Welcome to IsuzuPiazza.com :: Uniting Isuzu/ Holden Piazza Enthusiasts since 2002

Has anyone here bought from them ?
How to buy when you live in europe ?
They seems to only accept checks and money orders. Not shure how that works to be honest... Too bad they don't accept Paypal.
Don't know if he ships international..

Have you tried emailing them? I haven't bought from them personally so I can't advise you.

I didn't think they sold parts anymore?
Unless it's a different site to what im thinking of.

No, i haven't got in touch with them yet.
It's the isuzuperformance(dot)com site by Bill Luton.

Wasn't "he" a bit sus, or am I thinking of someone formerly on izuperf?

I think there was something on BellettNet else another isuzu site about it...

(Sorry for being so vague. Though my recollections are often vague, they are even more so from sites that I don't visit.)

He got the american isuzu forum shut down for a few weeks because they "infringed" on his copyrights.
From what i heard he doesnt actually sells parts anymore.

No one on the 'zone like him anymore. I haven't seen any JR 120-130 stuff for sale for a while now, although he has been selling the odd item on eBay every now and again. I very nearly bought some new custom braided brake lines off him a few months ago.

Ghost wrote:He got the american isuzu forum shut down for a few weeks because they "infringed" on his copyrights.
From what i heard he doesnt actually sells parts anymore.

eyecon wrote:No one on the 'zone like him anymore.

Several relevant facts seem to be unknown down on the bottom of the world:

The North American Isuzu owner community was divided into two groups by a club rivalry. The small East Coast club made an unsuccessful attempt to take over or supplant the large, international club. The small club switched car show registrations to win club attendance prizes at car shows, the small club took credit for the work of the larger club. A huge, ugly disagreement followed. Several cars owned by members of the large club were key scratched and spray painted. The people who acted like adults and wanted to be part of a car club went with the large club. The people who thought a car club was like a street gang went with the small club.
The parts manufacturer, isuzuperformance, continued sponsoring and supporting the large club. The smaller club tried to run isuzuperformance out of business by starting a slander and libel campaign. They were also unsuccessful with that attempt. But in the process, the members of the small club poisoned the Isuzu community in North America and permanently scared off any of the other companies who might have made parts for isuzu cars.

The zone is what is left of the small club, the group that lost. All of the original members are long gone. The current group of people on the zone weren't around to witness any of this but continue repeating the rumors and libel, even making up their own stories to add to the myth.

Isuzuperformance remains very much in business. They branched out into other areas and continue racing Isuzu cars. Their stuff is expensive, but you get what you pay for, which is top quality racing caliber. But they won't waste time listening to sob stories or whining about how much something costs. So they don't publish prices of their racing parts. If you are serious and have money to spend, then ask them.

Concerning the zone's war against isuzuperformance, can you blame the guy for not wanting his website work to be cut-and-pasted on the internet by the same group that has been bad-mouthing him for all these years? They reap what they sow. And since they are at war with the only company that makes parts for their cars, it's no surprise that they can't get parts to even get their cars running.

Thanks for the background info Makoto. Some interesting stuff there. Always wondered why there was a bee under zone's bonnet against isuzuperformance. Pity isuzperformance don't have much to offer JR Piazzas. What's the name of the North American Isuzu club site?

LOL! It almost sounds local. I only too well recall the "we've got more members than you" mentality (and that was pre-web with many such members interstate or overseas!).
Some continued or tried a cooperative or unified approach, but the few with self interests persisted - much to the detriment of their club(s). And that was before later commercial interests became apparent!

Things seem better and may now have a cooperative appearance, but I saw the missed sparts and opportunities including the resources that will not be made available to the new guard. People seemed to forget that original founders etc had their networks before club formation, and certainly before the internet. The original founders got together to offer their knowledge and resources to everyone (with a return benefit of resource sharing or purchasing power) and were anything but litols.


And Makoto, thanksX2 for the info.

Wow, that's a really pathetic story if true.

I'm glad NO ONE likes them on this side of the world, LOL!

No one will ever make parts for JR Piazza's again, all the owners of them are cheapskates!

Could have said the same for Belletts.
Their owners were even cheaper - though they could wa$te heap$!
And there were less of them - only a few hundred Bellett GTs into Australia.
Yet some are now making rubbers etc for the GTs.

A few years ago no-one would have contemplated buying a Piazza because they were "still too expensive". (Some local BCCV members were extremely surprised that I owned 2 Piazzas!)
But now I know of one restored Bellett GT on the market for ~$14,000.
What a difference a few years make. But keep in mind that is a ~1966 GT versus 1986 Piazzas.

eyecon wrote:Thanks for the background info Makoto. Some interesting stuff there. Always wondered why there was a bee under zone's bonnet against isuzuperformance. Pity isuzperformance don't have much to offer JR Piazzas. What's the name of the North American Isuzu club site?

The large, international club is the Isuzuweb.
http://www.isuzuweb.org/

The small club that caused all the trouble was IsuzuStyle.
The girl who ran that club wrecked several Isuzus, found out that she would not be successful taking over the Isuzu community, started drag racing Civics, and wrecked several Honda drag race cars that she did not own. She eventually abandoned the domain name and walked away from anything to do with cars.
The domain name was eventually purchased by the Isuzuweb.
http://www.isuzustyle.com/

There was also Stormowners. The members were mostly the same as IsuzuStyle. They eventually dissolved and abandonned their domain name.

It really shows who is devoted to the cars and who is not, by who is still around and who is gone.


Isuzuperformance developed more for the Impulse JR than anyone outside Japan.
http://www.isuzustyle.com/perfpartspricecomparo.html
Cold air intakes, headers, cat back exhausts, aluminum radiators, differentials, clutches, aluminum flywheels, short throw shifters, coil springs, strut braces, sway bars, ss brake hoses, big brake kits...
The FWD owners always complained that they wasted too much effort on the RWD cars that could have been better spent on more FWD parts. Eventually the RWD owners thinned and they did devote more to the FWD cars. If anyone wants anything from the good-old-days, be ready to buy a production run.
But the funny thing is, new Bellett and RWD Impulse parts are popping up. Maybe they are seeing the same thing that IZU069 mentioned, and the RWD Impulse is turning the corner from unappreciated to collector car status. I hear they are now considering doing polyurethane suspension bushings if there is enough interest.

Ah yes Isuzuweb. I've bumped into that site a few times previously. Am I misreading that site because it appears that site doesn't get updated that much. In fact 2002 was the latest update re some 'upcoming' car shows.

I'd like to think the JRs will become collectible in the not too distant future too.

eyecon wrote:Ah yes Isuzuweb. I've bumped into that site a few times previously. Am I misreading that site because it appears that site doesn't get updated that much. In fact 2002 was the latest update re some 'upcoming' car shows.

I'd like to think the JRs will become collectible in the not too distant future too.

Sad these days, most people don't discern a difference between a brick and mortar car club, and a internet message board. Signing up for a user account and posting messages on the internet isn't quite the same as being an active participant in an organization.
The real clubs are using their websites as signposts, not as the focus of their activities. JR East, Senior Sense, Front Row Gemini, Team Club Sports, Going Club, Isuzu Circuit Meet, Bellett Club of Japan, Belle-G Club Japan. These are the most active Isuzu car clubs and they have little or no internet presence.
And looking over at a few more well known here, IPTOC's content has changed little since Clive took over. Past the first paragraph or two, and it's back to the seven plus year ongoing saga of not being able to get new fenders made. And the Isuzu Car Club Australia page is looking pretty stale too.

But the cars were made 20 years ago, there isn't a whole lot that has happened or been discovered about them, and less as time goes by. If anyone is looking for something new and different every day, these cars are not the subject to follow.

About the 2002 US show. The show promoters started out with a mature audience, and took that show heavily into youth car culture. Burnout contests, bikini contests, drunks staggering around, and plenty of fist fights. The club cancelled on that show in 2002, the same year that the national guard was called in to put down rioting and shootings at the show and in the town.
The club went to the Isuzu Owners Meeting in Kuragari that year.
Another US show has not emerged as a good alternative. The Long Beach show looks promising, but they prohibit cars below a certain age, which would block the more numerous FWD owning club members from participating.