In 1989, the Car of the Future Was Equipped With a Fax Machine

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Job got you checking work emails even on your day off? Nostalgic for the pre-smartphone era? "When you left the office, you left work behind," you muse, wistfully. Quit fooling yourself: 25 years ago, the sportscar-driving business boss couldn't afford to be out of touch—as evidenced by this fax-machine-equipped Isuzu 4200R concept car from 1989.

If this vision of the future had panned out, "show me the carfax" wouldn't be a dumb tv catchphrase. It would be the sentence you'd bark at the valet, certain that the board of trustees had sent you the latest acquisition figures while you were having a steam bath at the club.

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Sadly, that future never came. Instead, we got smartphones. And Isuzu hasn't sold a vehicle in the U.S. since 2009. But that doesn't mean we can't look back on this strange and wonderful concept car from 25 years ago, as presented by Jalopnik's own Patrick George.

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