1980 Car and Driver Mini-Truck Comparison

[Franks and Beans]

Ding, ding, ding! I guess we have a winner. So far, I seem to be the only one who bought the 1st place Plymouth Arrow new way back in 1979. I have to agree with "1929" when they say the article was my history. Loved the Arrow so much that after it got totaled, I had to get another one so bought a Dodge D50 in 1982. I bought them back then for two reasons, the 2.6 liter engine was huge for its day and very strong. The other was the styling which brings me to today. After owing trucks for 60 years, I got tired of large trucks as even the "small" ones became behemoths (and the full size ones became battering rams, no styling, just a big flat front end) and the minute the Maverick was announced, put my reservation in back in June '21. Great styling, great size and good power.

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[Exranger]

IIRC, the rear bumper was an option on the Courier when I bought it. Although mine had 3 pedals,,,,,

HRG

Yes I had to buy a tube bumper on my 83 Nissan 4wd. $8500 new

 

[Exranger]

Ding, ding, ding! I guess we have a winner. So far, I seem to be the only one who bought the 1st place Plymouth Arrow new way back in 1979. I have to agree with "1929" when they say the article was my history. Loved the Arrow so much that after it got totaled, I had to get another one so bought a Dodge D50 in 1982. I bought them back then for two reasons, the 2.6 liter engine was huge for its day and very strong. The other was the styling which brings me to today. After owing trucks for 60 years, I got tired of large trucks as even the "small" ones became behemoths (and the full size ones became battering rams, no styling, just a big flat front end) and the minute the Maverick was announced, put my reservation in back in June '21. Great styling, great size and good power.

You win but I had one too. The one with the big stripes on it. Had a five speed and really sweet truck. Just like mav they were hard to get in 1979. Black with orange red stripes.

 

[fhpdo]

IIRC, the rear bumper was an option on the Courier when I bought it. Although mine had 3 pedals,,,,,

HRG

You are correct about the rear bumper. There were some "interesting" examples of homebuilt ones around my area.

 

[Guv]

A lot of trucks didn’t come with bumpers back then. If they did, it was basically a car bumper or one of those silver diamond trench plate and steel tube fabricated ones.
Years before some dude started sanding the welds, painting them black and giving them some cowboy name. Oh, and raising the price 200%

 

[Rivers90]

"The fallacy lies in the assumption that any of these pickups could replace a car. ...... all seven lack the go, stop, shift, turn satisfaction that comes standard in even a mediocre car."

The maverick has come a long way from this, it is replacing a car for most people. And drives as good or better compared to many cars.

 

[Tbone289]

Check out that braking performance... Wow! Can you imagine how bad it would be at GVW?

 

[Franks and Beans]

You win but I had one too. The one with the big stripes on it. Had a five speed and really sweet truck. Just like mav they were hard to get in 1979. Black with orange red stripes.

You win but I had one too. The one with the big stripes on it. Had a five speed and really sweet truck. Just like mav they were hard to get in 1979. Black with orange red stripes.

My Plymouth was the gold color like the pic in the article. The Dodge was white with stripes like yours.
Looking at the pics just reminded me, the Arrow/D50 and Mighty Max were first to have the "completely useless cubby" as many on the forum call it. I remember now, I put a small battery operated clock in my '79. Check out that empty cubby to the right of the cassette radio. Look familiar anyone?
Ahhh, memories.

 

[TheShark]

It's pretty funny looking back at these early small trucks, in many respects they are just crude even by 1980 standards. I had a 1982 S-10 and I found a Car and Driver review for 1982 of the S-10, Ranger, and Ram 50. Things really changed for Ford and Chevy with the Ranger and S-10. Unfortunately my S-10 had the Isuzu 1.95L engine, I lusted for the 2.8L six but didn't have the $$.

https://www.caranddriver.com/review...am-50-sport-ford-ranger-xlt-pickups-compared/

 

[TheShark]

It's pretty funny looking back at these early small trucks, in many respects they are just crude even by 1980 standards. I had a 1982 S-10 and I found a Car and Driver review for 1982 of the S-10, Ranger, and Ram 50. Things really changed for Ford and Chevy with the Ranger and S-10. Unfortunately my S-10 had the Isuzu 1.95L engine, I lusted for the 2.8L six but didn't have the $$ and therefore didn't have the HP. I remember driving through the Smokey Mtns in NC and I would have to pull over every so often to let the engine cool down.

https://www.caranddriver.com/review...am-50-sport-ford-ranger-xlt-pickups-compared/

 

[The Cyber Orange Guy.]

Chassis strength, spring rates, drivability considerations. Regulations. And, with 1600 pound of payload, I doubt that Luv would make it to 70 mph, or even 55 mph in a reasonable amount of time, if ever. Imagine being behind one going up a long hill...

Thanks for the clarification, it makes total sense.

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