For sale: 2006 Mazda B2300 pickup

[LC]

I think for the entire run of Rangers. Joy, look it up in Wikpedia. Your dad might have had a different model.

[joy]

Fifth generation (1985–1998)
B2000, B2200, B2600 1985–1988 Mazda B2000 Cab Plus 2-door utility (Australia)
1985–1988 Mazda B2000 Cab Plus 2-door utility (Australia)
Also called Ford Courier (pickup)
Ford Raider (wagon)
Ford Marathon
Mazda Bravo
Mazda Fighter
Mazda Magnum
Production 1985–1998
Assembly Hiroshima, Japan
Bogotá, Colombia
Willowvale, Zimbabwe (WMMI)
Pretoria, South Africa

A new Proceed/B-Series was introduced in 1985 and was produced until 1998. A 4-speed automatic transmission was the primary choice, with a 5-speed manual transmission through 1989. Part-time four wheel drive was another option. The 2.6 L Mitsubishi-powered B2600 was introduced in 1986. 1987 saw the Mazda I4 enlarged to 2.2 L in the B2200, with the smaller engine phased out after that year. The Mitsubishi engine was gone for 1988, replaced by a new family of Mazda powerplants. A SUV/RV version of this generation was made as the Proceed Marvie starting in 1991, which was sold as the Ford Raider in Australia and New Zealand. A similar version was developed in Thailand, where it was simply sold as a version of the Mazda B-series.

In North America, Mazda spent more than 100 million USD to design and develop the fifth-generation B-Series pickups to specifically meet the needs of the market. In the 1994 model year, to save costs related to the chicken tax, Mazda introduced a badge engineered version of the Ford Ranger, adopting Ford's vehicle design and engines. Due to declining sales and a lack of significant updates to its parent platform, the Ford-built B-Series was discontinued in the United States in 2009 and in Canada in 2010. The North American Ranger was discontinued at the end of 2011.[9]

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Looks like maybe the old ones had a Mitsubishi engine with the Ranger stuff coming in 1994. ? It does look like there is a Ford connection way back though. Interesting. I'm thinking the changes they made are the reason my dad bought something else a couple of years ago. I think he would have been happy to drive a newer version of the one he has until his last days.

[lakesidebull]

Mazda has made a small truck since the 60's. In the 70's, Mazda partnered with Ford to build Ford's first small pickup, the Courier. So originally, the Ford Courier was a rebadged Mazda, but sometime during the production of the Ranger model line, the Mazda became the rebadged Ford truck.

[sea]

So sorry I ever put that Ford reference in my post.....geesh.