Who doesn’t like a cheap pickup? I recently bought one a decade older and about the same size as this one and it wasn’t even as cheap as this 1990 Mazda B2200 is! I really like this truck. It’s listed on eBay with a very reasonable buy it now price of $1,800, or you can even make an offer! If I were anywhere near Cookeville, Tennessee it would be hard to pass up this one.
I love the black-out trim on this Mazda. The seller says that it “really doesn’t have any rust on it” and I think that it looks great, other than having a few little dings and dents. A person may be able to massage out a few of those dings without messing up the original paint which appears to be in mostly nice condition. NADA lists the low-retail for a 1990 Mazda B-Series pickup as being $2,025 so if a person didn’t have to deal with shipping costs this could be a good buy. Average retail is $3,900 so there’s a couple’a grand worth of work that could get done on this one, or what the heck, just restore it, the high-retail value is $6,025!
This fourth-generation Mazda B-Series pickup is used just enough so a person wouldn’t have to worry about hauling a load to the dump or filling the box with gravel or anything like that. Just use it as a truck, although maybe don’t fill the box to overflowing with rocks and/or bricks.
Most of the photos aren’t focused, so my apologies for showing these, but it seemed like such a good truck for such little money that I thought it might be worth it. The door panel on the driver’s side looks like it’s had a couple of decades of forearm wear but other than that I don’t see too much that looks alarming here. The seat has been recovered but it wouldn’t take much to bring it back to original-spec if anyone wanted to go that route. I love the black top, did I already say that?
What I wouldn’t give to have one penny for every dang Interstate battery that has been sold! Man, those things are like locusts. Not to mention Weber carb conversions, and this truck has both of those things. But, function before form, to misquote a famous architect. This one also has a new radiator. I have a Weber carb conversion on my little pickup and other than a fast idle issue, that I have yet to diagnose, it works great. I’m sure that has more power and less heartache than the factory Mikuni carb which this truck would also have had for its F2, 2.2L inline four. It may even give it a bit more power than the 85 hp that this truck would have had from the factory. Do any of you own small pickups? What do you think about this one? It seems like a really good deal to me.
Boring pedestrian junk Is BF lowering its standards?
Where’s the thumbs down when you need it?
I’m not a fan of the standard looking Craigslist quality stuff either
Although not a “barn find”, I truly appreciate these small trucks and think they are worthy of a little spot light time. Most of the Japanese cars from this era are becoming highly sought after as they revolutionized the American automotive landscape and not many exist in even driver condition. As such, this is a nice find.
Junk. I’ve never seen a rigged carb setup that works right. Leave factory carbs alone.
then you have never seen any of the maybe 50 conversions I have done. They get better mileage, have more power and I can tune them to pass emissions on the older stuff with no problems. Just because you don’t have a clue how to do something, don’t think nobody else can either.
I had an ’87 B2600 4×4. One of the toughest trucks I ever owned. Sold it in ’99 with over 180K miles on it. I replaced the OE carb with a Weber and also installed a Pacesetter header and custom exhaust and picked up about 25HP. The truck ran great and outran many of the available V6s back in the day.
Mazda trucks can be long running high mileage cruisers, not sure bout the carb, but if it was close enough to check out-I’d be interested!! Cheap truck folks, at least it’s not a Pinto or Vega or some junk, these are great runners set up right! and where do you find a usable truck for under $2000 nowadays?
I have a Weber carb on my 1985 Nissan 720 and it works great. No problems at all and the only thing that had to be addressed was adjusting the throttle return spring bracket so the throttle didn’t hang open and leave me with a high idle. Starts every time, gets great mileage and has a noticeable increase in power over the stock Hitachi unit.
I’ve been needing a cheap truck to run back and forth to Home Depot and Tractor Supply Company, that doesn’t require much attention, doesn’t look like it was abandoned by the side of the highway, and doesn’t take up much space. This little Mazda is about an hour away from me. Most small pickups (think Toyota) in semi-decent condition are well north of $5000. Thanks for posting this.
I would do a 13b rotary swap to it. Sleeper?
Nice little truck ,good price ,and it is a real truck not a 40,k luxury road hog that will never have anything but groceries in the bed 🤒
Why is this truck still here? And what are you guys bashing it for? Mazda (aka Ford) made some of the best vehicles, and this truck, for what it was intended, did it all. The only reason I can figure why someone would call this junk, is they have never had these trucks. I’m sure it even says Ford somewhere, if that’s the issue. The thing I DO agree with, is the Weber may be a bit much. There was nothing wrong with the original Nikki carb, and replacements are around ( not cheap, though) Great truck, great price, what’s not to like?
There were two of these used as shop trucks where I did outside sales for a short period at a heavy truck parts supplier. There were also two Toyotas. The Mazda were constantly in the shop with serrious mallities like cracked heads and blown head gaskets. I did like the design of the engine, but was a very poor build. We also had a couple of Toyotas, they never even had a hiccup. The interiors were better, bigger cabs, more power…….just a superior vehicle all around. That said, I was very pleased to get back in my IHC 1100 at the end of the day.
Lower it and ls swap. Now you have a fun truck. You could drive it everyday and still haul with it. Fun Fun Fun. These trucks were fine when new now just another little truck. Of course you could buy it soak it with oil, put in a barn and forget about it for another 10 or so years. Then you can have a barn find. It might even be worth something as how many will survive.
I bought a new one SE 5 in 1989. Basically the same truck. Dead on its a**. I Found myself pushing the gas pedal to the floor with every shift. All those engines had some kind of a clatter noise.I knew several other owners and we all changed oil regularly. All in all I’d say it’s a bargain for $1800 from what I can see with the clean body. BUT it isn’t a Toyota….Easy friends, I ‘m a gear head too. My Sunday car is a Vette.
I like that “Pushing the gas pedal to the floor with every shift. My engine had some kind of clatter”. No comment………..
Whats with the bashing. I had an 88 se5 B2200 as my first car. Only thing i ever had to do was fix some rust over the rear wheels and regular maintenance like a clutch and belts. I sold it for well more than i had ever spent on it and it gave my family 230,000 miles of trouble free service. Thats the truck that made me a life long Mazda owner.
I had one of these. Put 187K on it. Sold it for $1800 dollars with the original brakes, clutch and front end parts on it. Carb was junk and the first thing to go. Ignition system is terrible. Wiper/ washer system is for warm weather states only. Truck never had a rattle or water leak. Original Bridgestone tires were replaced at 103k. It didn’t do well in Michigan winters. Body rust was above average.
We have had a dozen of these little trucks over the years. I have one that I regularly haul 2000 pounds of gravel in. The front end gets a little light but the gap between the bed and cab does not move a millimeter. The frame is stout. Everything including the 6 lug wheels is over built on these little trucks. Well worth the money and I may just go get this one.
High miles and well-used at 162K. Unless lots of work has been documented, this truck will need a total mechanical restoration.
In 1997 i bought a 1990 that was just as solid as this for $125. The kid that I got it from had changed the engine and couldn’t get it running. It sat in his yard for about a month before I stopped and he sold it to me for the cash in my wallet. That’s what he told me, “Give me all the cash in your wallet and its yours.” I towed it home and decided the timing was off, after a two degree turn of the distributor it fired right up. Was a fun little truck for about 3 years until an offer of $4500 was made. Been kicking myself in the ass ever since that day… Would love to have another one some day.
I’ve had an 87 and a 91 I purchased new. Nothing but good things to say about them. Only problem was owning one while in college you become everyone’s best friend come moving time. My 87 lost 5th gear going up to the lake and I drove it for a year and a half that way until i traded it. Great find!
There were at least three employees at the Taco Bell restaraunt I worked at that
had these. They were rugged little trucks
That took a licking and kept on ticking. My friends used them to good effect ny
hauling supplies from store to store. The
truck shown here was a dead ringer for the one driven by a friend of mine who
worked at our store part time. She was
driving that truck when I retired from the
company after 20 years of service in 2009. I saw her in downtown Winter Haven in 2013 and she was still driving
That same truck! You just can’t get good
service from a vehicle made today.