Welcome to another Shitbox Showdown! Today we’re looking at a couple of basic, no-bullshit compact pickup trucks. You know, the kind no one makes anymore.
But first, we need to get the results from yesterday’s rear-engine love-fest. Lots of love for the Corvair in the comments, and it won handily. I get it; the second-gen Corvair coupe is one of the prettiest cars GM ever made, and the turbocharged Corsa with a four-speed is the most desirable version.
But man, that rust. Since moving to the West Coast, I’ve become a wimp about two things: the weather, and rusty cars. I tried to warn David before he moved to Los Angeles that the same thing was going to happen to him, and it sounds like I was right. It just happens. You find out that stuff you’ve been putting up with for years just isn’t necessary, and you lose your tolerance for it. So yeah, that Corvair is a hard pass for me. I’ll answer a thousand questions about a funny-looking little convertible instead.
And speaking of rust-free cars: I was in a hurry choosing vehicles today, so I just opened up Portland Craigslist and grabbed the first two small manual-transmission trucks that looked good. These are both still common sights on the road around here, nothing special at all, though I know they’ve all dissolved like wet newspaper in northern climates. So hey, if you want a rust-free small truck, come to the West Coast and prepare to road-trip one home. Here are two you can choose from.
1992 Ford Ranger – $2,799
Engine/drivetrain: 2.3 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: Beavercreek, OR
Odometer reading: 130,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
When Ford set out to replace its captive-import Courier pickup with something homegrown, it did the most sensible thing in the world: it stuck an F-150 in a copy machine, set it to “75%” and hit the green button. The result was twenty years of rock-solid little trucks, a surprising number of which are stil in service twenty years after the last one was built. GM did much the same with the S-series, with nearly as much success. Why reinvent the wheel? Just shrink it a bit.
The Ranger’s similarity to the bigger F-series trucks isn’t just cosmetic, either. It has a scaled-down version of the same Twin I-Beam front suspension, and Ford’s 2.3 liter overhead-cam four, which really is a smaller counterpart to the legendary 300 inline six. That little engine drives a solid rear axle on leaf springs through a five-speed stick. It’s all simple, durable, and cheap to maintain and repair, like a good truck should be.
This truck’s five-digit odometer reads 30,000 miles, and the seller assumes it has rolled over once, but looking at its condition, I’m not so sure. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a Ranger interior this clean. And the “Ford Racing Beige” paint outside looks great, too. It looks like someone swapped black-painted Explorer wheels onto it, in place of what were probably steelies with dog-dish hubcaps, which is kind of too bad; I like base-model rolling stock.
Hell, the bed barely even looks used. Someone needs to buy this truck and put it to work, stat.
1995 Nissan Hardbody – $3,250
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, RWD
Location: Vancouver, WA
Odometer reading: 148,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
And here we have one of the reasons Ford had to develop a small truck. Nissan (Datsun back then) was one of the first companies to offer a small truck in America, but it wasn’t until the mini-truck craze of the 1970s that sales really took off. Nissan’s 620 and 720 trucks were good, but the D21 “Hardbody” series introduced in 1986 was really something. It has great styling, muscular without being intimidating. It performs well and drives very nicely for a truck. And it’s as durable as all get-out.
This one is about as basic as they come, with a KA24E four-cylinder, a five-speed stick, and a bench seat that allegedly seats three across, but you’d better all know each other really well. The one option that the original purchaser of this truck seems to have sprung for is air conditioning, and it still works! The rest of the truck is in fine mechanical shape as well, and I know for a fact that with only 148,000 miles on the odometer, it’s just getting started.
It’s not in the greatest shape cosmetically. The front fenders and hood look like they were painted with rattle cans, making me suspect they’ve been replaced, possibly with junkyard parts. I’d like to know what happened there. It does have those sweet ’90s graphics on the sides, though.
It also has a topper, or camper, or cap, or whatever you want to call it. After all these years, having owned several trucks both with and without toppers, I’m still not sure whether I like them or not. They mess up the looks of most trucks, and make it harder to load and unload certain things, but then on rainy days when you have to make a grocery store run and cram all the groceries in the cab with you, you start envying all that dry storage. I guess the best solution would be to have a topper, and a place to store it, and some easy way of getting it on and off. Perhaps something involving pulleys…?
So there they are, a couple of basic motorized wheelbarrows, ready to take on whatever chores you need them for, even if it’s commuting. These are both probably more expensive than they would have been a couple years ago, but that’s the current market for you. They both still feel like decent deals to me. But no, I’m not going to include a “both” option. You can only have one.
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
It’s the Nissan for me. Why? Because I’m tall. I don’t know why, but I never had any problem fitting into a single cab Toyota, Nissan, Mazda or Isuzu of this era (I had an Isuzu.) S-10 and Ranger single cab? Not enough leg room.
I like them both but the Ranger beats the Nissan in price, mileage, and condition so Ford
These make me miss my 1992 Chevy S-10.
I did rig up a lift for my truck cap – 2 4x4s with pulleys on both ends, and a rope for each that was attached to the garage ceiling on one side and ran through a pulley on the ceiling on the other side down to a boat cleat. Unclamp the cap from the truck, life the cap enough to slide the 4×4 between the cap and the truck, repeat on the other end, and slowly raise each 4×4 up to the ceiling. Wasn’t pretty but it worked. I bet I still have the 4x4s with the pulleys somewhere around here…
Normally I’d vote for a Nissan truck over a Ford, but the Ford is not only cheaper, it also looks a lot cleaner too.
720s are always the correct mini truck answer I’m afraid. So while both of these are good, neither of them is the right answer.
I had a 720 in college, so I can’t fault your logic, but I also had a 360,000 mile WD21 Pathfinder, so I am a fan of later Nissan trucks as well.
In truth, everything about the D21 is superior to the 720, except the appearance. I just don’t like to look at them as much. I am a big Nissan fan until the mid-late 90s. Hell, I own a Nissan or Datsun product from every decade from the 60s to the 90s :D. I even like Frontiers (d22 specifically) because they finally brought a quad cab to the States.
My mom owned a mid 90s D21 KingCab since new (the stripes and all) and I owned a 720 4×4 up until recently. I’d take the KA24E over the Z24 carbureted engine any day but the 720 looked so good and mine had aftermarket metal bumpers with integrated bull bar, BFG KO2s and a 3″ lift. I had to rebuild the Z24 engine at 284K miles which was surprising for an engine prone to cracked heads. The KA24E never had known issues it can do 300K easily
Nissan for me. The Nissan KA24 is better than the old Ford 2.3L Pinto engine. Makes 30HP more as well. Plus the Nissan truck comes with a cap.
Meanwhile $5k in my area buys me a Ranger with 200k miles and a rust hole in the bed.
Honestly, you could flip a coin and be happy either way. I went Ranger purely because of the topper on the Nissan. That it was cheaper is a bonus.
Today is more of a “both” day, but I like the Ranger a bit more. I trust the mechanicals more, or more accurately the ability to fix it easily, and it seems to be in somewhat better shape. Plus it’s $500 cheaper. They don’t make small pickups like they used to, and that’s a shame speaking as someone who greatly appreciated owning a Mazda B2200 back in the day.
Dang, it’s a good thing I don’t live in Oregon anymore or I’d be on my way to Beavercreek to pick up that Ranger. It’s also a good thing I don’t live in Vancouver anymore or I’d be on my way to pick up that Nissan. This is definitely one of those “both” scenarios, though I gave my vote to the Ranger.
Tough one. Ranger is much easier to get parts for as I haven’t seen a Nissan Hardbody in probably close to two decades in anything but junk yard-ready condition and even that was rare. Of course, I could probably resell the Nissan for a lot more. I guess it comes down to if I need a beater truck or want to flip. I don’t really need a truck.
Either one is a win, but I voted Ranger for the longer bed. A 30-year old compact pickup is something you keep around just for truck chores, so being able to do more truck chores is better.
Wouldn’t kick either out of bed, went with the Hardbody: like that generation and the cap would allow some basic car-camping/boondocking I like to do.
I still miss the first car I ever drove (and crashed… rip) – my 92 Nissan Hardbody. 4 cylinder, 2wd, standard cab, bench seat, stick shift – just like this one, just one facelift earlier. I wants it.
I can’t decide whether I want you to add links to these listings, or if it would be better for my mental and financial health if you didn’t.
The headers for each car are links to the ads. Always have been.
Racing Beige? The only beige racing things I ever admired were a couple of co-ed streakers back in college. Still taking the Ranger as the quintessential small pickup, but Baby’s getting a new paint job with the new home.
Both/either generally, but preference for the Ford’s split bench seat. My wife is 5’3″ and I’m 6’6″. When I had my 91 Toyota truck with a bench seat, and she was driving on long road trips, I’d be eating my knees.
I’m super biased in favor of the Ranger, but I’ve always liked the styling of those Nissans. Hate the driving position though.
That Ranger is a fancy pants XLT, so most likely had the 14″ 12-hole deep dish aluminum wheels as stock, not steelies with hubcaps. It also would’ve had the tailgate insert, but was clearly removed and left those holes in the tailgate. The 16″ wheels it wears now were available on the 2000-05 Ranger, as well as the Explorer. It’s a 7′ long bed too, so ready for work. That Lima 2.3 doesn’t make a lot of power, but it’s super durable.
The Ranger has twin i-beam ? I had no idea. I miss my f100 with the 300 , I’ll take the Ranger.
Yep, up through the ’97 model year the 2WDs had the twin-I beam suspension and the 4WDs had the twin traction beam suspension. For ’98 they changed to an A-arm setup.
I chose Nissan, probably the last gen of Nissan anything I would buy and working A/C. But that Ranger is pretty sweet and I grew up with F250’s and F150’s so I like a trusty Ford pickup.
I live in NorCal and while I see a lot of small pickups like these, they are all used as work trucks, usually landscapers or small contractors and are pretty beat up. These look amazing esp. the Ranger. I may have to get a cheap Southwest flight to the PNW and look around.
I’ve had three Rangers. A 1997 5speed/ 2.3L reg. Cab , a 1999 XLT 3.0/auto 4×4 ( a rusty mess) and a 2010 XLT ( 2.3 L 16 valve/ 5 speed auto).
Both of the 4 cylinder Rangers were dead reliable and useful capable trucks. My favorite is still the 1997 5 speed/ 2.3l Lima engine . So simple, easy to work on truck
Nissan D21. Easy parts availability and IMO that’s the best generation of that engine bcuz hydraulic lifters. I have a very tired D22 and I’ve been wanting to “trade up” to a clean D21 for years.
I voted for the Ford, and hereby christen it the Beinger.
My first truck was an 87 2WD Ranger long bed with the 2.9L V6 and 5 speed. Bought used and put a ton of miles on it with few problems. When I upgraded to a 3/4 ton I sold it to a friend who continue to beat on it for years. My CA bro had a new 91 with the 2.3L/5 speed he put more than 300k on before he gave it to some kid at church.
So yeah, picking the Ranger.
God I love a Ranger. When I was a security guard we had an old base model Ranger single cab with over 200K miles on it as our patrol vehicle for this massive industrial site. Reverse went out and they didn’t bother fixing it, just told us to not park in a place we couldn’t coast out of or drive straight out of. It. Just. Wouldn’t. Die. I left that job before it did. Brilliant little truck. That is the only truck I would buy right now as a second car: manual Ranger with the 2.3.
I had a ranger that was almost exactly like this one growing up. Yes, the shift throws were incredibly long, and the clutch peddle wouldn’t engage until my knee cap touched my sternum, but there was just something about the truck that got under my skin and just stayed there. I “upgraded” to a sensible car once I had kids but I’ve been dreaming of getting another Ranger like that for the last 15 years. Every time I look all I find is rusted out or completely thrashed shit boxes. Maybe it’s time for a project!
Voted Nissan due to a familiarity with the KA24 engine from my 95 Altima. But really if I was in need of a small pickup I’d choose whichever seemed better in person. Both should be a useful and low cost runabout.