Early Ford Broncos are hot these days, with nice examples fetching good money. It makes sense though, trucks, in general, are on the rise, and given the mortality rate for the Bronco, there just aren’t many good examples left. This example is clearly a project, but it isn’t the kind of rust bucket that we often come across these days. Add in the fact that it’s a half cab model and it looks like a great find! If this looks like the kind of project you’d like to take on, you can find it here on eBay as a no reserve auction in Wylie, Texas with a current bid of $12,950 and just a day left to go.
Ford hit it out of the park with the Mustang, so they decided to try their luck at the SUV market (of course this was before SUV was a household phrase). At the time, the International Scout was top dog to beat, so they put together a truck that was similar but still uniquely Ford. While the Bronco is popular today, initial sales were lackluster with less than 24k trucks being built and sold in the first year. The majority of those were wagons, with just 6k being offered as half-cab pickups. Sales eventually picked up but didn’t really take off until the SUV craze hit in the ’90s.
Engine options were fairly limited, buyers had the option of the 170 cui inline-six or the 289 V8. This one features the six-cylinder and while that might be a bit of a disappointment to some, the six is actually a great engine. It offers plenty of torque for hitting the trails, is super smooth, and absolutely bulletproof. The fact that many of the Bronco’s parts are shared with the Mustang means you can get a surprising amount of parts at your local parts store. It also means restoring a Bronco is a fairly affordable task as long as it’s complete and not rusty.
This one has some rust, but I don’t see any major holes. There are some pinholes showing in the floors and possibly the bed though, so you will want to take a closer look. The frame rails, doors, and body support structures do all appear to be solid though. Personally, I’d patch the floors, give it a tune-up, replace any worn out parts, and hit the road! I love the Holly Green paint and I don’t even mind the current rough look. Given how solid the body appears to be, you could enjoy it this summer and then give it a proper restoration over the winter. So, how do you feel about this truck? Are you a fan of the half-cab body or do you prefer your Bronco in wagon form?
I’d love to have one of these but the combination of most being rust buckets and waaaaay over priced keeps me away.
What a beat up piece
The comment about the sales being lackluster for the first year at under 24K units sold needs some context. The entire SUV market when the Bronco was introduced was about 40K units/year – spread across 5 different makes/models. With the Bronco singlehandedly increasing segment sales by 50% in its first year of sales, it was hardly lackluster.
Sales were actually the best in the 1978-1979 model years – by the ’90s, they had declined again with the 1991 model selling about the same as the best years of the classic Broncos.
Hi Todd, I think we can thank Hank Kimball for it’s success,, :)
Howard – he certainly didn’t hurt the sales! The ‘66 season truck has yet to be found. The ‘67 and ‘68 trucks have been located and are with wonderful owners.
Wonder what happened to the jeep he drove in the 1st few episodes? Probably harder to find then the ’66 u-13
This truck was the thumbnail of a new Dennis Collins video on youtube the other day. I was going to watch it later in the day but they had removed it and it still is. Wonder why- nothing better than a video to sell a car. Collins owns Collins Bros Jeeps, who is the seller. Decent youtube channel if you love Jeeps, but it’s hard to get past the fact that he’s Richard Rawling’s feathered hair friend from As Monkey garage. He’s since changed the hair and the channel is 500 times less annoying and better than his dumb friend’s show.
While I admire the authors optimism, this particular Bronco is cashed. I’ve found, with Ford trucks of this vintage, a rusty drivers floor will indicate bad cab mounts, a big job to replace. While I find few things to laugh at these days, aside from Family Guy reruns, these 5 figure rust buckets always gives me a laugh. A sad laugh, just the same. I see some of these sitting in backyards here, long forgotten, nobody around, it was their “go to” 4×4 for many years, but just sitting now. You’d think, with as much as these bring, temptation would get someone a rolloff, and pick these things up,, hey, why not, it’s highway robbery anyway.
Some what off topic but the wheels interest me, they appear to be Jackmans that have been restored. If your as old as me and been in to 4x4s as long as I have, you’ll remember that Jackman wheels started the white wagon wheel movement back in the 70s they were the number one selling off-road wheel, then they disappeared from the market, due in part to the issues they had with breaking off wheel lugs. The center spokes and mounting surface was all cut from 1/4 plate steel and didn’t have the raised groves around the lug holes that modern steel wheels have to keep the lugs tight. Ok enought of this is tripe down memory lane…. what were we talking about?
I appreciate the info, I was wondering about them. I wasn’t around when these were made, but love white wagon wheels. I keep toying with the idea of putting them on my Cherokee XJ