Is this a good truck to buy?
An old Toyota truck would be a better buy. An old truck is going to need parts, and parts for the Mazda are going to be much much harder to come by.
If it’s in good shape, reasonable mileage, appears to have been well maintained, isn’t rusted out, and the price is cheap, then yeah, it’s a good buy.
With the exception on a tendency to rust, these trucks had no particular weakness for that vintage small pickup. Just be sure to get it checked out thoroughly.
I don’t remember if the Mazda 2600 and Ford Ranger were the same trucks back in 1987. If they were, parts shouldn’t be a real big problem, although sometimes it does take a little digging to find parts for a 24 year old vehicle.
If the undercarriage isn’t rusted through and you are going to use the truck for light duty local service, it might be o.k.
I believe that the 87 Mazda 2600 used the Mitsubishi engine which had problems with the auxillary/balance shaft. There were several after market kits to deal with the problem but it would be an expensive repair. Also, I believe that engine was carburated with a feed back system which could be a real pain. Is the truck running?
If it is two wheel drive and four cylinder with manual transmission without air conditioning, it’s easy to fix but it could need a few things. Ignition switch, heater resistors and starter, which was probably changed anyway by now. They each cost $100 or more new. If the mixyure control fails, the top of the carburetor will cost $400 and will probably have to be shipped from Japan. You can strip third gear and a used transmission costs $400. The truck has no power going uphill on the coastal hills in Ca. at highway speeds. Third gear is too low and fourth is too high for that.
The good news is that you can take the ignition switch and resistors out of about any mazda from those years and “make” it fit. One wire may be a different color but ignore the color.
I don’t know about 4WD or V-6. The vacuum advance may be stuck too. Four cylinder may require straight 40 weight oil when temps don’t fall below freezing for more than a few hours. Check the sticker on the hood.