I’m going to be known as the small truck guy before too long, if it isn’t already too late. Here’s another little gem, or without too much work it could be a gem. It’s a 1984 Mazda B2200 diesel pickup and it’s located in beautiful Nashville, Tennessee. The seller has it listed on eBay and the current bid price is $850, but of course the reserve isn’t met.

I absolutely love these small trucks, they really would work for what 90% of the population needs for hauling duties 90% of the time. The other 10% actually pull horse, boat, or big camping trailers or they need to haul some serious stuff. That isn’t what most of us do. People love their giant pickups, though, and they love sitting above everyone else. I don’t like driving huge vehicles but I know that I’m in the vast minority on that. The seller bought “this beauty of a truck off of a friend who bought it off of the grandson of the original owner.  He, an elderly gentleman, used it to run around on his farm before storing it in his barn for many years (hence the low mileage and good cosmetic condition).”

The seller lists the good, the bad, and the ugly on this little diesel truck. And while we’re at it, they have provided some pretty good photos, so thanks for that, seller. I’m a frosting-last guy so I always like to wade through the “filler” (cake) first. The ugly that the seller mentions is that the windshield has a crack in it and also the “plastic bumpers on the sides have cracked and degraded over time.” The bad is a small brake fluid leak and also a small coolant leak – hopefully both of those are fixable without too much expense. Also, the exhaust rearward of the catalytic converter recently rusted off and also the key locks are a bit slow and clunky. The bed looks well-used but in decent condition at the same time.

The interior isn’t listed as one of the good parts, but it sure should have been. I see a tiny crack in the most maddeningly-predictable part of the dash top to always show a crack, in the speaker hole area. Arrrrggg.. But, wow, other than that this is one great looking place to spend some time while you’re chugging along listening to that sweet little oil-burner under the hood.

Speaking of that, they say that for “the past two years this truck has been my daily driver for a short commute and has never failed to start up with the first turn of the key. The diesel engine runs like a champ.” This is Mazda’s, or rather it’s a Perkins-made-for-Mazda 2.2L inline-four diesel and they had 60 hp on a good day. Here is a YouTube video of another Mazda B2200 diesel pickup, not this one, just to hear what it sounds like. The seller mentions that it also comes “with an old CB radio (picture 9) and exterior antenna on the roof (picture 10). I have not tested the CB radio.” I can’t really think of a genre that interests me more at the moment then these small, unusual pickups, preferably with a manual transmission and a diesel would be a bonus, just for the unusual factor.