Small Trucks, Big Nostalgia
Compact pickups used to feel like part of regular life. You’d see them outside hardware stores, parked beside split-level houses, backed up to apartment buildings on moving days, or idling in a school parking lot with a stack of lumber hanging out the back. They weren’t trying to be luxury vehicles, family haulers, or rolling status symbols. They were small enough to live with and useful enough to earn their keep, which is why so many people still get a little sentimental about them. These are 20 small trucks people still miss now that companies really put the “large” in “large hauler.”
1. Ford Courier
The Ford Courier gave Ford a compact pickup before the Ranger became the familiar name in North America. It was Mazda-built, tidy, and simple, the kind of truck that made sense for an everyday commuter who needed a bit more room for personal projects.
2. Ford Ranger
The original Ford Ranger arrived for the 1983 model year and became one of the compact trucks people still measure others against. It was useful without being huge, which made it an easy fit for commuters, homeowners, young drivers, and anyone who needed just a bit of bed space.
3. Chevrolet S-10
The Chevrolet S-10 helped make compact pickups feel fully mainstream in the 1980s and 1990s. It could handle the usual weekend jobs, from dump runs to hauling a lawnmower, while still feeling manageable in a grocery-store lot or a tight suburban driveway.
4. GMC S-15 Sonoma
The GMC S-15, later known as the Sonoma, shared the same compact GM pickup roots as the S-10. It gave buyers a slightly different badge and a familiar small-truck layout.
dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada on Wikimedia
5. Toyota Pickup
Before the Tacoma name took over, the Toyota Pickup built a reputation on small size and steady usefulness. It had the plain, work-first feel people still love, especially drivers who remember when a compact Toyota truck could feel tough without taking up half the block.
6. Toyota Tacoma
The first-generation Tacoma arrived in the mid-1990s and still carried plenty of compact-truck character. Later Tacomas skewed more towards midsize, but early ones sit close to that older sweet spot: sturdy, practical, and not so overwhelmingly large.
7. Nissan Hardbody
The Nissan Hardbody, also known as the D21, had the squared-off shape people still picture when they think of small pickups from the late 1980s and 1990s. It looked tough in a clean, no-fuss way, and it didn’t need huge proportions to get that across.
8. Nissan Frontier
The Nissan Frontier replaced the Hardbody and carried Nissan’s compact pickup story into a modern era. Early Frontiers still had some of that smaller-truck feel, though the model eventually moved further into midsize territory as so many pickups did.
9. Mazda B-Series
The Mazda B-Series was one of those practical trucks that could blend into any town. Later North American versions were closely related to the Ford Ranger, which gave buyers another version of a familiar compact pickup, just with Mazda badges.
10. Mitsubishi Mighty Max
The Mitsubishi Mighty Max had one of the best names in the small-truck world, even if the truck itself was modest in size. It belonged to the group of compact Japanese pickups that people remember for being simple, efficient, and tougher than they looked.
11. Mitsubishi Raider
The Mitsubishi Raider wasn’t a classic mini-truck, aligning more closely with the Dodge Dakota. Its short run in the 2000s makes it feel like one of those strange late-period trucks people either forgot completely or remember fondly.
12. Dodge Ram 50
The Dodge Ram 50 came from the era when American brands sold compact pickups through partnerships with Japanese automakers. It gave Dodge shoppers a small truck option, which feels almost charming now that so many pickups seem built for people who have maximal amounts of driveway space.
Lyle Putnam (Putz at en.wikipedia) on Wikimedia
13. Dodge Dakota
The Dodge Dakota sat between compact and full-size trucks, and that’s why people still bring it up. It wasn’t tiny, but it gave drivers more capability than the smallest pickups without jumping straight into full-size bulk, a middle ground that’s much harder to find now.
14. Isuzu Hombre
The Isuzu Hombre was Isuzu’s version of the compact GM pickup formula. It didn’t stay on sale for long, but it’s a good reminder that the small-truck aisle used to have more than one or two choices available for buyers.
15. Chevrolet LUV
The Chevrolet LUV helped set up the compact pickup era before the S-10 arrived. It was small, basic, and useful in the way older trucks often were, with less comfort than modern buyers expect. However, it did have plenty of everyday purposes.
16. Ford Courier-Style Cab Chassis Imports
Courier-style compact cab chassis trucks showed how flexible small pickups could be. They worked as delivery rigs, shop trucks, and light-duty work vehicles, especially in places where a smaller footprint was important.
17. Toyota T100
The Toyota T100 wasn’t the tiniest of pickups, but it did represent the company’s shift into the larger truck game. This 90s icon sat perfectly between Toyota’s compact era and the modern-day monsters we tend to see.
18. Honda Acty-Style Mini Trucks
Honda Acty-style kei trucks are much smaller than traditional North American pickups, and they weren’t built for the same market. Still, their tiny size, useful beds, and city-friendly proportions make them easy to love for people who miss when utility didn’t automatically come with a lot of extra bulk.
Rutger van der Maar on Wikimedia
19. Suzuki Equator
The Suzuki Equator was a short-lived pickup based on the Nissan Frontier. It leaned midsize rather than true compact, but its brief run fits the larger story of smaller and mid-size trucks that appeared, did their job, and then disappeared from new-car lots.
20. Ford Maverick
The Ford Maverick is one of the few current trucks keeping the compact pickup idea alive in the U.S. It offers real utility in a smaller package than most pickups, and that’s exactly why it keeps getting compared to the older, smaller trucks that people still miss.
