Junkyard Gem: 1995 Mazda B4000 LE Cab Plus

Beginning in 1972, Ford started promoting Mazda Proceed pickups with Courier badges in america. On the similar time, Mazda was promoting the identical vans right here because the B-Collection. Then the Ranger changed the Courier in 1983, whereas the B-Collection remained accessible in North America by means of 1993. For 1994, the Mazda/Ford pickup world acquired flipped on its head, with a Mazda-ized Ranger taking on the B-Collection identify right here. At present’s Junkyard Gem is without doubt one of the early Ford-built Mazda pickups, present in a North Carolina automobile graveyard just lately.

The precedent for slapping Mazda badges on U.S.-market Ford vans started with the 1991 mannequin yr, when the brand-new Explorer went on sale as the Mazda Navajo. In the course of the Nineteen Nineties, loads of Mazda-derived Ford and Mercury fashions had been being offered right here, together with the Ford Festiva, Ford Probe, Ford Escort, Mercury Tracer and Mercury Capri, so it made sense to deepen the connection by transferring some Dearborn iron within the different course.

However nonetheless, some in Hiroshima should have been saddened by the substitute of the proud B-Collection with Ford merchandise.

The 4 digits after the B in B-Collection mannequin designations referred to engine displacement in cubic centimeters, with the 1971 B1600 starting that custom. This truck being a B4000, it has the 4.0-liter model of the pushrod Cologne V6 engine. Output was 160 horsepower and 225 pound-feet. B2300s and B3000s had been accessible as effectively.

The primary look of the Cologne V6 in new vehicles offered in america was within the 1969 Capri, which was offered by means of Mercury sellers right here however by no means given Mercury badging. The SOHC model of the Cologne 4.0 was bolted into numerous new U.S.-market Fords right through the early 2010s.

This truck is the most costly rear-wheel-drive Mazda B-Collection accessible for the 1995 mannequin yr, with the lengthy wheelbase, the largest engine, the highest LE trim degree and the prolonged Cab Plus.