The driveway had an extra space in it after the departure of the cougar so...
this ‘72 (?) Courier has been sitting in the way of a co-workers progress for long enough that he asked me if I could take it away. The price is right so now I have a tiny truck. Complete with: absent title, no keys, minimal brakes and rust. Perfect! 
It also might be an airplane?
Plans: cheapness. Possible butcheries. Brakes!
460?
It would be the stoutest "lil truck" around.
You need a 2.3L turbo Ford motor and a Thunderbird IRS. I may have thought about this before.
My uncle, who was a wealthy radiologist, had one that he drove into the ground. Toward the end when it was more rust than truck., but still running well, his doctor friends formed a delegation to request him not to drive it to work anymore as it gave the radiology clinic (of which he was part owner) a decrepit look that did not fit with their intended image.
Bent-Valve said:460?
... in the bed.
ultraclyde said:You need a 2.3L turbo Ford motor and a Thunderbird IRS. I may have thought about this before.
This is pretty period correct (and what I'm doing with mine), but I think it deserves a modern turbo-4 more.. Hoping an IRS happens, though! Love to see you do it first.
GoLucky, there's a pretty active facebook group for these. If you want disc brakes (front), look here: http://fordcourier.freeforums.net/thread/16/disc-brake-swap-thread
Unfortunately there's basically no aftermarket, so anything you want to do you will have to make. Still a world of fun to drive, and you always get looks!
What an awesome find!
How hard is it to get a replacement title by you?
F2T all the Mazda based Ford minitrucks!
I had a 1980 Mazda 626 that had that same basic engine. It wasn't particularly powerful (in the range of 80hp if I remember correctly) but it was reliable.
I’d body swap that onto a SLA Ranger
Another minitruck Berk Yeah! Needs Ecoboost Mustang drivetrain.
Some great ideas so far. The 460 might be too big even for the bed! This truck is seriously small. I owned a bunch of Chevy LUVs a few years ago and they seem a little bigger or maybe just my imagination?
I do have a disassembled tbi era 350 lurking at a storage facility. That has to have been done before.
Also saw a pair of 96 Taurus SHOs on the cl. Shogun truck? It might be nice to keep the bed useable for truckish things though.
First things first I need to Hotwire the truck and see what is up with the current lump. It looks pretty easy since there is a plug that I can pull off of the ignition switch and I have the Hotwire setup from my Neon-Fiat swap.
In reply to logdog :
Montana has a “break bond title” for cases like this.
Not a biggie. I did it on my Fiat with minimal dramas. A couple of forms, Sheriff reads a vin. It may not even require a surety bond if the value is under $500.
In reply to classicJackets :
Un(?)fortunately I don’t Face Book. In fact this is my only digital self. Thanks for the disk conversion link it may come in handy when it is break time.
I will keep an eye out for people parting out 2nd gens/selling disc brake conversions if you want, and link them to ya. Don't know where your priorities are, but that really helped drivability for me.
I passed on one of those back when I was in my 20's - I was looking for a chassis to put a 351W into. I didn't have the skills back then to pull it off.
F2T swap would either require conversion to a distributorless ignition setup or a serious cut into the firewall to allow for distributor placement. Then there's the issues with the intake manifold that are probably best dealt with by someone that can accurately cut, machine, and weld aluminum.
I think I would look at an OBD-1 BP 1.8 and Miata trans first. And I'm a fan of the F2T myself. The other option might be a B2200 engine/trans combo but my gut says BP. A B-series truck might be a good front brake donor though, not sure.
Hotwire and ether start today at lunch. Lots of dodgy wiring in this thing. But it runs.
The phone company here used the courier as a service truck and had some very nice rear shells with opening sides so they could get to the tools and supplies.
I bought a F150 with a 460, taken apart and sitting in the bed. We were about to lower it the last few inches to the mounts when the lift failed and dropped it to frame. Then the suspension compressed. Nobody was hurt but they are big motors.
I wasn't completely serious. I wasn't completely joking either.
In reply to classicJackets :
Thanks, I will certainly need brakes as right now furiously pumping will eventually kind of stop.
Coincidentally, I just came across this Popular Mechanics from 1974 that has a comparison test between the Courier and the Luv pickups. https://books.google.com/books?id=ddQDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Scroll down to page 113.
I see your problem. It’s the red wire.
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