Project 1988 Mazda B2200

Yea I know the magazine article says 1986 but I had a bunch of parts and a title for a 1988 B2200. This truck started as a goal of building an entire truck from as little stock parts as possible. I wanted to use the sheet metal but only to get the bodylines and the overall look of a Mazda B series. for the bodylines I used 6 door skins and the original bedsides

I started building this project soon after selling the limo Mazda also seen here on the projects pages. That was October of 1997, and I had sold many of my Mazda parts and was "done" with minitrucks.. or so I thought. I kept going to shows and could never get the minitruck itch to go away. Here I am 42 years old, out of the scene currently and still love to look at MT and see what the latest trends are. Thats now about to change as I make the transition back into the minitruck scene.


Everything else on this truck was changed in some way to fit the vision I had. This truck started life as 2 sticks of 2"x4"x1/4" rectangle tube. I cut the front frame sections and then the main side rails. The idea was to use the frame as the air tank so the ends were opened between pieces and all welds were beveled and welded heavily.

I made a rolling chassis that would fit the Mazda sheet metal in width but made it longer so I could accomodate 4 seats. I had the idea of the tilt front end from when I was a kid. I built a model of a 1953 Ford panel truck in which I cut off the roof and made the front end tilt forward, windshield and all. I also made that model right hand drive and I made the doors swing suicide. This was when I was about 17 or 18 years old. (that would be about 1982 or 1983)

I used a Ford Courier/Mazda rearend so I could keep the 6 lug, cuz I aint scared of no 6 lug. Plus the Courier/Mazda rearend is 4" narrower than the 86-93 B series axle. I then made tubular arms for the front. This was in keeping with the idea of making everything myself. The tubular control arms also turned BYC from just a bag and fab shop to specializing in Tubular control arms. I made the frame wide in the middle like a Nascar frame and welded it all together to use it as the air tank. Yes this was early 1998, and I know that many of these things had never been done back then.

Soon after getting the frame done I decided to start on the body. I used a stock Mazda bed as the jig to get the lines right and get the right width. I cut into the front wall of the bed and ran 1" square tube from the bed up to the front and made a skeleton to weld the sheet metal to. I then used 6 door skins to make the body lines correct and began to fill in the areas on top and on the bottom of the door skins. If this truck had doors, it would lay door.... The body was only 26&5/8" tall. The smallest 20" wheel/tire combo is barely shorter than that.

I made the floor structure in an all in one piece setup to bolt onto the frame. The body structure also bolted onto the frame. This truck could be driven with the body off. I drove it with the floor not in it the first day it ran. I made the front end sheet metal and wanted a street rod looking grille. The large tube grille was the best idea I had at the time. I still had no idea what to do with the back yet. I did know however that it would not have a conventional tailgate. I came up with the fins after a trip to the Autorama and seeing so many nice rides from the 50s. I made the fins from 5/16" solid rod and sheet metal. it was a bitch making the natural looking curve in them and then making both sides match.

I made the trunk out of a hood skin from a Mazda 929. I made a skeleton structure with 3/4" square tube and overlayed the Mazda 929 hood skin over that. I made the curved rear section from 3/4" and 1" square tube notched every 1" with a cut then welded back together. I made the fuel tank from 16 guage sheet metal and welded in baffles to keep the sloshing to a minimum. I estimate the tank to hold about 22 to 25 gallons. I ran all the fuel, air and brake lines as well as all the electrical lines along the frame without drilling any holes. This in itself was a major challenge. The engine was an old 350 chevy I had laying around. I was going to replace it later with a 4 bolt main 350 with Z 28 heads and a nice rump rump cam. Too bad I never got to finish it. I did get to drive it alot though, at shows and around Dallas cruising. it was so fun dragging holes into the frame and welding them up....

These are the pics from the November 2002 cover article on the Dawgsled.

For more info on this or any of the other projects on our projects pages, please feel free to email me at

Mike@Dallashotrodparts.com