4 forgotten American trucks that were actually rebadged imports
Yesterday, I saw a reel that made me a bit sad. Auto Parts City, a salvage and recycling yard in Gurnee, Illinois, posted a clip of a compact truck junked by its owner. It was a 1991 Mitsubishi Mighty Max that started out of Columbia, South Carolina. The odometer read over 200,000 miles. The steering wheel was missing (oddly). Despite its condition, the truck had a key in the ignition…and it fired right up. Unfortunately, it seemed headed to the crusher. It got me thinking about other forgotten compact trucks. After all, the Mighty Max (aka the Triton) was actually Mitsubishi’s direct-to-market version of two other American affiliate models. Let’s talk about four forgotten American trucks that were actually rebadged imports.
Dodge Ram 50 – Mitsubishi (1979-1994)
We’ll start with Mighty Max’s siblings. The Dodge Ram 50 (or the D-50 from ’79-’80) arrived via Chrysler’s Mitsubishi affiliate and went through two generations from the late 1970s to 1994. After a facelift in 1983, the headlights went from single-round units to a quad-rectangular design. You’d get a four-cylinder engine paired to RWD and a V6 for AWD.
Plymouth Arrow – Mitsubishi (1979-1982)
The colors! When Chrysler released the Dodge Ram 50, it also sent the Mighty Max through a groovy paint machine and spat out the Plymouth Arrow. These trucks were short-lived, though, only three model years. Mitsubishi started importing the Mighty Max directly to the American market in 1982.
Ford Courier – Mazda (1972-1982)
The Courier actually goes back to 1952…as a sedan. In 1972, its second-gen hit American roads as a compact truck. It was really just a rebadged Mazda B-Series pickup. By 1982, Ford launched the Ranger and stopped selling the Courier truck.
Chevrolet LUV – Isuzu (1972-1981)
The LUV (Light Utility Vehicle) arrived on Chevy lots in 1972 via the automaker’s Isuzu affiliation. Its foreign sibling was the Isuzu Faster (how’s that for a name, eh?). The LUV came in either rear- or all-wheel-drive, both options as four cylinders. Chevrolet terminated the LUV after a single year into its second generation (1981). Why? The S-10 entered the scene.
While several small trucks were marketed under American badges, there were still others available to pickup buyers. The Datsun Truck also had several versions available here, including the 620 from ’72 to ’79. The Mighty Max went until 2021 under the Triton name. The Toyota Hilux ran from 1968 to 1976 in the U.S. and continues even today in foreign markets.
You can still find these (now vintage) compact trucks listed for sale all over the country. Some aren’t too blasted into outer space in terms of pricing, either. Classic.com says last December, a highly original 1980 Dodge Ram 50 sold for $6,500.
