My Tribute to our Old 1987 Mazda B2000

Yes, ladies. It is true. If you are old, smoke, leak and have cancer, you get thrown out like yesterday's news.

Old True Blue was a song in the making. She'd stand by your side and make sure you didn't get stuck alone by the roadside. She would take you anywhere you needed to go and ask for help for herself as an afterthought. Do you know any other car who didn't REQUIRE a full crankcase and radiator? The story follows:

Hubby: There's oil spots in the driveway! I just put a quart of oil in it. I like to run it on low oil so it doesn't leak as bad.

Wife: Hmmm. It must need a gasket. I will take it in to the mechanic today. I will have him do an oil change, too.

Mechanic: Lady, you need to run this vehicle on more than one quart of oil! (The one my husband just put in.)

Hubby: There is STILL oil in the driveway.

Wife: I guess there are a couple of other gaskets to try.

Later in the day:

Hubby: The Ford battery light is on. It still starts and the headlights work. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about.

Wife: I could take it to the mechanic and make sure everything is alright.

Hubby: Naw.

Even later, 15 miles from home: Why won't the Ford start?

OK. We get it started. We try to drive the Ford home about 15 miles. The dashboard goes wacky. ABS sign lights up. Low fuel light comes on. The radio sounds strange when I accelerate. I don't trust the Ford for all it is worth. I park it. We go home and get the Mazda. The Mazda heats up a bit on the way back to where we came from, about 15 miles away. The next day the Mazda takes us back home and again to the mechanic. It never leaves us stranded. It is hot, yet keeps running. A 2" hose is broken, which the mechanic fixes for free. The repair on the Ford alternator, on the other hand, runs us $250. Never mind replacing the Ford fuel pump last year for close to $400, which also left us stranded.

Hubby: I don't want to get stranded on the road. I want another vehicle.

Doesn't it stand you would want to replace the vehicle with 70K miles that left you stranded, the one who cost over $600 to repair the past 15 months? No, the Mazda B2000, who has cost us $300 in repairs over the same period, with 217,000 miles on it gets replaced.

The Mazda was a honey. We had done hauling when we were between jobs 15 years ago. That truck hauled with the best of them. Use plywood as sideboards, and you could throw all kinds of junk in it. It never complained about the load. It took a licking and kept on kicking. Repairs were far and few between. The truck had a long 7' bed which was handy for camping and for sleeping in the back. At times we had an aluminum topper on it to keep out the elements. Never mind it had crank window handles and a 5 speed stick shift. That was to be expected. The seat was a bench seat and it was starting to wear through after 217K miles. Ditto for the finish. Rust had pitted it's beautiful body over the years.

Unfortunately, the air conditioning compressor did go out just after the 3 year warranty expired. With the lack of air conditioning, the sliding glass rear window came in handy. Unfortunately it rattled and the dealership refused to do anything about it. The goverment http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/3639.shtml
rates the gas mileage at 27 mpg highway, 22 mpg city. When I'm was at a red light, most folks would get irritated and pass me. She had adequate power from her 2000 cc engine when needed, but I admit she lost a little power over the years. She was rear wheel drive, but this was OK with us. The brakes stopped us each and every time, although I must admit I tend to swerve in an emergency situation.

The only gauges on the dash were for the speedometer. The tripometer was a nice touch. The tailgate latch had a bad habit of breaking about every 5-7 years. The windshield wipers were 3 speed. The ride was very nice and smooth. The shifting handled well. We replaced two clutches on the vehicle. Our clutch took fluid. When the clutch started slipping, I was told by an idiot male co-worker who had a B2000 like mine the vehicle didn't take clutch fluid. LIE! That burned out the clutch early on. The second clutch was replaced in about 1997.

Did I mention it smoked for about 5 minutes when you started it in below freezing weather? Then again, it was old enough, about 18 years old.

I'm required to mention roominess. Of course you can't put the kids in the back of a traditional pickup. The front bench seat could hold two adults, although a center seatbelt was available. Unless I was under 8 years old, I wouldn't want to be that middle passenger!

I'm sure that if I could have put a pretty shell on this vehicle and stopped the oil leak and smoking, we'd still have this vehicle today.

I was very tempted to tell the salesman to forget about trading the Mazda B2000 in for a trade, I really wanted to take it home. But then where would I park it?