Mazda made a pickup truck? TIL what was it called? No badge on the back.

They used the 13B engine from the Repu to also power a minibus called the Parkway!

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Details here:

Mazda Parkway
 
Some nice history going on in this thread.

I like to watch a show on NHK World called Samurai Wheels. It was last year sometime they had a show about Mazda and it’s history. That was very interesting. They have a museum in Hiroshima. The Cosmo was featured. In the states the RX got all the publicity.
 
You can't talk Mazda trucks without mentioning the old-school rotary REPU pickup:

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This is a Ford Courier - it was produced and imported by Mazda, but I think Ford's styling looked good as well.

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And here is what I believe was the last nicely styled Mazda pickup - a 1977-1985 B2000. I think it looks great:

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I had a 85 Ranger. It had the 2.8 V6 That was a Ford Engine from Germany. The 4sp transmission had Yamaha stamped on the case. The engine never ran right. Cold starts resulted in poor drive ability the first couple of miles. The service guys could never figure out the problem. The truck stranded me three times all due to the computer module. It was the classic Fix Or Repair Daily truck. It died the fourth time and after it got fixed I drove to the Toyota dealer and traded it on a Tacoma. I had years of service from that truck. No problems.

I don’t think that Ranger had any Mazda stuff in it at all. If I had gotten the 2.3 4 banger then I might have been better off, who knows. That era was not known for good vehicles with US nameplates.
 
FORD re-badged them under the name Ranger with the 2 & 2.3L engine. Ed
 
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FORD re-badged them under the name Ranger with the 2 & 2.3L engine. Ed

I’m sure I had a lemon but no lemon laws back then. If I’m not mistaken that was the Cologne 2.8. Four ECU modules, assorted electrical issues, throttle body issues, and it blew headlights so often I kept spares.

I should have bought the Datsun I mentioned earlier.
 
I had a B2000 Sundowner from the early 80's. It was alright for a basic truck. The 92 Ranger I had later was a better truck.
 
Im sure I had a lemon but no lemon laws back then. If Im not mistaken that was the Cologne 2.8. Four ECU modules, assorted electrical issues, throttle body issues, and it blew headlights so often I kept spares.

I should have bought the Datsun I mentioned earlier.

The Cologne 2.8 was a Ford design (I think - it was pretty old, production started in 1974). Eventually the 4.0 addressed a lot of its issues. IIRC, the Ranger's manual transmission was a Mazda and a lot of the body engineering was Mazda since it was based on a redesigned Courier - which was built in Japan and shipped over with the beds separate.
 
The Cologne 2.8 was a Ford design (I think - it was pretty old, production started in 1974). Eventually the 4.0 addressed a lot of its issues. IIRC, the Ranger's manual transmission was a Mazda and a lot of the body engineering was Mazda since it was based on the Courier - which was built in Japan and shipped over with the beds separate.


That might explain the Yamaha stamp since perhaps Mazda had them doing some contract work. The body and frame held up fine. It was the engine that was the source of most of the anguish. On top of that, Ford service dept that didn’t seem to really know anything.

Anyway it’s past history.
 
The B2600 looked a lot like the Mitsubishi Might Max back in the 80's... although most of those trucks looked the same from my memory...Toyota..Nissan. Isuzu Pup

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The B2600 looked a lot like the Mitsubishi Might Max back in the 80's... although most of those trucks looked the same from my memory...Toyota..Nissan. Isuzu Pup

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Some things never change. Many say most cars look alike today. Ironically, the Mazda B2600 had the Mitsubishi 2.6 engine in it.

Japanese automotive sharing is quite prevalent. That is even more true today as Japan has their Big 3 in Toyota, Honda and Renault-Nissan although the last one is disputable. Toyota and R-N own pretty much the rest of the automakers in one form or another.
 
One of my uncles had a new B2600i back in '91 IIRC. I think the pre-EFI motors on this 2600 were made by Mitsubishi but the EFI in the 2600i was an actual Mazda motor.

I had a '91 B2600i which was a 2WD. First year they offered the Mitsubishi 2600 in the 2WD model. Mine had the automatic and was the SE-5 trim. Bought it new in '91 then salvaged it in 2015. Body had totally rusted through making road noise unbearable.
 
Some things never change. Many say most cars look alike today. Ironically, the Mazda B2600 had the Mitsubishi 2.6 engine in it.

Japanese automotive sharing is quite prevalent. That is even more true today as Japan has their Big 3 in Toyota, Honda and Renault-Nissan although the last one is disputable. Toyota and R-N own pretty much the rest of the automakers in one form or another.

All the automakers share and trade amongst each other. Ford and Mazda still operate a joint plant in Asia - where the rest of the world has been getting their Rangers and Mazda trucks from for the past decade. And then of course many parts and pieces of technology are actually made by suppliers who service multiple customers.
 
All the automakers share and trade amongst each other. Ford and Mazda still operate a joint plant in Asia - where the rest of the world has been getting their Rangers and Mazda trucks from for the past decade. And then of course many parts and pieces of technology are actually made by suppliers who service multiple customers.


Actually that joint operation is folding. Mazda just signed an agreement with Isuzu to make pickups.
 
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