Truck Week EP33 - Ford Courier
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- For over a decade before Ford launched its compact 1982-1/2 Ranger pickup truck, Mazda kept Ford active in the sales battle against Toyota and Datsun with the “captive import” Courier - which was based on Mazda’s B-Series pickup. But why were these little trucks imported without the cargo bed bolted down? It’s all about the “chicken tax”. The what? Watch and learn.
Anyone else sort of get hypnotized listening to Steve? Love his content, it’s like hanging out with a good friend. 👍🏻
The Casey Kasum of the auto bloggers!👍
@@noonehere1793 Adam Reader sounds like Casey Kasem ... "The Professor of Rock"
Absolutely! Kasey Casem! 😂
Agreed! I watched, or should I say,tried to watch, Barrett Jackson this year ,it was a totally different experience without out his commentary on the cars! Mike Joy, brought some familiarity, when he finally showed up, however, it was still lacking with out the Magsters perspective !
I hope he comes back,and makes a full recovery!
His voice is like an old friend!
Yes, kind of like Bob Ross.
Keep truck week going, show off your catalog of videos. Thank you Steve
Truck weeks! 💪🏻
Here for Steve
I agree love it. 👍👍👍
Hope you are feeling better! Thank you for all you do!
He almost bought the farm 🚜 can't wait till he's back 100%
Even though these are old episodes, it's still good to see you every day. I hope your recovery is going well, Steve. We miss you.
I always thought it was cool that even though it was a Mazda they still fashioned the grille off of a full size truck giving them the appearance of a Ford!👍
Henry Ford II, who was not the brightest bulb in the string made the comment to Mr. Iacocca when he brought up the idea of partnering with Honda for a small engine that, "No vehicle with my name on the hood will have a Jap engine". Mr. Ford being the ignorant fool that he was, had his tail between his legs when someone reminded him that they had been importing the Ford Courier (a Mazda product) from Japan for a number of years by that time and it did indeed have his name on the hood......
Mr. Ford II is one of the reasons why Ford was awful in the 1970s and 1980s.
I still remember Mazda's rotary pick-ups and the back-fires.
@@BrewBlaster As well as some burning oil like a weed whacker.
I had one of these it had Mazda stamped all over the parts 😊
Sweet i wish it was 90 degrees in Mass right now. Im freezing. Get well.
drizzling rain all day here in mass.
@@Ecosse57 sure is here in Fall River
I bought one new, and the engine had over 450,000 miles on it when I scrapped it.
Hope you're getting better by the day. As stated last time:
The Ranger was not a 1982-1/2 model, it was a true 1983 model and actually would have a "D" for the 10th digit of the VIN, making it a 1983 model year. The Courier was last sold for the 1982 model year. The Mazda and Ford partnership ran from 1974 to 2015.
Remember, "pennies make dollars and dollars make sense". Possible code "YQ" Yoke Yellow exterior paint.
I still have my Dad's 72 Datsun PL521 he bought new in 1972. I learned to drive in it, and he drove it continuosly for over 30 years. Thanks for the videos Steve!
I always loved the looks and design of the 521 series Datsun/Nissan trucks. Wish they would bring them back and manufacture them once again with the regular cabs they had, this time with a 4 wheel drive package if you wanted a 4 wheel drive truck. A four cylinder engine is all you really need especially since gas prices are headed towards five dollars and more in the future.
Great vid, hope your doing well Steve 🤜🤛
Me, and a friend bought a used 74 currier, blown motor, manual shift. Hooker headers sold a kit to put a small block ford in it. So, 289 .040 12.5 to 1, solid lifter cam, hipo heads, Saginaw 4 speed, and lots of tickets. The factory rear-end was 4.11 gear ratio, and very durable.
Thanks Steve.
Had a 1972 Courier back in 1982-1986. Could not kill it, though had to add quart of oil every week!!
Mazda had a version of the Ranger also.
Keep getting stronger Steve!! You beat a nasty illness! So happy for you and your family Best wishes my brother!!!!
I'm shocked at how many truck videos I've forgotten about! Thank you for lining them all up for us!
My 1st Sgt at Fort Campbell in the mid 90's had a 79 Ford Courier, After his kids graduated and left for college he decided to buy himself a "tinkering project", he just wanted something he could tinker around with while he drove, he ended up yanking out the drive train and putting in a 2.3 4 banger, auto trans and suspension out a late 88 Mustang not long after he bought, It didn't give it much more Hp but it was more reliable and he could get parts for, finding parts for those early Mazda engines was TOUGH back then, His wife actually suckered me into painting it for him for his birthday while he was gone to some kind leadership conference for a week, he almost cried when he came back, when he left it was Yellow and when he came home it was White, took me, my best friend and one of the company mechanics that whole week to get it down, Our Platoon Sgt who was the acting 1st sgt that week was in on it and put us "Detail" that whole week so we could blow it apart, paint it and put it back together and Tops wife was a Chef so she feed us well, we all 3 said it was worth it just for food and we weren't joking.
Erm, the chicken tax is still in effect.
Hope to see you soon with a health update and then later on with some new content! As I've said before, Steve is the hardest working man on RUclips. He is the 'James Brown' of RUclips ! 😁 Hope you 'Feel Good!'
Get well soon! We miss you.
More trucks! Love the Courier, Luv, Datsun, Toyota, and more.
When I had mine repainted, I was told the bed had been repaired and repainted. I bought it new and I was not told it had been repaired.
My first vehicle at age 16 in 1982 was a 1974 ford Courier. I had fun fixing it up, low profile tires, rims, lowered it. Mini trucks were a thing for teenagers in the early 80s.
Now in Australia, we have "the ranger" driver! Thanks Courier! Lol
When I was 17 on Vancouver Island, our neighbour had a Courier. Thing is, he was 6'4, and had to wedge himself into it. I wanted that truck, even though it was already a pile of rust in 1987...see, I'm 5 foot fuckall, so it's like a full-sized squarebody to me.
Owned both Courier and Rangers and they were both great trucks. Getting close to a real new episode, but do not overdue it Steve, I mean be safe my friend.
I learned to drive in a ‘73 Ford Courier. It was my grandpa’s truck and was the same light yellow and just as rusty 😂 I’d love to find a decent one to play with someday, good memories in that truck
Same truck I had but in red. Keep getting better Steve
Truck week? I'd go for truck year! These episodes are awesome. Steve is so knowledgeable and a great presenter. Loved the detour talking about the quarter too!
I love the tree growing out of the cowl!🤔😄
He’s a genius when it comes to this stuff. Truly amazing.
I bought a 1975 4x4 manual Courier called a Sasquatch about 10 years ago as a project. I thought it was cool and rare, that was my reason for buying it. My son has claimed it and is now building it for his first vehicle. Will be cool to see it back on the road!
They came here as 2wd, as soon as they got to the US a company in Kelso, WA outfitted then with 4x4 setups.
My dad had a 1974, I had a 1975. Dad's had a topper, used to take girl friends to the beach (Santa Cruz) in dad's! O the good old days!
Just want to say thanks for showing us trucks and cars. That we don't always get to see on the highway any more. Thanks for the ride down memory lane.
I owned an '82 Mazda P/U and one thing you learned pretty quickly in those days was to buy your parts from the Ford dealers. Less than 1/2 price in most cases.
Or aftermarket sources, who depending on the part were reboxing parts from the OEM supplier. It happens all the time in more industries than you can imagine.
Aftermarket sources? Well yes, obviously whenever possible but in those days, in my part of the country, there wasn't much you could get on aftermarket for a Mazda. Many times it was dealer or nothing.@@googleusergp
I worked at a pool service company in South Florida in the late 80's. We had a fleet of these, 34 or 35 in all. I ended up loving mine after spending every day in it for 2 and a half years.
Good lord I remember getting one of these running in the early 80s. Abandoned by seasonal farm workers, we found it hidden among the onion crates. The cylinder head and gasket were in the bed. With no obvious problem with the gasket we slathered it with Aviation Form a Gasket, both sides and fired it up! Pulled the doors, fenders for weight saving and bombed around for the summer burning copious amounts of motor oil!
Great you are recovering, looking forward to seeing you complete the comeback!!!
Glad you are back doing what you love
This truck was a very good experiment for Ford. They were a way to see if this truck would actually sell in volume before spending millions of dollars to design the Ford Ranger. And these were actually a really good truck.
We're all pulling for you Steve. Hope to see you back in the Junkyard soon
Digging truck week catalog, looking forward to your return to the series! Getting stronger everyday, Steve!
montgomery wards had them with service beds on them with the automatic trans..when loaded up for a service call.they could barely get away from a redlight if the intersection was on an upgrade.MAJORlLY underpowered & underbraked for that application.
The voice of automotive knowledge! Love the videos Steve!
My dad had one of these. It was a red '77 long bed with a 4 speed. It hauled all sorts of things it probably wasn't meant to do, but was a great little truck with 1 exception; the wiring. It had aluminum wire in it and had lots of electrical problems. Dad hit a bump one night on Perrymont Road and all the lights went out. Fortunately, we weren't far from home so the remaining ride in the dark went ok. Those trucks had an electric fuel pump, and the wiring to it died one day on us on US 19 in Wexford. Dad bought some wire at Warehouse Sales and made a jumper harness to get it running again. He replaced the truck with an F-100 after 5-ish years after his foot slipped off the clutch one morning and went through the floor. Good little truck, but the western PA roads just ate it up.
Steve get well soon. Miss you and love to see your videos .❤
Steve is a coin collector too? Nice!
Absolutely loved my rotary vehicles, '73 RX3 and my 77 Rotary Pickup, which I purchased new . Drove each well over 200,000 miles. Thanks for the memory.
Thanks Steve 👍👍🇨🇦
Still working the algorithm Steve 👍. And up another thousand subscribers.
Dodge also had the Ram 50, a rebadged Mitsushitti. So they all played that game. How ironic that, in the 90s, the Mazda pu was a rebadged Ranger, and the Isuzu was a rebadged S-10!
Cool video - those old magazines are awesome!
Thank you Steve!
Cant nobody spew this information like Steve Mags!!!!
Wishing you good health, Steve!
I love these old trucks! My next door neighbor had one in the early nineties;used of course.
He was a finish carpenter, he always had her loaded with lumber and tools!
Mike said he loved that truck!
It never stranded him anywhere!
yep I remember the ole Ford Courier PU . haven’t seen one in years though. very interesting stuff. thanks for sharing. stay safe out there brother 👍
Little known fact, Toyota trucks from that era if it had key (locking) fuel lid on the bed it was Japanese, if it just had a notch to hold the lid shut it was California built truck!
From 1995-2000, I owned a 1981 Ford Courier.
The long wheelbase model.
Had a 2.0L 4-banger, which... even though it had over 200,000 miles when I bought it, still ran very well. Barely used oil.
Got 21mpg.
Truck was light blue.
I gave a whopping $500 for it.
And I believe that I got my money's worth out of it.
In the 4-1/2+ years I owned it, the only things I replaced was the battery; the clutch; the starter; and the tires.
I finally scrapped the little truck after I hit a deer in the fog.
Truck was still quite drivable. But the rusted old body... and then the damage to the front fender/headlight/grill/hood...it just wasn't worth the money to fix it.
Great video. The Courier was a great little truck. I hope Ford increases production of the Maverick so we can have something sort of similar. You're right, Ford didn't offer the Courier in 4wd, but Chevrolet did offer the LUV (Isuzu) in 4wd late in its lifespan. Another interesting thing about the 2nd gen Courier that many folks don't know: The standard engine was the 2.0 Mazda 4 cylinder, but Ford did offer their own 2.3 liter 4 as an option. It would be great to build a 2nd gen Courier with an SVO engine with a 5 speed.
Miss you Brother!!!! Hope things are going good
I got to ride in a Mazda Rotary back in the 70s, a lot of fun.
Always great to see Steve amongst the rusty silent sentinels. Heartbreaking to see that poor truck tho. This is the kind of pickup that needs to be made. Not enormous ridiculous monstrosities.
This sized truck needs to make a comeback. The Maverick was SUPPOSED to fill that gap but Ford screwed the pooch.
True. These smaller regular cab trucks and cars with fuel efficient 4 cylinder engines are all ya need these days now that gas prices are headed towards five dollars a gallon and much more in the future.
Stay strong Steve!!
Given the Comet based Ranchero and the Pinto station wagon, I was always curious why Ford didn't go that route. Regardless, thank you as always sir. Here's to seeing you soon and your continued recovery ~ Chuck
drove one of these in the early 80s delivering auto parts for Stan's Auto Parts in Willimantic, CT.
Pops had a 1975 Courier. He drove the heck out of it. He watched it get stolen from a gas station park and ride park lot, thinking it was a joke being played. Nope. Some teen had escaped from a correction facility and grabbed his truck while dad talked with the gas station owner. State Patrol had chased the guy into oncoming freeway traffic, then they crossed back over the freeway and the teen lost control and flipped the truck. The teen lived, the truck did not.. The State Patrol couldn't figure out what all the white stuff was all over the freeway by where the truck crashed. Pops was having a co-worker drop off big 2 gallon glass jars of whole cows milk and place it in the Courier bed, while dad fell timber during the day. He had 3 glass jars of milk dropped off in the back that day. 6 gallons of milk, all over the freeway.
Mazda B series was a great truck.
The Rainbow 🌈 sticker on the back window back in those days had a totally unclaimed and different meaning back in those days...
Back in the 1970's in the midwest where I grew up you didn't see to many of those Couriers or Chevy Luvs as they got a bad reputation for rusting out quickly. One didn't see too many Japanese trucks until the early 1980's. i had a friend that bought a new Subaru Brat 4x4 in 1978 and was shocked to find he was getting about the same mileage as his 1976 Camaro in highway driving.
I bought a new 76 model. I wish I had got the half ton short box for the price difference. Courier never had the economy to make up for the lack of comfort and performance. Took it back several times complaining. Finally sold it. Never saw over 19 MPG. 300 six can do that. A friend found the same thing with his Mazda.
1970's Rainbow decal, classic of that time era. My father had a carny yellow Toyota Hi·Lux.
I love watching these older videos. Quite honestly I have forgotten som and it’s great to watch them again!
As I remember a lot of these came with Brazilian 2300cc Pinto motors. Now that was a long supply chain. Brazil to Japan then finally finished assembly in the US.
And how many know that the now Tesla factory in Fremont started by building truck beds for imported Toyotas.
I once showed a die hard ford guy, older gentleman who hated foreign trucks. Once I showed him he was driving a Mazda I thought he was going to stroke out
Plain evil trickery! But funny as shit!🤣
When I started my engineering career with Arkansas Power & Light we had one in our pool, was worn out when it got sent to our plant. The top of the fenders were rotted out, surprised these aren’t rotted the same on this one. We put duct tape over the holes to keep the mud off the windshield. It was referred to as the Malignant Falcune, Star Wars was a few years prior.
Those are some sweet heavy duty 'jack stands' under that thing! 😂🤔😂🤦🏻♂️👍🏻👌🏻🛠️🔧🔩🚧⛽🚦🛢️🚚
Glad you're back! Couriers were horrible to work on, formed heater hoses that were unobtainable and vibration dampeners that fell off!
Favorite was my '92 B2200 5-speed I called the "l'il wed wacing twuck"....
I bought a new Courier in '76 and drove it for 13 years. I loved it. Ultimately, Virginia road salt did it in. Mechanically it was very dependable.
Had a 74 B1600 in the early 80s. Rugged little truck. Never let me down. Kind of wish I still had it! I probably traded it for a 6-pack or something... 😢
Interesting history thanks Steve!
Best part of my day!
A good friend of mine got me a part time job at long beach harbor in 1975 installing beds on datson trucks as they came off the ships , Ahh those were the days . Get well Steve we miss you .
My dad had a 1976 it was a tough truck,he would load it down with all the firewood it would hold.and even hauled some logs in it a few times,the front end would barely be touching the ground
Just so you know 54° in Massachusetts right now but it’ll be 27° by morning
A friend still has one of these gems with a Ford mustang 289 and a top loader 4speed. It absolutely rips.
My uncle had one. Dark brown, manual transmission.
Mazda also made rotary version of that truck, very rare in today if you can find one! The B series with the 1.3 rotary. A friend of mine had one! It was a sleeper! Specially when hot rodded! Hope you’re feeling better Steve!
I love Coins Also Steve I have quite a few off Morgan’s. 👍👍😂
my cousin had one of those nice little truck. his was a stick although back then you wanted a stick. auto were pretty gutless. I know this is an older crawl. But nice to see you Steve.
Cool trucks in there day
Back when tgese trucks were made my dsd was a Ford mechanic and those engines were bad about breaking timing tensioners and effectively destroying the engine. He eventually quit partially because of this truck. Had so many torn apart waiting for parts and git tired of working on them.
Steve, people who drive automatics are Shiftless 😂
🤣yer 🥥🥥!
Thanks for sharing this video with us
Had a 76 model with a step side bed. Man that was neat looking,wish I still had it
You're still looking good Steve. I hope you're feeling well and taking care of yourself and know everyone is pulling for you, but it just seems a little strange at these junkyards look like they're just collecting cars and not selling parts. Kind of strange
Loved a courier, They were so cheap in the day!!!! Barely basic transportation.....lol
Even after Ford called 'em Rangers, they were still basically Mazdas. Just like it says on the repair manual. Had a '93 for over 20 years, still driving my '98 ranger.
Actually the Ranger was a Ford creation and design. From ‘93 to I think like ‘08 or ‘10 or so, the Ranger was rebadged by Mazda as the next generation B-Series following the boxy ones from the 80’s. This was only in the US market, as outside of the US market, those 80’s boxy ones would continue to be produced into 1998, when they’d get replaced by another Mazda design. Of course, by ‘93 the actual B-Series was getting dated, and because Mazda and Ford were in cahoots with each other, Ford let Mazda rebadge the Ranger.
Mr. B. Here ! 👀😎👍. ✏️📓🎓🍎
My father had a 1976 Courier that same color with a five speed.
Thank You Steve