owner of three Merkur XR4Ti cars you can be certain I don't tell the guy at the parts counter I need Merkur parts. Nope, I know what crosses from the Mustang SVO, Thunderbird TC and Ford's Motorsports catalog. It's the only way to keep the oddballs alive, and you've gotta learn to live the life or relegate yourself to driving something you'll see at every intersection.