(first posted 7/18/2012) Really old Toyota pickups are as common here as …back-yard chickens. In fact, they’ve become an icon of the whole genre, and it’s a status symbol to have an ancient Hi-Lux in your driveway, even if it’s only used twice a year to haul some compost for the garden or a batch of fresh chicken litter. It’s a bit like keeping back-yard chickens around after they’ve stopped laying eggs; in fact, there are now “retirement homes” for unproductive cluckers.
Now the Toyotas have earned their seemingly infinite low-stress retirement, but the question is: what if I can’t find a suitably-old Hi-Lux? Am I going to be a social outcast? No, the answer is to dig up an old Ford Courier. Given how many there are still around, and the rude health they seem to enjoy, the question is only: were the Mazda-built Couriers any less durable than the Toyotas?
Its common knowledge that Ford Couriers were built by Mazda, essentially the B-Series with a Ford F100 mini-me grille, and a few other changes. And the Mazda’s will get their own due respect here in good time. But just to establish the pedigree, here’s proof that Mazda had some experience building pickups before they got the Ford job. The B-Series goes back to 1961, and the family resemblance is fairly obvious.
Under the hood of these old Couriers beat an engine that I have a bit of experience with, and lots of respect for.
The classic Mazda SOHC four dates back to the 1966 Luce, Mazda’s first foray into the world of modern sedans, and styled by Bertone. Its a car I’ve liked since first seeing one in Vienna in 1969. With a different grille, it could well be an Alfa, or at least a Fiat. The 1500 cc four had “square” bore and stroke of 78 mm each.
That turned out to be a bit small, and it was soon stroked to 1600 cc, then 1800 cc, by which time it was swinging a healthy 94 mm (3.7″) stroke. That’s getting into big-block V8 territory. The 1800 cc engine is what this generation B1800s and the Courier had, and a tough and torquey little mill it was.
And just because we’re talking about it, the next gen Courier (1977) and Mazda B2000 got a 2 liter version of that motor, with the stroke taken all the way to 98 mm (3.86″). Grunt power from idle on, and nothing past 5000 rpm, unless it was hopped up. 72 (net) hp was its rating, less than the 74 hp the 1800 garnered, but but it felt like more, down low. But we’re not talking about those gen2 trucks, of which some of the later Couriers also had Ford’s Lima 2.3 L four installed: a preview of coming Ranger attractions.
No, let’s stick to the first gen, which ran from 1971 through 1976. And even in those years, there were some differences. The biggest being a couple of inches of precious length added to the cab, behind the rear window.
You can see that, right? I do, it really jumps out at me. That happened in 1976, in anticipation of the slightly more revised gen2, which got a new front end to go with the longer cab.
Well, it’s hardly a mega-cab, but every inch counts in these old-school Japanese trucks. I find them visually appealing, but unbearably cramped, which is why I’m not fully accepted into Eugene’s social elite, even though I do have the chickens (and a Subaru). Oh well. Big, old Ford trucks are a bit “north of the river”, if not even “east of the river”. Ask me if I care. Actually, it’s not totally true; the kids in my neighborhood love my truck. Young women, especially: “cool truck, man!” If I were single, and could only keep one of my vehicles, I know which one it would be.
As nice of shape as all old Couriers here inevitably are, the roof of this shell is showing the effects of thirty-five years of Oregon rainy winters. Time to re-roof. Or put a blue tarp on it, the budget solution to Oregon’s leaky roofs. Blue roofs are a common sight here, come late winter.
Just for the hell of it, let’s see what’s inside there. Golf clubs? Diet Cola? Jeez; someone’s not on the program. “Don’t you love the planet, man?”
The way to tell the vintage of these old Couriers, other than the ’76 cab stretch, is to check out their tailgate lettering. The 1972’s have “FORD COURIER” in big letters. The 1973’s spelled out “COURIER” in big letters, with a smaller “Ford” on the upper left. Starting with 1974, it changed to a big “FORD” and a small “Courier” on the lower right. The marketing executives at Ford had to justify their big salaries somehow.
That makes both the red and this green ones either ’74s or ’75s. Who needs VIN numbers? Who cares?
I know you do, otherwise you wouldn’t still be reading along. You’re going to get a degree in Courierology by the time I’m done. Which I am. Ready for the final?
I have seen they occasional second generation Courier in my part of the world.
First generation nope, long since rusted away. Although some makes of other Japanese mini trucks still drive the streets here. They look awful but obviously the power trains are very durable.
I bought a 72 as a guide to restore my 72 desert racing courier and ended up driving “the guide” daily. Very handy and gets 26mpg. Happens to look awesome too!
Were do you get parts
The City of Santa Rosa, CA bought those Ford Couriers for utility use in the mid-1970s. They even got them in the same orange as the featured truck. Tough as nails, they stood up to all that we city employees could dish out, and came back for more. I was in Public Works for two years, maintaining the parking garages and associated properties. Tne Courier never let me down.
@ G.Poon ;
So did The City of Los Angeles , most (? all ?) had automatics and they were hated by the troops but were unkillable .
I was 6’1″ back then , luckily I only have a 34″ inseam so the leg room wasn’t any problem .
I liked my Datsun PL620 Mini Pickup more but the Courier was _far_ sturdier .
-Nate
-Nate
The California 68 net horsepower with a stick meant lots of high-rpm driving between the gears for any real semblance of speed (the Mazda engine could take it, though); the automatics however, sapped just about all power out of those engines. I loved my Courier! Great gas mileage (up to 28mpg) . . . rugged. Brought it to Hawaii from California in 1980. Rust started to get it along with the door rubber rotted letting lots of rain inside the cab. Still ran great when I sold it September of 1980.
That’s what I miss about compact trucks of old, they’re rugged. For the most part, they provide all the power needed for the job at hand. My dad had a 1978 Toyota Hilux SR5 pickup truck. It had a 20R 2.2 litre 4 cylinder engine. It delivered 95 bhp and 122 lbs.-ft. It had a 5spd. manual shifting transmission. The seats themselves weren’t very comfortable, but the cab was big enough to fit me comfortably. It may not seem like much by today’s standards. But for a “compact” truck, it was perfect. I miss driving it.
That camper shell is no problem to fix. Go to a box hardware store and buy 5 gallons of Snow Roof. You paint on a new foam-like white roof that hardens. Contractors use it on mobile homes. It is a little pricey. It is sold as Cool Seal in the South.
I cant agree that Couriers were bad on fuel or gutless. For what they were designed to do they were great. Ive owned several over the 29 years ive been driving. My first car was a perfect 76 I bought for $300 in 1986 . It belonged to a elderly neighbor who stopped driving a few years prior . It had a whopping 12,XXX original miles and still sported the original tires and brakes . I drove it for 9 years and it finally died when i was hit by a speeding teen . It was still running well with 234,XXX miles . Got great fuel economy if not wound up to 65. At 55 it purred. I then built a 74 with a 5.0 HO and 5 speed out of a 91 mustang. Spooky quick and left many of unsuspecting go fast guys in their high dollar hot rods in my rear view mirror . I loved the look on their face after the mauling by the little white hubcapped truck lit them up and put them out lol
I just want to know if there is any real Mazda b2000first generation pick up 1961 to 1964 left.Can not find a nother one now were.can anybody maybe help me The first generation b2000 was build in Hiroshima Japan.If got areal real one ,is there another one.Thanks
I miss this one! 76 new courier with Sundance (San Diego Ca) conversion. It was a real head turner and performed above expectations off road. I wish I still had it in the garage!
Is there any way to find out if by chance this vehicle is still around somewhere? I got rid of all the papers/documents years ago through one of various moves around the country so I have no info Togo on (sadly). I would give anything to buy it back if it exists! Probably a real “pipe dream”. !!!
I’m in the middle of a project on my 73 courier and I didnt measure this before because i didn’t have a need for it but can anyone tell me the front and rear wheel track measurements for it.. I can’t find it anywhere online.
HI there .
I have a 1977 ford courier orange , and it’s not that bad . Aside from the tapping noise on the valves it’s a pretty decent truck . I cannot seem to find any links or websites that can help me out in understanding under the hood . It’s a 1.8l 4 speed no muffler just cat. And as I checked the valve head ,(cause I did the gasket ) I saw there were 2 cams. One int and one exh and that’s where my logic scrambles cause I’m not sure what kind of ohv it has . I must need the book , and I’m going to get it later today . Long story short here’s my gal with the neighbors ford ranger .
Another one , didn’t know why it didn’t post the second pic .
I love all these people who love thier Couriers.
Mine is bright orange, so everyone sees her coming; and rusted out and beat up, so everyone gives me lots of space on the road. That makes her the Lucky Truck.
She needs a fan shroud, and so far I have not found one. Any help would be appreciated.
She is a 1978 with a 1.8 engine. Email me, ddehne8@gmail.com.
Those Mazda pickups followed a slightly different engine evolution here, the posted pickup is what we called a B1600 with 1600cc OHC engine it replaced the previous B1500 with 1500cc OHV engine and a touch more room inside, we had both as workshop runabouts and power and legroom were noticeably better in the OHC ute, later the B1500 disappeared and a B1800 replaced it complete with floorshift and bigger engine and much more room inside,
B1600 engines ate timing chains at a rapid rate other than that they seemed like really good engines rust is what has killed off most of these utes here and it doesnt matter which brand of Japanese pickup you bought the bodywork on all of them just evaporated.
More than 20 years ago, a neighbor’s friend would stop by with an early ’80s Courier. But underhood resided what looked like a 2.3 Ford Pinto motor, with a Japanese carburetor and alternator. At the time, I drove an ’87 Isuzu P’up – for me a great little pickup, which some here have compared to the Courier. By sometime in the ’90s, Mazda’s small truck became a rebadged Ford Ranger and Isuzu’s became a rebadged Chevy S-10.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Recently posted on RCR
Where the hell did they find one with an un warped/cracked dashboard ?! .
-Nate
You can buy dash covers that adhere to the original and make it look new.
The love for these deathtraps, or more precisely, leg trap trucks astounds me. The Courier, and LUV both were just trash. A woman I worked with had her foot almost amputated in what would have been a nothing wreck in a car or full sized pickup, but in that Courier, it was pretty bad. All that kept her foot attached was the achillies tendon and the artery to her foot. The firewall collapsed when she was hit by a ’79 or ’80 Cutlass at like 30MPH. She had to endure a number of surgeries to reattach and try to make her foot functional. She finally got to a slight limp after about 10 years and 8 or 9 operations. Sadly, she just recently passed away after a month long battle with Covid at ’79.
The LUV wasn’t any better, IMO, a friend of a friend’s little brother was riding in the passenger seat of his totally rotted out LUV when it was hit by a VW Passat about 1982. He barely survived, and has never looked the same since that wreck. The only reason he wasn’t trapped in it was the door and cab were so rotten his brother was able to pull the door off of it. The frame was nearly as rotted out as the bed and cab were on that POS. I understand people wanting a little truck, I guess (not for me, but..) but not one of these tin boxes.
Because they were very economical, reliable, and probably not much more unsafe than a typical small ’60s or ’70s import car. Today’s Toyota Tacoma is almost as large as a full-size American pickup from the early ’70s.
I drove an ’87 Isuzu Pickup from 1990 to 2014, and compared to a typical ’90s automobile, I knew it was a tin box when I bought it to replace a trouble-prone old Audi wagon that I couldn’t get parts for anymore. Fortunately, the Isuzu wasn’t a rusty wreck. Over the years, I only had one minor fender-bender in it, and it was the most reliable motor vehicle I’ve ever owned. Sometimes your make your choices and take your chances!
Happy Motoring, Mark
What Mark said ~ in the early 1970’s when the Ford Courier was released it was only marginally more unsafe than any full size 1/2 ton pickup .
I was there and worked with and on plenty of both, servicing then and scrapping them when they got smashed .
I know modern cars are better safety wise but at the time these were the right vehicle and tough as nails if you could stand the cramped quarters .
They’re only gone because of rust, the few that remain are still running well .
I don’t like the modern ‘gun slit’ pony cars but that doesn’t make them “trash” , just not what I like or want .
-Nate
My current cargo hauler, and replacement for the Isuzu, is a ’96 standard-cab 4-cylinder Tacoma. I really would’ve p referred a wagon – something like a Camry or Volvo 240 – for the safety, ride, etc like a regular car. But the US market has been forcibly steered to trucks and SUVs. So wagon choices here are slim – pretty much limited to a handful of expensive European money-pits, or the AWD Subaru. Overall, my Tacoma is safer than the Isuzu, with at least a driver’s airbag. But it sits taller than the torsion-sprung Isuzu. So the Tacoma’s ride & handling are not as good and the hard plastic Tacoma dash might be a more serious issue in a crash than the padded dash in my Isuzu. I do have a ’96 Camry sedan and ’98 Altima when I want safer, more comfortable transport.
Happy Motoring, Mark