1994 HSV Jackaroo – Today’s Tempter

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 20.05.2020

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Cheap runabout, and you can tell your friends you bought an HSV!

Remember the HSV Jackaroo?

It was an Isuzu Trooper in disguise, built in limited numbers from 1993 to 1994.

Except, despite the HSV badging, it bore absolutely no performance increases over the bog standard ‘S’ model is was built upon.

It did, however, come with a limited-slip differential, air conditioning, bespoke lower body mouldings and a unique set of alloy wheels.

The four-wheel drive was powered by a 3.2lt V6 which yielded 130kW in its day; with cog-swapping duties handled by either a four-speed automatic or a five-speed manual.

There were just 79 HSV Jackaroos ever built, and this might be one of the last ones off the production line.

Designated with build #85 on the HSV build plate (we assume there were a number of pre-production prototypes prior to the 79 designated customer cars), this Jackaroo was born in late-April of 1994.

It is an automatic example and is said to drive excellently, according to the seller.

They also state that there has been "thousands recently spent", but unfortunately don’t say too much else.

The car looks to be in fair condition overall, with a neat interior and engine bay; but with some paint peels and patches to the lower moulding around the vehicle.

It wouldn’t be beyond the scope of a weekend DIY fix however, and at $3,800 – it’s a cheap runabout you can use on the daily without too much fear of any loss of value.