If you read my car audio post, Triathlete brought up a good point. Where in the heck will I put all my stuff for Zu? Right away I contacted Merlin to see about getting the OEM roofrack that I had called about two months ago. His response:

"I'm sorry, but that's been discontinued, along with the rear cargo mat and OEM floor mats".

Plan A. No worries, I thought. I'd have him do a nationwide search for one that's sitting in a parts room somewhere. He came up with two part departments. I called them both (TN & NH), and both said they didn't have the rack, and that the inventory listing was an error.

Plan B. I scoured the internet, and found all places that claimed to sell the OEM roof rack. Everybody said the same thing. "Sorry, it's discontinued".

Plan C. Did a nationwide search on auto recyclers to see if anybody had one. Unfortunately, the OEM roof rack isn't (at the places I called anyways) an inventoried part. It's not one they put into their systems - so when you have them do a search in the computer it comes up with nothing. I pleaded with most places to step away from the computer and go out and take a peek at the roof and see. Some agreed, and said they'd call me back. It's been days now, no calls back, and follow-up calls don't seem to help...

Plan D. Contact every VX seller I could find and see if they'd be willing to part with the roofrack before selling. No luck.

Plan E. Contact ZEUS for information on his fab job for the Thule rack/basket. He gave a great response, detailed, etc. I might have to have one fabricated at a metal shop?

The question is, aren't these things (parts) supposed to be available for 10 years after the manuf. date? And, what's next on the chop block? How are these things decided by isuzu?

-biju.