I have started looking through some of my oldest pictures, deciding that some of these cars should no longer be forced to wait in the purgatory that is my photo cache. Like this one.
The original Bronco came out in 1966 and was left alone until 1977. A recipe for disaster? Usually. But not in this case.
This car was shot in early June of 2011, within the first three weeks of my Curbside Classic Car Chasing. I have written up everything found before this one (except for a black Fiero that just doesn’t excite me in the least) and had always intended to put this buckeroo in the CC spotlight.
But then Paul did a thorough writeup on an early Bronco a few months later, and I just kept finding other things, and, . . . . . . . yeah.
Is there a vehicle that you felt a special kinship with when it came out? With me it was the Bronco. I was a young kid when these were introduced – it may have been the first genuinely new vehicle I saw from the beginning. I got more than one as toys and to finish it all off my father got a brand new Country Squire that same year. I recall being a little mystified as to how Dad could pass up a Bronco for a Squire. Parents . . . what do you do with them?
That it kept the same wheelcovers in later years that were on Dad’s Squire made the Bronco all the better.
Speaking of wheelcovers, someone help me out – are these from a ’71 Chevy?
Even though I never knew anybody with one, I retained a special affection for the Bronco. It was a little like Woody in the Toy Story movies – there it was, never changing from the time I was a six year old playing with toy cars until I had my drivers license and my own car – a Ford, naturally.
I found it odd that the Bronco was offered year after year after year with no really significant alterations. Yes, there were little details here and there for the true BroncoNerds to obsess over, but nothing I could identify at a glance.
On how many cars have we noticed the usually-fatal cycle: Introduction, then no attention or investment as the car becomes less and less competitive and is eventually killed off. But for a vehicle that saw almost no change over the twelve model years of its lifespan, the Bronco seemed to just shrug. Production figures tell the tale – it sold as well in 1977 as it did in 1967. Would a 2019 version still be good for 15-18,000 annual units if Ford had not changed things up for 1978? Who knows.
| 1966-1977 Ford Bronco production | |
|---|---|
| Year | Units |
| 1966 | 23,776 |
| 1967 | 14,230 |
| 1968 | 16,629 |
| 1969 | 20,956 |
| 1970 | 18,450 |
| 1971 | 19,784 |
| 1972 | 21,115 |
| 1973 | 21,894 |
| 1974 | 25,824 |
| 1975 | 13,125 |
| 1976 | 15,256 |
| 1977 | 14,546 |
I suppose we should acknowledge that the rest of the prehistoric SUV market had not stood still in that time. The International Scout II could boast of almost 40,000 units in 1977 and there were nearly 87,000 Chevy Blazers shoved out of the doors that year. I guess time marched on after all.
It is evident from Ford’s advertising that the company still thought of the Bronco as more of an accessory than as primary transportation. It was advertising the Bronco as a useful second vehicle in 1969 . . .
. . . and had not changed focus by 1973. In fact, it doesn’t seem that the Bronco ever really got much advertising support after it was introduced.
So perhaps letting the Bronco sit unattended for so long did have a negative effect. Then, at least. There was supposed to be a new 1974 Bronco that followed the pattern of Chevy and Dodge in using the new 1973 pickup truck as the starting point for an offroad 4×4. But for various reasons Ford placed that project on the back burner as it modernized pretty much everything else in its lineup. The big Bronco did not arrive until 1978 for its two year run – perhaps the shortest model run of anything ever built by Ford?
From our vantage point today, however, Ford’s lack of interest in the Bronco is one of the best things that ever happened in the company. Ford’s product planning malaise of the ’70s led to the least-malaisey thing the company built in that decade – the only vehicle virtually identical in 1977 to the stuff built in the second year of the Mustang. Perhaps this is why these Broncos have become so hugely popular among collectors, restorers and “builders” today – the original package is so appealing to us now in a way that the newer, bigger ones are not.
It is really hard to ID the years of these first generation Broncos. I tried looking at brochures, but that was little help. It seems that Ford re-used the same pictures over years.
This one in particular was a hardy perennial. Camping in 1971 looked just like . . .
. . . camping in 1976. This one must have been taken a little later in the day because Stan had time to swap roofs on the one in the background. Oh, wait . . .
I was able to ID the color as Harbor Blue, but again this was little help as this basic non-metallic medium blue was offered on Ford trucks every year from 1967 through 1974.
I finally found a site that told me that the engine callout badge for the 302 came for 1969 and went away after 1971. So let’s split the difference and call this one a 1970. Which works nicely because it matches almost exactly the one used on the cover of the brochure that year.
But with as much modification as many of these Broncos seem to have gotten over the years and with as few changes as they saw, year matters less than with about anything else I can think of.
The Retro Factor also comes into play in where this Bronco was parked. In 2011 my mother had a knee replacement done. I shot another, bigger Bronco in the parking lot of the hospital where she had the surgery done. When she moved into a nursing facility for rehab before she could go home I caught this one on one of my visits there.
Unfortunately she is now back into this very same nursing facility, after a long, rough road that has not yet come to an end. I park in this very same parking lot now and and every time I remember this Bronco – which I have not seen since it was captured in these shots. I guess long, rough, downhill roads and Broncos kind of go together.
In the years these Broncos were being built I remember people talking about TV personality Dick Clark and how he seemed immune from aging. In the late 1970’s it was a common remark that Clark had not seemed to age in the previous fifteen or twenty years. The original generation of the Bronco aged just as well as Clark did. Most of the rest of us, of course, cannot say the same about ourselves. And even Dick Clark was eventually caught and beaten up by Father Time. But maybe the struggles of aging that we all face make us appreciate something like this Bronco all the more.
Further reading:
1969 Ford Bronco – The Mustang’s Bucking Sidekick (Paul Niedermeyer)
1977 Ford Bronco – End Of The Line (CC Capsule by Jim Grey)
I’ve wondered myself if they’d facelifted this in ’78 or ’79 – plastic grille on the lines of what the ’78 vans got, Foxbody dash and seats, standard flared fenders and maybe a fiberglass top – it would’ve been good at least until the Ranger-based Bronco II was ready in ’84 if not until the Explorer replaced it for ’91.
Always liked these, square corners, no flash, just a plain get the job done sort of vehicle.
Which is why I don’t appreciate modified ones very much, kind of ruins the simplicity.
In high school art class we had to use construction paper to make a 3-D shape. I made a Bronco and got 12/10. Still have it too, I should do a CC on that 🙂
And what does the bumper sticker say? Something about ash tray?
Good question. I tried to zoom in but not much luck, as you can see.
I’m thinking it said “USE YOUR ASH TRAY!” — part of a long-ago Smokey Bear anti-forest fire campaign. Looks similar to the second one from the top in this image:
Talking about a survivor… you’ve managed to preserve a construction paper project from high school?!? Very impressive.
I guess from a design standpoint, this was the perfect car for such a project. With all those straight lines and hard angles, I think Ford may have made their prototypes out of cardboard, rather than clay!
I never got into these. I’ve never driven or rode in one but they just look flimsy to me. I always liked the Scouts and Wagoneers from the same era better, they just seemed more substantial and more useable as an actual vehicle. I like the later full-sized Broncos, Blazers and Ramchargers.
But that’s a nice, well-preserved early Bronco that’s worth some dough
I am with Dan, I never saw the appeal of these Broncos. For me, I much prefered the fullsize Broncos, Blazers and Ramchargers. My ultimate Bronco is a 1978-79. Great styling, tough and capable. There are still a few 78-79s kicking around locally, many of which have done snow plow duties for decades.
That said, these early Broncos do have a dedicated following and are very popular with the resto-mod crowd. You can even by a complete Bronco reproduction body today.
Obviously I do like Scouts, but I’d gladly add an early Bronco to the fleet. In many ways they are more fun to drive because they aren’t built like a MD truck with a MD truck engine. As a daily driver on the street the Bronco is much more useable as a car. Truth be told if Scouts were cheap as dirt when I started buying them, and early Broncos already somewhat expensive, I’d have an Early Bronco or two instead.
Tell it to Parnelli Jones!
I’m surprised that the Scout II outsold the Bronco for at least some years. Both were quite visible here in California, which has always been Ford country, but somehow my perception was that Broncos were more popular, or perhaps just less special than The Scout. With a wheelbase stretch and a welded-on half cab (or a SuperCab) the early Bronco would have made a great platform for a mid-size pickup. The Scout II offered that config (single cab) with the longer wheelbase but I think Ford could have been much more successful. Thanks for the writeup … an appealing vehicle that’s a rare sight now.
I wonder what the asking price on this one was. Likely it’s gone up a bit in value since 2011. That’s a sharp little Bronco in original condition looking better than it has any right or expectation to. I’m surprised you kept it tucked away for so long and wonder what other treasures you might be withholding from us!
The benefit of the Last In First Out CC system I have followed in writing up my finds is that it leaves some tasty morsels at the bottom of the sack.
I have one in the can that I did not realize has never been the subject of a proper CC before. Stay tuned.
Nice airbrush job on the ’66 ad to remove the seams from the Roadster model.
Great find. These are cool. Call me shallow, but that red 1978 monster has too much aggro-hillbilly stigma for me. I did get to drive a 1985 stick shift V8 Bronco as a field rig for a little bit, and I liked the complete throwback crudeness of it.
The brilliance of the Wrangler is that you can still get a maneuverable, smallish 2-door 4×4 today.
It was good enough for Mister Kimball, the county agent on “Green Acres”!
Mixed thoughts… Neither International nor Jeep changed their similar vehicles much during the same period, so why should Ford? OTOH, the K-Blazer that arrived midway through the Bronco’s life was pretty much a whole new breed of SUV, perhaps Ford should have switched to the ’78 style earlier to compete with Chevy?
That was the plan, the first oil embargo monkey-wrenched it and caused postponement.
A great find, and article. Though these appeared woefully dated when I was a kid, I thought their jaunty, utilitarian nature more than made up for their old-fashioned looks. I didn’t see many that were modified much in the 70s. That came later.
The provincial police have a pretty thorough online photo collection, and these were used into the early 70s, for remote and off road use. By the mid 70s, I remember the province making the switch to the Plymouth Trailduster/Dodge Ramcharger and the Chev Blazer.
Nicely told JP.
Of course, 12 years for a 4 x 4 is just starting – see Land Rover for more details.
Is it me, or are the wipers and their (obvious lack of screen coverage) some how indicative of Ford’s commitment and interest in the Bronco?
The Bronco was designed with a folding windshield, so the wipers are limited by what can be done from the header. The CJ has comparable windshield coverage.
I respect these a lot, but I still miss the ’79 “big” Bronco I had in ’92.
It was almost as wide as it was long, and rode kind of ridiculous, but it had a pipe-bumper and Kelly GTs and a cheap cassette deck that played too fast and was awesome.
“Make a date with your wife – to see your Ford Dealer”
What publication did Ford run this advert in where they assumed women, or single people of either gender, wouldn’t want to drive a fun little SUV?
Also interesting that the body style Ford called a “sports utility” isn’t the one that would be considered a sport-utility today. The body styles are one thing that did change during the original Bronco’s run, with the doorless roadster being dropped after 1968, and the pickup a few years after.
Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Sports Illustrated, Sports Afield and of course any automotive magazine. Fact is those magazines were heavily male in this era. As far as targeting single people, this was marketed to a certain extent as a “2nd car”, so yeah that would skew a little older, and marriage was more common then. So yeah married men would have been in the meat of their market.
I think the reason for the delay of the 2nd-generation Bronco was b/c of the 1973 fuel crisis. In a similar response, the Mustang was heavily shrunk from its LTD-like dimensions to essentially its original 1964 1/2 size–a bit smaller than that, actually. Conversely, the Econoline actually GREW substantially from ’74 to ’75: the smallest ’75 was bigger than the biggest ’74. Still, it’s interesting that the 2nd-gen Bronco lasted only 2 years.
A friend newly arrived in the Big 3 (not at all highly placed) told me then he’d heard that hatcheting of Bronco & GMC Motorhome were related–Ford/GM were getting government pressure about being “too big” (expanding into markets usually left to others). I cannot vouch for the plausibility, but it is an entertaining story.
Here in 2019, I’m amazed at the kind of money unmolested, clean Broncos are getting—will the bubble soon burst?
As a past owner of 1970 Bronco with the 302 and three on the tree, I cannot put in words the feeling of driving that beast through the hills and creeks of the Ozarks, While clutching and attempting to shift that three, trying to keep the revs up, all I could say was HOLD ON.
Hope your Mom is doing OK.
My Dad was a repeat patient at our local facility (actually on the same street my middle sister’s home is on). He got discharged in terrible shape due to Medicare limits on stays (he didn’t have long term care coverage unfortunately) and due to my Mother’s persistence recovered and eventually reentered the same facility..where the physical therapist commented to me that they never saw anyone leave in as bad shape as my Father ever return to that facility (alive).
Our neighbor in Manassas VA had an early 70’s Bronco bought new….though they always had the “hers” Ford full sized wagon, he would frequently change “his” vehicle, going between vastly different classes (the Bronco was succeeded by a Fiat 850). We also had a Ford wagon at that time (actually 2 bought in succession) and I guess I was likewise unsuccessful in talking my Dad into buying a 1969 Mustang in place of the Country Squire (he should have done it and made me ride in the trunk).