THE Isuzu Gemini may be one of the best sleeper classic cars yet to be discovered, especially if you find the Coupe version.
For most Malaysians who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, our encounter with the Gemini was probably as a stinky and wonky yellow-roof taxi cab that made weird and unsettling noises under acceleration, braking or in corners.
Basically, most Geminis that entered the taxi service felt like it was a mile away from being scrap but somehow soldiered on for years. That’s when we realised that it was just crap.
While it may be about as pleasing as a pile of toad dropping, the Gemini had the redeeming feature of being a rear-wheel drive machine.
What with drifting being such a popular sport these days, people would buy anything with rear-wheel drive and try to have a go at going sideways.
The reason most people do not have any fond memories of the Gemini is due to the taxicab experience. Most taxicab that ran in Kuala Lumpur and other major cities were so comprehensively dented that it would be a minor miracle to find a straight body panel on any of them.
With so many surface ripples distracting us from the styling, it wasn’t possible to properly assess the beauty of the car.
Like most design, the first generation has the purest form and, therefore, in my mind at least, the worthiest of being restored.
The car that came out in 1974 was called the P50 and came with a 1,600cc engine. It had a pleasing proportion and neat detailing that beautifully encapsulates the vibrant automotive industry in Japan.
I particularly like the negative slant of the nose, the neat round headlamps nestled in a square frame. The central rib on the bonnet helped to create an impression of speed. The face is split by a slim chrome bumper. A pair of amber indicator lamps and narrow under-breather completes the calm image.
The surfaces are simple and looked honest and hardworking, almost deliberately blue collar.
Actually, the car was designed and engineered mostly by General Motors Europe as part of the compact T-Car programme and was first introduced as the Opel Kadett C in 1973 and shipped all over the world as various GM brands, including Vauxhall, Chevrolet and Holden, and they were even sent to South Korea as the Daewoo Maepsy.
That’s right, it’s Maepsy, a name so strangely spelled and difficult to pronounce that it could only come from South Korea.
The Gemini was facelifted after five years and got a positively slanted nose and less delicate rectangular headlamp. The facelifted model is not really pretty but it did soldier on for another five years before being discontinued.
The original Kadett, launched in 1971 came with a 1.2-litre engine and even came with a 1.0-litre motor but those never came to Malaysia. We got the diesel version, mostly the non-turbocharged version.
The diesel engine on the Gemini was quite legendary. Isuzu was already known as a diesel engine manufacturer of some repute and the motor they came up with for the Gemini was as bulletproof as they came.
With the non-turbo running very low stresses, the motor lasted as long as you really want them to and this made them perfect for taxi duty.
Perfect if you never have to drive them. The engine may be low-stress but the driver can get quite worked up if they want to accelerate and merge into traffic or need to overtake slower traffic.
The correct method for driving the non-turbo diesel Gemini is to plan ahead all the time. If you want to overtake anything, you need to press the accelerator pedal at least three-seconds before you actually make your move.
Otherwise, you will never be able to overtake anything but a vehicle at standstill and because the engine was so hardworking and the body wasn’t really, most Gemini in Malaysia were worked into the ground by their drivers.
Sadly, the coupe or fastback version was not as popular but if you are looking for one then it’s best to go snooping around in quieter parts of the country. Some still survive there.