Following the rotary-engine experiment, Mazda’s B-series truck continued to slog along in the shadow of its Ford Courier sibling. Both trucks had a major redesign in 1977 with boxier, refreshed styling. In 1980, the B-series’ four-cylinder engine — which had been steadily growing in displacement over the years — finally reached a size of 2.0 liters. Suitably, the truck was now known as the B2000.
Despite the B2000’s diminutive size, a six-foot-long cargo bed was standard, with an optional seven-foot bed. These mini trucks’ hauling capability is remarkable when viewed through the lens of today’s massive crew cab pickups with tiny five-foot-long cargo boxes.
For the 1983 model year, Ford released a compact pickup truck of its own design called the Ranger, so it no longer relied on rebadging Mazdas. Mazda took that opportunity to stretch its creative wings and introduced an all-new, radically redesigned B2000 for the 1986 model year.
It’s been said that Mazda spent over $100 million developing the third-generation B-series pickup for success in the U.S. market. While perhaps not as well regarded as Toyota’s HiLux (called Toyota Pickup in the U.S.), it was a huge leap forward for the brand over the outgoing model.
Like Toyota, the 1986 and up B-Series was available in an optional extended cab version called “Cab Plus,” with small jump seats fitted behind the front seats. A few years later, a part-time four-wheel drive system became optional.
[Featured image by Rex Gray from Southern California via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 2.0]
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