(Updated 2/14/2026) It appears we have never given proper tribute to the Isuzu Pickup )”P’up”) Space Cab. Let’s do so know, even if it’s a brief one. One thing I’ve noticed over the years: these are invariably hard-working pickups, and this one falls in that category.
I shot this diesel long bed a couple of years back, and in my mind, I remembered it also having a load of stuff in its bed. It must have been unloaded since then.
two vintage vans in the background
These are of course the successor to Chevy LUV (Isuzu Faster), which we wrote up here. In 1982, when Chevrolet started building its own compact Chevy S-10, There was no more luv for the Isuzu, so Isuzu started selling them here, beginning with the gen2 version. It got a more detailed writeup here.
Obviously Isuzu wanted to jump on the extended cab mini-truck bandwagon, which Datsun pioneered in 1977. And although I don’t have ready stats at my fingertips, I strongly suspect that the Isuzu Space Cab was the longest of those. The big window certainly enhanced that impression.
I can certainly relate to that load, having hauled innumerable washers and dryers to and from my rentals. Just a little over a week ago, actually. Vans are good, but the ease of rolling in and out washers on a dolly into pickup bed can’t be beat.
Wasn’t there one with a roof extension as well ?
Yeah, right? Kinda raised in the back? There used to be a blue and silver one around here. I always wondered if it was a conversion.
You’re thinking of the prior generation P’up extended cab, ’87 and older; I don’t recall the first year for the “Space Cab”. It did have an ungainly raised roof over the extended portion of the cab.
The continued popularity of these small trucks just goes to show how the manufacturers have ignored this market segment. Trucks this size fill the needs of many who don’t want the bulk and running costs of a full size pick up. I guess the manufacturers prefer selling the 35 to 60 thousand dollar trucks of Today. There’s nothing compact about the new Ford Ranger.
I second that and I will gladly extol the virtues of the small pickup. My father-in-law has a ’97 Nissan xtra cab pickup and we are welcome to borrow it whenever we need it. I can’t even begin to make a list of all the crap we’ve hauled with it over the years. I think it will probably run forever and it’s easy on the gas, too.
“There’s nothing compact about the new Ford Ranger.”
It was never intended to be–it’s a mid-size, just like every other small pickup both in the US and worldwide.
You can blame the one-two punch of safety regs and fuel economy regs for making it impossible to make a BOF RWD truck truly compact, at least in the US. Any newer models will have to be FWD unibody if they wanna stay compact, like the upcoming Courier. Don’t forget that very few buyers even want to squeeze themselves into such a small cab if they’re not getting much better MPG out of it.
I had a 90 Space cab P’UP in blue. AM/FM, Day/night mirror was only options. Wife insisted I sell it when I bought a new 03 superduty. 265,000 miles. With some weight in the bed that truck would go through any kind of snow. Should have the found a way to kept it. That 2.6 was strong. We drove it everywhere. It was my daily driver of 70 miles a day.
@Jose ;
You’re dead wrong there, my 2001 Ranger base model is everything a mini – pickup should be and nothing more .
If folks bought them Ford would still be making them .
Today it’d still be a $27,000 truck and I’d not pay that but they’re every where used in VGC for $5K where those who want / need mini – pickups shop .
-Nate
These things have always bugged me because how the eff are we meant to pronounce its model name? Is it “pup”, or is it “p’yup”?
I call them Letter P, space then yup or up.
An apostrophe sometimes indicates a glottal stop, like the “-” in “uh-oh”.
Apply that knowledge to pronouncing P’up as you will.
But I’d reckon Isuzu expected it to be pronounced as simply “pup”.
Exactly how a pickup SHOULD be used. But that window on the Space Cab…Toyota did the same thing on the Hilux Xtra Cab to a lesser extent in the ’80s & early ’90s. I never knew Isuzu made extended-cab pickups at all then.
The look started on the ’84 Hilux Xtracab, but that cab was only 6″ longer like Datsun’s original King Cab, not enough to put in a side-facing jump seat. The first-gen Tacoma also continued the look, but only with a body line extending down from the Xtracab’s window, not in the window itself. Now every extended cab window line is either straight or upswept.
Funny thing, the bottom 3 inches or so of the SpaceCab’s tall rear quarter window panes are purely cosmetic. The bottom of the actual window opening aligns with the swage line defining the chamfer around the front door glass opening.
Photo failed to post on prior comment:
Resized to 1200x800px, let’s try this again:
Love it. The Isuzu P’up and the Nissan Lil Hustler are still my favorite 2 truck names of all time, i’d own them for the names alone
I really like the looks of Isuzu P’up’s especially that funky extra large window on each side. Thank you for sharing these photos Paul and it looks like the rear window is broken or missing based on how those buckets are leaning. I will keep an eye out but I think these Isuzu P’ups are extinct in Tualatin.
I daily use my 82 Luv diesel. It’s by far the most useful vehicle I have. Easy to jump in and maneuver and uses little fuel. I can compare to the giant hulking monstrosities that they call 1/2 tons today. At the lumber yard they struggle to back up to a spot, when I can zoom right in and whip in the tightest corner if need be. I think the manufacturer’s have missed the boat.
In the Oz of yore, the US word “poop” always had the double “o” pronounced as in “wood” or “good” (which makes for an inherently funnier – and probably onomatopoeiac – word, imho).
They didn’t sell these under this too-easily-parodied-as-Poop name here. They called it the Holden Rodeo. Probably wise.
Actually, come to think of it, the name wouldn’t work in the north of England either…