A rising tide of square, two-door, four-wheel drive off-road vehicles emerged in the 1960s, benchmarked by the Jeep CJ, International Scout, and Toyota Land Cruiser. Ford picked up on the trend in the early ’60s, and by 1965 the Bronco was introduced to the public. Its boxy looks, utilitarian interior, and buckboard ride were easily forgiven as sales surged. But the late ’60s brought competition in the form of the driver-centric Chevy Blazer and the Jeep Cherokee. With comfortable seats and a better road-ride, the new entrants began to outsell the Bronco. Ford’s first reaction was to add trim packages and engine options. The Bronco Ranger offered upgraded upholstery, more chrome trim, a special paint package, a dash painted to match the exterior, and carpeting. The Ranger is considered the top-shelf Bronco offering; this exceptionally original example is listed here on eBay bid to $20,200 with no reserve in play. It’s located in Trevor, Wisconsin.
One year after its introduction, Ford supplied the Bronco with a 289 cu. in. V8, and then in 1969, buyers could choose a 302. This example reportedly retains its original 302, backed by a three-speed manual. The car is said to start, run, drive, and stop. Other than mentioning the Bronco is from Florida, no history is given. I’d want to investigate whether it has had any close, personal relationships with floods….
The interior has been ravaged by sun and humidity. I’ve never seen a dash quite this badly damaged. The seat fabric is emblematic of the Ranger trim package, with those jazzy inserts. Both the fronts are torn however. Only the underlayment remains of the floor covering – a hint that we may be looking at a formerly wet vehicle. This ’73 was optioned with power steering; the seller mentions air conditioning but that wasn’t offered until 1978 so it would be a dealer-installed unit.
The glass is clean, the top is fine, the wheel covers shine convincingly. While the interior surfaces are mostly wrecked, the paint is in reasonably nice condition. The lower quarters on all four corners show signs of rust, but rust never seems to stop Bronco lovers. No underside photos are provided, but I’d sure want to take a gander under there, given the condition of its “skirts”. Bronco prices haven’t moderated much since I last looked, with solid driver-quality first-gen examples selling around $50k. Projects like this one will probably sell north of the current bid, as nonsensical as that seems.
Drove by so many like this in the countryside w a small plow on the front.
Yeah the suspension got “anti dive” features just to help out with the plow!
yeah, I was going to say, you won’t find one like this in the Badger. It has typical southern truck interior wear, and we’ve all seen what one looks like from up north. Why someone would buy a 4wd in Florida is anyone’s guess, but thankfully some did, or they would be extinct. I know my age shows many times, and years ago, this would have been bought JUST to plow snow. $500 max, WITH a plow. I just don’t understand the infatuation here to the tune of $20grand. I guess I never will.
Very nice Bronco. At $20k, the serious bidding has started yet. The last few hours should be interesting.
Steve R
Sold on 6/10/2025 with a high bid of $26,100.
Steve R
These were the last of the truly useful Broncos, as the next generation gained a lot of pork and lost some of its off-road capability. This little beast won’t go cheap! Speaking of small Broncos, Ford ran an ad several years ago where they dropped a Ford F-150 from about ten feet and claimed it suffered no damage, to demonstrate how “Ford-tough” it was.. Try that with the current Bronco, then pick up all the pieces after.
Just like every Bronco of these years there is a lot of rust hiding but for the current bid this one isn’t bad. I personally would keep it stock as possible only add a more aggressive tire
Ford used the Falcon as the baseline for developing the Bronco – cheap, not very well designed or manufactured. Why anyone would spend $20K+ on one of these reminds me of the observations that “they must have rocks in their head”.
Like W.C. Fields used to say!
My neighbor had a ’72 like this with the 302 3speed. He kept it only a couple months, and said that he couldn’t keep it away from the gas pump. He sold it for just what he spent for it.
’72 wuz the gas crisis. They said that abt all bent8s. Gets bout 20MPHs, same as the i6. Outta C what the nxt gen (’78/9 only) 400M gets…
I cant think of any special anti-dive suspension prts on mine (used asa plow during mid-yrs ownership of 43 yrs, the ’76/7 hada different steering geomitry but not ‘anti-dive’) or any others. U could get air bags (firestone) ona ’66 (inside the coil spring up frnt) from factory. THAT could help…
This ‘un here has the sales-price-boosting paint scheme (current mrkt)…