During the 1970s and into the 1980s, the Detroit Big Three imported Japanese-made small pickups into North America and badged them with their own marques. General Motors sold Isuzu Fasters with LUV badging, Chrysler offered the Mitsubishi Forte as the Plymouth Arrow Pickup and Dodge D-50/Ram 50, and Ford offered the Mazda Proceed with Courier badges. The Courier was simple and sturdy and sold very well, finally being replaced by the Dearborn-designed Ranger after 1982. You won’t see many examples of the Courier these days, but I spotted this well-preserved example in a Denver-area self-service yard not long ago (parked next to a 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook and a few rows away from a 1956 Mercury Montclair camper).
74 horsepower, which was all the small-pickup owner needed in 1972.
With rear-wheel-drive, 74 hp, a four-speed manual transmission, and absolutely no frills, the early Courier got the job done at a time when fuel prices made big, thirsty trucks seem like an extravagance. For many years, all these Japanese small pickups retained sufficient value to keep them on the road, but these days gas is cheap and there’s a glut of bargain-priced used big pickups.
Sold new just north of Denver, will be crushed in Denver.
This truck has some rust, nothing very serious, and the cab has lots of still-boxed new tune-up and brake parts. Rodent nests under the hood suggest long-term outdoor storage; perhaps a final owner had plans to get this Courier back on the road, but never followed through.