A Tale of Two Trucks: 1991 Isuzu vs 1996 Mazda

Today’s next two cars come from Matt C who writes: First, we have an Isuzu Hombre with a small block Chevy swap, for only $900. Of course, there is a catch. “Knock knock, who’s there?” “Rod.” “Rod who?” “Rod bearings…” But at least you have all the parts needed to put the engine – or a better smallblock – back in place once that’s fixed. ext is a very strange Mazda build… is Looney Labor Day over yet? Let’s take a closer look and see which of these two pickups is the pick-me-up that you need!

First under our microscope is the Isuzu Hombre, which offered for $900 seems like a good deal — flat black and paint and all — until you read the fine print and see:  Runs and drives but it needs a new rod bearing, it’s knocking. Stopped driving it whenever it did and towed it home.  Round one goes to the Mazda B2300 because it might have a functioning engine…Might, because the seller doesn’t explicitly say that. Regardless it has a crazy dual-rear axle setup out back and a Mercury Mountaineer front end swap…who’da thunk that a Mercury front end would ever be bondo-ed onto the front of a Mazda.  Hellaflush air ride setup looks like it works…but at $4000, I’m starting to thing that Mr H-Rod might be a better deal.

Gun to your head — which one do you pick?  Comments below.