The seller doesn’t say what happened to the body of this 1969 Ford Bronco. I’m guessing that it was too rusty to save. Even though there are new body panels and floor pans available, it may have been too large of a project. The chassis and some parts can be found for sale here on eBay with a current bid of $6,600. Looking at the sheet metal that is left, it doesn’t appear to be too rusty. If you are building a Bronco and need a fresh chassis, this might be the way to go. Located in Lebanon, Indiana, the seller says they will deliver the parts within 500 miles for a fee. Take a look at what’s left and see if this project is worth saving.
As you can see, the doors don’t appear overly rotten. The driver’s door has a small patch of rust in the corner, but you would think if the body tub was beyond saving that the doors would be worse?
The grille looks to be in decent shape. Even in used conditions like this one, they can sell for several hundred dollars. If the new owner isn’t going to use it, they could recoup some of the purchase price by selling the extra parts.
Here are the rest of the miscellaneous parts that come with the sale. I suppose the gauge cluster, emblems, and some other parts could be cleaned up and re-used, but most of them will probably just be replaced. So, what do you think a 1969 Ford Bronco chassis and some parts are worth? Do blank slate projects like this get you excited or would you rather have more to work with?
Little over 15k and Dennis Carpenter will sell you a new body. With early Bronco prices going to the moon, yeah this is sellable.
Or rust belt restorations and have an OEM body installed! https://www.rustbeltbroncos.com/
…or settle for a fiberglass tub and forget about rust issues in your lifetime
https://broncodesign.com/product/assembled-tub/
The New metal bodies are not plagued with the same rust issues like the factory issues from those times. The ford original bodies did not have the primers or galvanized coatings they use today. Then
new bodies also use better seals and weather proofing the OEM did not have back then.
Nowadays, someone that spends $25k or more to restore a Early Bronco is most likely not going to let it sit out in the weather with water pooling inside. Also, people used them as work trucks and did not care if they were banged up or got scratches. Most people treat them like their babies Nowadays.
A new metal body will be worth more money in the end and is just a better investment.
That being said, if you plan to do hard off-roading and basically beat the thing to death rock crawling. A fiberglass body flexes better and is easier to deal with repairs if you are not a welder and if it gets moisture inside, you are less likely to get body rot, but fiberglass will rot also if you leave it wet for long periods of time.
In my case, I am putting a 72 body on a 1986 Bronco chassis and I will need a custom stretched and widened body to fit on a FULL-SIZE Bronco frame. I have everything to do the metal work, so I can do all the work myself. I may make fiberglass molds of the metal fenders and hood to lighten up the Bronco, because I plan to use it off road as a plan toy. I would have had to make molds anyways if I went directly to fiberglass and I would had to deal with shaping foam and all the other stuff to design a fiberglass body from scratch. Having both will make it easier to repair damaged body parts and i would not have to metal fabricate new parts, just take my molds to my fiberglass guy and presto, exact copies of the original body.
In the end, it all depends in what you want to do with your Bronco.
That’s just my opinion and opinions are like farts, Some stink and some don’t. 😁😎👍 Have fun…
most like the metal as got the tech/equipment, etc already. I seen some bronks bounce offa some pretty good rocks (were f.glass) w/far less damage than the metal tho. I don’t C the glovebx dor tho (VIN). No worries – some a hole is selling them tho (by 1 go to jail).
Like the dors here no matter. They have the slide out window frames. Looks great when top’s down compaired to the later models (w/welded in ones). Also like this if eyebrow grill as it has the ‘chrome surround’ (explorer or ranger model I think).