There are cars that get much-deserved love and fame for being outstanding, unique, or just different. A good number also get by, just servicing, never being more than appliances. Then there are those that get much love from their owners, developing a loyal following, but never appearing in the spotlight. A category where I believe old Japanese light trucks belong.
I think most would agree that these trucks performed their duties well. And understandably, their owners developed a great appreciation and attachment to them. Indeed, most loath the idea of parting with them, 40-plus years later, as this sample shows. This one still serves active duty and, somehow still looks fairly well put together. Quite unlike many of my other finds in San Salvador’s streets.
These early Mazda-sourced Fords were some of the first vehicles to expose me to the concept of badge engineering, and to the idea that not all Fords were created equal. There were some Cortinas and Taunus too adding to that confusion, as they looked quite different from the Fairlanes I knew about in Puerto Rico.
Lacking internet and car magazines (neither easy for a 5-year-old to access back in 1976), it took me years to discover the story behind such Fords. But regardless, in the case of the Courier, I thought it was a cute “Ford,” and enjoyed seeing them around the city.
So it was quite a nice surprise to find this one. It had been ages since I had come across an old Courier looking fairly intact, and the ’70s-correct mustard shade just brought back a lot of sensations from those long-gone days.
The paper debris around it is from this past Christmas Eve, and result of intense firecracker use by local kids. The Courier doesn’t seem to have one bruise from that whole ordeal. Talk about an unusual endurance test. Did Mazda technicians ever foresee such a situation?
The blackened trim is not a factory-approved item, but I believe the owner is covering some damaged bits. What better color than black to do it cheaply?
And as usual, there is some missing trim. In this case, none other than the O and R from the hood, creating an unintended F’d to passersby. Good thing we’re Spanish speakers over here. And to be honest, I’ve seen far more F’d-up vehicles in this city than this one.
Talking about local peculiarities, the rather common -and obnoxious- ‘Decepticon’ sticker (from Transformers) graces the tailgate. It’s a dumb tradition, but as I said in previous posts, the locals just love their stinking badges, stickers, and whatnot.
The ’72-’77 Ford Courier has its dedicated entry from a while back. It’s been a few years since one appeared at CC, as most of these have vanished. As sturdy as these were, everything passes. So you can be certain I was glad to come across this one, in period-correct color, looking far from F’d.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1976 Ford Courier – The Second Toughest Old Mini-Pickup?
My college buddy replaced the Corolla his parents let him have, with a Ford Courier like this. We loved that Corolla, the do-everything car, but it just wore out. The Courier had big shoes to fill as a consequence, which it couldn’t do. Mazda quality at that time wasn’t as high as Toyota’s. There were niggling issues that continually got in the way. It wasn’t as reliable mechanically. Worse problem was that damn automatic transmission hindering performance and generally being a rough job all around.
When he sold it for a Jeep CJ, we never missed it. A year later, I ended up needing a small pick up and when the choice came down to either a beautiful red Mazda and a Toyota HiLux, I chose the HiLux, which I never regretted.
Those small pickup trucks were pretty awesome. They save young guys like I was back then, a boatload of insurance money. They were reliable, fun and perfect for Colorado back country weekends.
Today, we have something even better. The Ford Maverick.
I remember delivering auto parts and rebuilt engines in one of these back when it was nearly new ~ the backlight still carried a large decal “FORD’S NEW 1800CC IMPORT” .
In fact these were very stout little trucks . well designed, engineered and built .
They had tin foil bodies that rusted away but not as badly as Datsuns at that time .
The one I drove had the same mustard yellow paint and I kept it well polished .
*Very* cramped interior for average Americans .
Not terribly different from my current shop truck, a 2001 Ranger trucklet that also has paper thin sheet meal but very good mechanicals, I’ll be hard pressed to wear it out before I die .
I still think these early ones look sharp .
-Nate
for the subject to work Rich, this should read “In this case, none other than the O and R from the hood,”, not “In this case, none other than the R and D from the hood,”
I’m amazed at the time you put into these posts which I quite enjoy.
Fixed now. Thanks.
I always found it quite ironic that (in the USA) Mazda made Ford’s first compact pickup, and Ford made Mazda’s last compact pickup.
There’s a Courier of the next generation (1981 in this case) that’s been in my neighborhood for a while. Now it’s for sale. The asking price is $4500, not much less than new. But a lot less than a 1981 Toyota pickup would go for here. I haven’t seen any of these first gens for a while, and I think the last one I saw may have been Mazda’s version.
It’s been a few years since one appeared at CC, as most of these have
True that. There were several here back in the day, but no more. I suspect there’s one or two hiding in a driveway or back yard somewhere, but not in regular use anymore.
These compact, captive-import pickups were once all the rage. It seemed like gas-price worries were a big motivating force in the sales of downsized pickups at the time. GM had the rebadged (Isuzu) Chevy LUV and Chrysler had the Mitsubishi-based Dodge D50 before they could gear-up their own, domestic, inhouse compact pickups.
And who could forget the Dodge Rampage/Plymouth Scamp half-a-024/TC3, mini-El Camino, as well as the VW Rabbit pickup and Subaru BRAT?
All of these vehicles were quite the rage for a short time, but they all went away when the Ranger, S-10, and Dakota went into production. While there was still something of a civilian market for them, it seemed like the major buyers of these small pickups quickly skewed to fleets, mainly white strippo trucks for Ford/Chevy/Dodge parts department delivery vehicles.
Aww that cute mustard diaper colour was a favourite of all imports it seemed. A high school classmate bought a new one in 1974 in mustard, my grandpa bought 2 new Datsuns in said mustard. In fact, looking on car lots of the era, one might even be convinced into believing all other colors were heavily taxed in order for our domestics to have a sales edge. Ok that’s a stretch but seeing it now…. Well I really enjoyed the post and the memories it conjured up in my brain so it appears my disgust for the colour has ebbed some. Nice work on putting this together, sir.
I had a 76 Courier from 83-87. The 76s were unique in having the (very slightly) larger cab of the later 77+ versions but otherwise the styling of the earlier ones. It was blue like most of them. It served me well, and even started every single time at -30°f with no block heater.
The only major issue I had was with the idle solenoid, part of the new emission controls. When it failed, the truck would backfire explosively on deceleration. Still, it was pretty well used up when I sold it at 120k miles, a distance when modern cars are still running perfectly.
It was my first vehicle, and yesterday I picked up a brand new Maverick, which may well be my last new car if it lasts well.
Sounds like maybe the gulp valve stuck closed (a common thing) and that’s what caused the backfires .
The early 1.8L Courier I drove had a two strand choke cable, it would pull itself in as you drove .
-Nate
The powerstaition I worked in the maintenance shop at had several of these Mazda utes, tough little units and as long as regular timing chain replacements were done they ran well and got thrashed without mercy 10 years or 100,000 miles was the lifespan of govt vehicles then they went to auction well worn, Cabs on these early Japanese utes are too small for regular size humans and that was adressed on later models and later Mazda utes are roomy and comfortable considering what they are.
Once tried sitting in one and really didn’t matter if this or say a Datsun. At 6’0″ the steering wheel feels like it is almost in your chest. Who needed a shoulder belt then?
That looks amazing, Rich. Unlike so many of your older finds, it looks almost immaculate. I’ll forgive the decepticon sticker; my daughter had some on her old Honda Jazz.
Here’s one as a custom stepside!
These were tough enough for U-Haul to make Courier box trucks for a while, which was the only time I’ve been in a Courier.
It’s possible the black paint on the front of this truck was an attempt at updating since the second generation (77-85) had black plastic grilles.
And this truck is 50+ years old now–IMPRESSIVE! I haven’t been commenting on this site for a while because my internet kept slowing down; it turned out my laptop had an outdated hard drive and I got a new one just last month in time for Christmas.
A long-deceased family member on my mom’s side had one of the later-generation Couriers but its running days were well behind it before I even knew anything about it. Small trucks like these are very few & far between although I still see an occasional old Datsun/Nissan pickup when I go to Wal-Mart; if y’all remember any of my previous comments I have a trailer built from one of those. And of course Rangers of any generation are still fairly common too. If you don’t have to haul/tow any excessive loads but still need the utility of a truck these make perfect sense for the job! It’s one of the main reasons I still have my 2011 Ranger as my daily driver. Even when towing a 5×8 utility trailer during winter months it can still get a respectable 26 mpg on the highway with the standard 4-cylinder engine–you’d be lucky to even TOUCH that number with the optional V6! For me the 4-cylinder is all I need 90% of time; I have an ’05 Chevy Astro van with the towing package for the other 10%.
And I’ve heard all about the Maverick too. IMHO the Hybrid models are the ones to get as long as you’re OK with just 2WD & don’t need EcoBoost power; people have claimed to have gotten more than 40 mpg (sometimes even 50) out of these quite often. Again, the base powertrain–at least up until recently anyway–is all I need 90% of time. I got to park next to one of these at a popular restaurant in town and amazingly it isn’t THAT much bigger than my Ranger. It also has a similar color to the Courier in this post. I believe it’s called Cyber Orange Metallic going from the 2022 sales brochure.
If I couldn’t drive my Ranger anymore I would definitely consider a Maverick much like this one, though I would still prefer one in white. It has the XLT Luxury Package which gets you the bedliner, hitch receiver, AND an increasingly rare option: a full-size spare tire! And it’s also the Hybrid model as well (the badge is on the left corner of the tailgate). The compact truck segment has indeed come out of retirement. 🙂
Side view