Sep 28, 2023  •  For Sale  •  11 Comments

Sunshine Survivor: 1980 Mazda B2000

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Old-school, light-duty pickups have always been cheap and cheerful options for a project rig, and surprisingly, the values for such vehicles have stayed relatively flat. This is not surprising; these were stripper vehicles when new, devoid of meaningful options, and low on power and payload capacity. But seeing the popularity of the new Ford Ranger pickup, it’s clear that there’s a need for a light-duty trucks, so is it time to give survivors like this 1980 Mazda B2000 here on Facebook Marketplace a closer look?

The Ford Courier and Chevy LUV are the usual suspects in this arena, and for good reason – I suspect if you broke down production numbers, those two trucks were produced in the highest numbers. The Mazda B2000 was likely a smaller player overall in the 70s and 80s import truck wars, making it more impressive that this one has emerged in near-mint condition with an amazing shade of lemon yellow paint.

There’s even a fake woodgrain dash, likely one of the more upscale features you’ll find in any of these small haulers. The Mazda would be my pick of the lineup, but I’d want the rotary-powered variety as I love the notion of owning one of the first high-performance pickups ever built. The seller notes there’s under 40,000 original miles on the truck and that the only alteration from bone-stock form is a rebuilt engine, and even that’s not really much of a break from its factory configuration.

I love the paint scheme, and it looks like there’s potentially more life in it with a color correction and buffing. Single stage paint loves to come back to life, so I bet you can make this Mazda look even better than it currently does. The seller claims he is only selling to make room and that relatively few of these 1980 model B-Series pop up for sale, and I’ll agree with that – I can’t remember the last time I saw one, for any price.

Comments

  1. Troy
    Sep 28, 2023 at 4:20pm

    It’s nice but not original miles if the engine had to be rebuilt already so it’s now $7,000 over priced

    Like 10
  2. Michael Garner
    Sep 28, 2023 at 4:21pm

    I see a bit of rust along the bottom of the truck. The pictures just barely show it. These trucks are known from rotting from the bottom up.

    Like 4
  3. chrlsful
    Sep 28, 2023 at 8:04pm

    funny, of the car wars that era this co might have gone thru all Big 3 (successively not concurrent) on (courier, merkado, sundowner? Ie ford, cheb, ‘mopar’ ) on P/Us thru the 2 decades?
    /OR/
    40, 50 yrs has clouded this ol man’s mind (very likely).
    8^ 0

    Like 1
    • Zach
      Sep 29, 2023 at 12:16am

      chrlsful
      Speak English please

      Like 17
      • Henry A Crawford
        Sep 29, 2023 at 9:35am

        I agree. it’s still America last time I checked..

        Like 5
      • mike wills
        Sep 29, 2023 at 10:30am

        is there a way to block comments on this site? If so.. that fella would be the 1st one.
        Admin..?? Beuller?

        Like 3
    • SubGothius
      Sep 30, 2023 at 10:59pm

      Mazdas were only ever rebadged as Fords, such as the Ford Courier in this case. “Sundowner” was just a trim package for Mazda’s longbed version of this truck.

      Isuzu made the Chevy LUV pickup, which had a “Mikado” option package.

      Mitsubishi made compact pickups for Dodge, rebadged as the D-50 for its first two years, then as the Ram 50 after that.

      Like 1
  4. Jon Patrick Leary
    Sep 29, 2023 at 9:05am

    I don’t live far from this but TEN GRAND?????? NO WAY

    Like 6
    • RoadDog
      Sep 30, 2023 at 5:45am

      I’m with you there! This ain’t no one-of-a-kind collectible. Nice truck, but no for that price. GLWTS.

      Like 1
  5. Blu
    Sep 29, 2023 at 9:25am

    Nice little hauler for 4,500

    Like 2
  6. BA
    Sep 29, 2023 at 12:58pm

    I had a B2200 and it was a great little truck with the only issue being a bearing in the 5 speed 2nd gear went on me but great truck otherwise. It had A/C which was a 1st for me & I’ve never went non A/C in a vehicle since! I put 80,000 miles on that motor & it was used & never a problem so rebuilt at 40,000? Mazda was always known for dead reliable engines just not a ton of power!

    Like 4

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