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Six Great Things You Didn't Know About the Ford Courier

  • Don't tell anyone, but the Ford Courier has Japanese ancestors-well, if it were a person it would. This strange-looking truck is actual a rebadged Japanese truck made by Mazda and known as the B-Series. It came as a godsend in 1971 during the fuel shortages that would follow. By the way, Mazda and Ford actually maintained the working relationship well into the next decades-ending only in 2011.

  • Apart from an interesting foreign pedigree, the Ford Courier has the unique distinction of being the very first American compact pickup truck ever made and sold. It bucked the "bigger is better" mindset that seemed to permeate America in the 70s. Larger than a sedan, but smaller than a full-sized truck, it offered customers a best-of-both-worlds kind of thing.

  • To go around the 25% tariff imposed under the Johnson administration's Chicken Tax, the Ford Courier was imported from Japan in "cab-chassis" configurations-including the entire truck minus the cargo bed. The bed would be attached post-importation, and tariffs were a lower 4%. What was covered exactly by the oddly named Chicken Tax? Potato starch, dextrin, brandy, and light trucks-yes, trucks were thrown into that but no chickens.

  • Think that e-cars, green cars, and electrically driven vehicles are a modern thing? Think again. Between 1979 and 1982, several electric Ford Couriers were produced by Jet Industries. These were given DC motors and lead acid batteries before being rebranded as Jet Industries ElectraVan 750-didn't look much like a van, though. They had a top speed of over 70 mph, and could travel 50-65 miles on a single charge!

  • Even before customizations and body work became all the rage, the Ford Courier was considered one of the most openly customizable trucks in the world. In fact, it was the hot-rod designs on the advertisements for the Ford Courier in the 70s that inspired many to "soup-up" and "trick-out" their rides in a number of creative ways. You could say that the Ford Courier made body decals popular before they became a fad.

  • The first Ford Couriers were branded as "sedan delivery"-although they looked a lot like trucks. These original Couriers had a completely enclosed cargo cabs, and actually looked a lot more like classic ambulances.

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  • Top Two Gripes with the Classic Ford Courier

    17 January 2013

    The Ford Courier has been around for many years now. It began as a ambulance-looking sedan delivery-funny-looking today but very reliable in the 50s-and eventually shaping into one of the most loved light trucks out of the long-running American manufacturing giant. Very little in the way of major trouble has been associated with this much-loved Ford, ensuring that the brand remains relevant and relied-upon long after the tag Courier has been retired or reapplied. Still, no vehicle is ever truly perfect, so here are the top two problems that ever owner or would-be owner should be aware of.


    Overheating and the rear gate valve

    It has often been reported that the 2005 edition of the Ford Courier has a problem with overheating out of the blue-the truth, however, is that it appears that this edition has a tendency to over-pressurize the engine. The problem didn't cause any immediate detriment to the drivers at the time but was alarming in the sudden rise of the temperature gauges needle. It has since been discovered that rear gate valve had a tendency to seize up, causing pressure within the engine to shoot up.

    The best solution has proven to be a replacement of the rear gate valve in question. As the increase in pressure also has an effect on a lot of vulnerable components attached to the engine, it is important to check the whole engine-especially the valves and heads-as some other components might be affected.


    Fuel problems and the injector pump filter

    Also a problem commonly reported with the 2005 Ford Courier-at about 150,000 miles-is a tendency to lose power at over 2700 rpm. This abrupt occurrence used to be blamed on the engine, but any work done in and around the engine failed to bring any kind of resolution to the problem. It was later found that the injector pump filter tended to clog up heavily over time. The filter itself is very difficult to spot as it is much smaller than other filters.

    It is an easy enough change out and, in this instance at least, more thorough cleaning and maintenance seems to prevent the problem from ever occurring to begin with.

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