Junkyard Find: 1992 Mazda B2200 SE-5 Cab Plus
Would you buy a compact pickup with rear-wheel drive, manual transmission, crank windows, two doors, tiny jump seats behind the buckets and a curb weight well below 3,000 pounds … if you could get it for about $25,000? The early-1990s version of that is what we have here, spotted a couple of years back in a Nevada car graveyard.
This is one of the last Mazda-built B-Series pickups sold in the United States. Oh, sure, the B-Series was still available here after 1993, but it was a rebadged Ford.
And of course some of you are thinking that a truck like this would be fine, except for the lack of A/C. See that compressor? This truck has air conditioning.
And if you didn't need the Cab Plus version, which had these fold-down seats that nearly everyone used for toolboxes or bags of groceries, you could get this truck for as little as $21,217 in 2026 dollars, or $23,115 with the optional A/C.
In fact, the actual prices were a bit lower, because I am using a 1993 price guide to get those numbers (my reference library has a few holes in the early 1990s).
The first Mazda Bs arrived in the United States as 1972 models, sold by Ford with Courier badging. Then the Ranger showed up as a 1982 model and that was the end of the Courier here.
However, Mazda had been selling the B-Series here with its own badging since the early 1970s, and that continued after the Courier.
After 1993, Mazda dealers in North America began selling Ford Rangers with Mazda badges, in order to stop paying the Chicken Tax. American Mazda shoppers at that time could also get Mazda-ized Explorers. Meanwhile, the Ford Escort was still a Mazda underneath.
The Mazda Rangers kept the old B-Series naming system. Since the '95 in this photo has a 4.0-liter Cologne V6, it was a B4000.
When Mazda started selling Rangers in the United States, the TV commercials got twangy music and bandito-mustached ranchers grunting out statements such as "I want a truck that's rough like I am."
For 1992, the U.S.-market B-Series came in two flavors: B2200 and B2600. The B2600 had Mazda's 2.6-liter four-cylinder, which was confusing because Mazda used 2.6-liter Mitsubishi Astrons in its trucks for many years.
Today's Junkyard Find has the 2.2-liter F2 engine. It was rated at 85 horsepower and 118 lb-ft of torque.
The transmission is the base five-on-the-floor manual. A four-speed automatic was optional, as was four-wheel drive. It can snow quite a bit in the Reno/Tahoe area, but the owner or owners of this truck managed to get by with RWD.
The original AM/FM/cassette radio is still in it at the end.
The emissions sticker says this is a California-market truck, not a 49-state version. This part of Nevada is about 15 miles from the California line, so that makes sense.
Close to 250,000 miles on the odometer at the end.
I didn't see any rust to speak of.
This was the fourth generation of Mazda B-Series truck, which debuted as a 1986 model in the United States. Mazda kept making the B-Series after 1993, of course, but it wasn't sold here.
A fifth-generation B-Series went into production in 1998 and was built through 2006. In Australia, it was called the Bravo and its final TV commercials featured the voice of a Down Under Jeff Spicoli.
A great warranty and cash back for the '89 B2200.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
1992 Mazda B2200 in Nevada junkyard.
[Images: Author]
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
More by Murilee Martin
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There's something to be said about a Plain Jane pickup. A used Ford Maverick sells for as much a a new one.
Sometimes, less is more!! 🚗 🚗 🚗
A B2600i (i denotes the Mazda 2.6) 4x4 is definitely a dream truck of mine, just a fun little runabout that I can drive over rocks and hills with.
Hello to all the sociopathic small truck fans. Does your lack of torques keep you angry? I think it does.