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Last of the First: 1977 Ford Bronco

bronco

Ever since having a toy metal one as a child, I’ve had a soft spot for this generation of Bronco. This 1977 is the last year of the first generation Ford SUV, which was in production for 11 years. This particular one is located in Burton, Michigan and is up for auction here on eBay, with a buy-it-now of $3,695 but inviting lower offers. This two-owner SUV has been mostly used on a farm, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like the bucolic life has kept it from the ravages of salted roads. There’s plenty of rust, especially in the tailgate and rocker panels, but replacement sheetmetal is readily available and the frame, while carrying surface rust, looks pretty solid. I don’t see any accident damage, and the following that these early Bronco’s have ensures that there’s a ready market even for rusty ones. What a great vehicle to use on a farm, and maybe fix it up over time. The red & white color scheme really works for me. Would you rather have a Bronco, Scout, or comparable Jeep?

Comments

  1. Avatar George

    Dad had one, sold his ’69 Cougar X-R7 convertible that he bought new for it. Thats my little sister and brother in the stroller as dad gives the Bronco a coat of wax.

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  2. Avatar Todd Zuercher

    And it’s already sold. The prices on these trucks are going through the stratosphere now – even very rusty ones like this that used to just be parts trucks.

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  3. Avatar JW

    Had a 73 and I loved that thing but sold it because I needed a pickup living out in the country. This one is the more desirable like mine with the dual gas tanks. This has a lot of rust, both quarters are gone as well as the tail gate and from his undercarriage picture it looks like they patched the floorboards. It sold already for over $3600 and I sold mine in perfect condition with a 351W and 10lb warn winch in 1995 for $5500. Big Mistake !!!

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  4. Avatar The Walrus

    Bronco, Scout or Jeep? I’ll take a Binder all day everyday. Pick any of the engines, even the 4 banger, and explain to me how the comparable Jeep or FoMoCo is its equal. Then let’s move on the rest of the drive train and make the same arguments. ‘Anything less is just a car’.

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  5. Avatar Todd Zuercher

    @The Walrus – we can talk about the ‘Binder 4 cylinder and I’ll explain to you quite simply that FoMoCo certainly didn’t have an equal to it – their engines were all better! Our family had a ’67 Scout 800 Sportop from 1978-1981 with the 152 ci four cylinder. Gutless. We had to put the Dana 18 transfer case in 2-Lo to get up our driveway and also to pull out onto the main road in our town from the street we lived on. When we went 4 wheeling, the family got out while Dad gunned it up the hills in 4-Lo, praying he’d make it up the hill. We all quickly tired of it and Dad traded it on the ’69 Bronco with a 302 that I’m still driving today (just turned over 345k this weekend). My uncle had a ’73 Scout II with the 345 V8. That was a good, stout truck.

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  6. Avatar Doug

    Scout anytime, and I have two FoMoCo products in the garage. Back in the day had two Scouts. 77 and 78 With the 345, great haulers, and Ford and GM only WISHED they had that transfer case.. Unfortunately, all these Mfgr’s bought into the Japanese unbonderized steel and subsequently all suffered the rust problem associated with it. But the Scout owners can easily get plastic fenders and quarters, and even inner wheel wells and tailgate skins I understand. So there you are.

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    • Avatar JW

      The Bronco pictured in my post had fiberglass front fenders / engine bay / hood and door inserts. With the loss of weight from the metal body panels and the metal top that 351W made this 4×4 blow away most 80’s Mustangs and Camaro’s then climb a hill to the top to brag about it. Don’t get me wrong I love the Scouts but a V8 model, never been a fan of 4 bangers.

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  7. Avatar Todd Zuercher

    This Bronco and the ’77 and ’78 Scouts both had the same transfer case……the Dana 20. The primary difference being that the Bronco’s unit had the more desirable 2.34:1 low range vs. the Scout’s 2.03:1.

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  8. HoA Howard A Member

    I had a friend after high school (mid-’70’s) that had a Bronco like this. Exactly like this. This was before the 4 wheelin’ days. I found out 1st hand why they call it a Bronco. He said, wanna’ go 4 wheelin’? Sure! So we went to the access road under some high lines ( strictly forbidden now, I’m sure) and he said, you better buckle your seat belt. Nah, I’m fine, I said. That thing bucked like a wild Bronco ( although, all I have to go on is what I saw in the westerns) and after the 2nd time I bumped my head on the roof, I buckled my belt. ( I swear the front wheels were coming off the ground) If I remember, these had real small gas tanks, and lousy mileage. I remember my friend always stopping for gas. I owned the next generation Bronco (full-size) and was a much more refined truck. BTW, I think this truck was an automatic, and was converted to a stick. Long brake pedal, and I think they only had column shift 3 speeds.

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  9. Avatar Oldstuff 1941

    Afternoon Gents…
    I had the undeniable pleasure of growing up during the time that these Broncos appeared on the market…1966. My next door neighbor Buddy’s Dad bought a new one in 66 when they came out as his daily driver and to hunt in… It was the FOMOCO dark Green with a White top, Green seats and Black rubber mats. Very basic. 3spd on the column with a inline six… He used it for years, till he bought a little Ford Ranger 4×4 truck to use in its place….

    Every time I went back home to my parents house it was still just sitting on the street 50yds from their driveway in front of the neighbors and collecting dirt and tree sap…but incredibly no rust…I tried for years, without any luck, to buy it as we all got older and the Dad quit driving it and just let it sit… my buddy had no interest in it. Eventually when the Dad passed it went to my bud who just parked it out back of his house. Every time I saw him, I tried to buy it with no luck…

    About 5 years ago, I saw it going down the road looking like it had just been cleaned up a little…just enough to drive it. I noticed it was a guy, an acquaintance,and somewhat of a ‘friend’. I stopped him and asked if it was Mr.Berry’s Bronco, and he smiled and said Yes, that he had traded Bob, (The son, my growin up buddy) out of it… I was just mortified after he told me how he traded for it….

    Kenny, the new owner of the 66 Bronco was in the lawncare/Landscape business. He said that with Bob working and traveling out of town all the time as an Mechanical Engineer, he (kenny) had been doing his yard for years and had asked Bob one day about moving the Bronco from the spot it always sat in Bob’s backyard, since the Home owners Assoc. had inquired about it violating the rules by sitting in view to the street and other houses, and mentioned it would make mowing the grass easier and quicker. He said that Bob told him, that he would just trade Kenny the Bronco to keep his yard cut and within the HOA regulations till He (Bob) was gone from this earth…lol…

    Kenny jumped on that like a fly on Honey….Needless to say, I kinda cringe each time I see him in it since he really is not a old car buff and has repainted it a sort of putrid Glossy Military OD Green, Top and all… BUT,…He did keep the rest pretty much original, (Wheels, Hubcaps, interior and the Spare rack on the back) … I always comfort myself in just knowing that the little Bronco is on the road again and in good shape, driving daily….

    I was lucky enough to grow up in a great neighborhood. My Dad was the Chief of Police,The guy across the street was a Gov’t employee and had a 57 Chev. Suburban 4X4,(Civil Air Patrol vehicle) …guy on the corner has a Scout with ‘Aluminum’ Body, bought at a Gov’t Navy Auction, and the guy on the street behind us had a Dodge, Military Power Wagon window Ambulance…and there were many more old 4×4’s scattered throughout the neighborhood. heh heh… Yeah,.. we as kids had fun when these Dads took all us fishing, Hunting or just down to the Tennessee river for a swim a few blocks away in any of those!!

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  10. Avatar JW

    Old Stuff you are a lucky man … cool story.

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    • Avatar Oldstuff 1941

      Thanks JW… Somehow,..I have always been blessed to know that … I have been lucky enough to grow up during those times and ride in, have friends and myself own so many of the vehicles we covet now days.

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    • Avatar Oldstuff 1941

      You seem like a lucky guy too JW… that is one fine Bronco you had.

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  11. Avatar JW

    Thanks and yes it was Oldstuff, I’m still getting slack from the wife for selling it.

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  12. Avatar Peter

    First off: Jamie–Kudos on a GREAT title: “Last of the First: 1977 Ford Bronco”
    (I’m no Christian, but that sounds positively BIBLICAL! LOL)

    Second: Wow…surprised it brought the money, with all that rust.

    And Howard A is correct (from what I’ve read, from multiple sources)–these first gen. Broncos NEVER came with a floor shift. And yes, I believe it was only 3-on-the-tree (or auto, as well, I presume?).

    Old Stuff 1941–can you expand on your reference to “guy on the corner has a Scout with ‘Aluminum’ Body…”? I seem to remember my best boyhood friend’s Dad’s Scout having aluminum, inner, rear fendrewells, in his ’60’s, 4-banger Scout (blue with a white top, IIRC). Was I high (‘er, disregard that) or were Scouts aluminum-bodied?

    And I would have a Bronco before a Scout (because I’m a Ford guy) but I DO like the old Scouts.

    As for Jeeps–why does it seem like they’re usually being driven by the biggest D-bags on the road? (And I don’t just mean driving around with their doors off, blasting their Death Metal–I mean like they almost NEVER seem to SIGNAL, they’re otherwise RUDE and pull NEEDLESSLY-DANGEROUS stunts, for no good reason, more often than any other drivers I could ever stereotype–which I realize is risky).

    And I drive fast myself–I just endeavor to always do so in the safest manner possible, signalling, leaving following distance, MAKING EYE CONTACT, actually looking at TRAFFIC in my rear view mirrors, passing on the LEFT, etc….

    And speaking of Jeeps with their doors off?

    I remember how loud and BREEZY my brother-in-law’s CJ5 was, despite having a hard top. I LOL when I see dudes in YJ7’s with soft tops and doors, hyper-offset wheels, blowing down the freeway, with the “soft” doors BEING SUCKED OPEN, 3/4″, just by the aerodynamic forces.

    Hmmm…that must be really enjoyable “motoring”–listening to those big mudders “sing” while the wind SCREAMS through the cabin. No thanks. (Of course, there’s rarely any visual evidence these trucks ever get OFF-ROAD, so the whole “Jeep-on-the-highway” thing, in the NYC-tri-state, metro area, looks an awful lot a big POSE-job, to me.)

    Wait–let me don my Nomex driving suit. Okay–Flame away, “Jeepers!” ;-)

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    • Avatar Oldstuff 1941

      LOL Peter !…
      Thanks for the Laugh,…(my Daughter looked at me like “Oh Please Dad”) when I read the part of your comment about the aluminum fenderwells and… ”was I High?”…. That brings back some waaay gone old memories about a 71 Plymouth Duster ‘Twister and…..uh nevermind….

      But anyway, back to the Aluminum bodied Scouts. From what I was told a few years later,… (when I grew into a 16 year old full fledged ‘Gearhead’) …by the guy on the corner who owned the little Blueish/Gray colored Scout,… was that they were ordered by the government and were originally built in the early 60’s, exclusively for the Navy to ship overseas. That was about all I remember him saying about it.

      I do remember though Peter, that his had a fold down windshield like a Jeep, a floor shift and was a 4 banger 4×4 ! He also had a little short cab top to make it like a pick up and also the full top all the way to the back tailgate…. I remember this guy because he fascinated me, in that he was a ‘Ham Radio’ operator,could do about anything, and had some Kool toys (weapons)…LOL… I used to sit around and listen to him talk all over the world.

      I also had helped him change the tops out a few times and ridden with him with the windshield folded down… it was weird because the wiper motor was located at the top of the windshield…like 30’s and 40′ trucks. They (he and his wife, no kids) moved away about the time I graduated high school in 72. Lost track of him after that.

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  13. Avatar chad

    Just like the 60s/70s Japanese bike co.s competition built good products (50s/60s British sports cars) the 60s/70s American 4WD ‘wars’ brought out a variety of offerings. Different models 4 different uses, no realistic comparisons (4 cyl, 6 & 8). Can U compare a IH 80 to a Chevy K? Luv em all !

    Like 0

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