Maybe you’ve seen a Kiamaster Brisa pickup in your neck of the woods, but this is a new one for me. Not surprisingly, it’s essentially a Mazda Familia B-1000 pickup license built by Kia between 1974 and 1981. It was exported to Columbia and Greece, according to Wikipedia, but RiveraNotario found this one still hard at work in Puerto Natales, Chile. He noted that “it’s one of my favorite spottings ever”. I can see why; what are the odds of seeing one of these still on the road?
That looks…Familia. We didn’t get this generation Mazda pickup in the US. Kia also built Brisa sedans for some years until the military dictator Chun Doo-hwan decreed that Kia should only build light trucks, as part of his industry consolidation mandate.
Neat looking old Kia.
I liked many of the Mazda-based Kias, like the original Sportage and the Ford Festiva.
My ’94 Sephia, well, let’s just not talk about that one, other than to say my ’90 Festiva was a far better car.
This isn’t mine, but it’s the same color.
Very cool. never seen one of these before now. Looks like a cross between a Mazda Rotary B series pickup and a Datsun 620 pickup.
This is definitely an unusual find. I get the impression the Familia never sold in large numbers because the Proceed/B Series was usefully larger and probably not much more expensive. The rounded styling is a major departure from the slab sided 2nd and 3rd gen B Series we are familiar with and the cab has a definite Nissan look to it.
It also looks like the rear bumper is an add on and it originally was set up like a Ford P100 with just the rubber blocks under the tail lights so that the tailgate could opened 180 degrees and the truck bed could be backed flush against a loading dock.
Thats a new one for me we saw the original Mazda yesterday in Greece.
Nice proportions. It does look like a Mazda Familia. Most Japanese pickups bear no resemblance to their passenger relatives.
Very nice find. In the late 70’s Hyundai and Kia made early inroads into Central America, Hyundai with the Pony sedan and pickup, and Kia with the Brisa sedan and the Kiamaster.
Ponys sold better, but Kias did ok as well. Haven’t seen any of those early Kias in ages, and I’m glad a sample is up and running in Chile.
Interesting find indeed. I believe it’s Colombia as in the country and not Columbia for the river.
Pretty neat and very nice to not see it rusted paper thin .
Keep the rarities coming please ! .
-Nate