Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
Well, I sold the Mazda Protege that has been my DD for the last 2 1/2 years. Family friend was in need of a vehicle and I was getting a little bored with the car anyway.
But in the back of my mind, I had been thinking for a while about maybe building up a vehicle for DD use and also for very "light" (and cheap!) travel, thinking possibly of a long road trip to Alaska in a few years and was trying to figure out what would be the best vehicle for such a trip. I ultimately decided that the best "all around" vehicle for such duties would be a regular cab, 2wd pickup with a 4 cyl engine and a manual tranny. No 4wd, no power windows, no extended cab, just a simple, basic vehicle.
After a week or so of looking, I finally found this, and it's another Mazda!
It's a 96 B2300, which of course means it's not really a "Mazda" at all, it's just a Ford Ranger with some slightly different body work from the cowl forward.
Right now it needs a little TLC. Both bumpers are "tweaked" a little bit and need to be straightened out, and the previous (aftermarket) stereo was stolen, so it needs to have something put in there. But it's clean, it runs great and shifts smooth. Should make a great DD and "run to home depot" vehicle. And although I know it won't return the 32 MPG that my Protege would routinely give me, I'm hoping for at least 25 around town.
Once I get the bumpers and the stereo taken care of, next item will be a shell of some kind. Plenty of them out there on CL so I'm confident I'll be able to find something that will fit and look decent.
But in the back of my mind, I had been thinking for a while about maybe building up a vehicle for DD use and also for very "light" (and cheap!) travel, thinking possibly of a long road trip to Alaska in a few years and was trying to figure out what would be the best vehicle for such a trip. I ultimately decided that the best "all around" vehicle for such duties would be a regular cab, 2wd pickup with a 4 cyl engine and a manual tranny. No 4wd, no power windows, no extended cab, just a simple, basic vehicle.
After a week or so of looking, I finally found this, and it's another Mazda!
It's a 96 B2300, which of course means it's not really a "Mazda" at all, it's just a Ford Ranger with some slightly different body work from the cowl forward.
Right now it needs a little TLC. Both bumpers are "tweaked" a little bit and need to be straightened out, and the previous (aftermarket) stereo was stolen, so it needs to have something put in there. But it's clean, it runs great and shifts smooth. Should make a great DD and "run to home depot" vehicle. And although I know it won't return the 32 MPG that my Protege would routinely give me, I'm hoping for at least 25 around town.
Once I get the bumpers and the stereo taken care of, next item will be a shell of some kind. Plenty of them out there on CL so I'm confident I'll be able to find something that will fit and look decent.
