What's your first Bronco story? Here's mine, 78 Custom. Pic taken November 1985.

CliffB
Jun 05, 2020

Rank V

Jun 05, 2020

My father had a 78 years before this one became mine, which is a big reason for this being my favorite vehicle of all time, but this one started it all. A close friend's father bought it brand new in fall of 77. The first time I saw it I fell in love with it. They used it for hunting and as a second vehicle, and I got to ride it in numerous times. I remember the first ride was when it only had a couple hundred miles on it. We went to our school to watch a football game, I think I was in the third grade. Some years later it was sold to another local gentleman, who also attended our church, so I got to keep up with it, always admiring it in the church parking lot. Back then it had a steel Warn front bumper and an 8274 mounted ready to go. Sometime around early 1984 that owner sold it to another local friend of the family who also lived in the same small town in Mississippi, Itta Bena. He took the top off early summer of 1985 right when we got out of school and let me and friends borrow it to cruise around the cotton and soybean fields just outside our little Delta town. Come mid June one day he and I were talking, and he asked when I was getting my first car. I replied we had started looking, and that I was hoping to find a good 78 or 79 Bronco I could afford. He said he was glad I said that, because I could buy his, with only 49K on the clock for $2,800. I told him to let me talk it over with my parents but to please not let it go anywhere till we talked again. Within an hour I had the green light so to speak and that night it was in our driveway!

My gracious parents helped with the truck, and I sold my almost new Honda 200X I had mowed no telling how many yards to buy to paint it. It was solid dark jade to begin with, came with AC so it had the nicer rear and door panels, bench seat, track lok front and back, swing out spare, sliding side windows, and heavy duty suspension. I put the running boards on it to save the new paint from gravel roads. I found it again in 2011, but it was rusted and beat beyond saving. I took my drivers license test on my 15th birthday in it. Since then 12 others have been "keepers" so to speak, along with numerous others bought and traded for flips. If you have a first Bronco story post up!


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1979 Bronco Ranger XLT: Factory dark jade and wimbleton special tutone, 32,000 original miles, sport steering wheel, CB, lighted vanity, AC, etc.
2021 Bronco Badlands carbonized gray, 4Dr, 2.7, lux, leather, Trektop, Rock Slide Engineering steps & tailgate table.
Thesedays, Chief Ron
Moderator

Rank V

Jun 08, 2020

#1
You would want me to narrow it to one story wouldn't you Cliff! :)
JgaryB, Commodore

Rank 0

Jun 08, 2020

#2
Love that! White/Jade is such a killer combination on the 2nd gens.
Chief Ron, gibsBRonCO

Rank V

Jun 09, 2020

#3
You would want me to narrow it to one story wouldn't you Cliff! :)
We go with multiple stories!!! I can say I'm fond of the green for more reasons. From the early 60's till the mid 70's my family owned a wholesale automotive parts distribution company, Brumfield Wholesale. In 73 my father purchased new box trucks for deliveries, all dark jade or whatever Ford called the darker metallic green that year. The Saturday the trucks showed up is the first time I saw Wizard of Oz, with a lot of matching jade green. It became my favorite color that day and still is. The closing of so many full service gas stations spelled the end of the once thriving business and my parents moved their talents into other things, but those big green box trucks will forever be an important memory.
1979 Bronco Ranger XLT: Factory dark jade and wimbleton special tutone, 32,000 original miles, sport steering wheel, CB, lighted vanity, AC, etc.
2021 Bronco Badlands carbonized gray, 4Dr, 2.7, lux, leather, Trektop, Rock Slide Engineering steps & tailgate table.
Chief Ron, Steve5205

Rank VI

Aug 14, 2020

#4
Wizard of Oz on my favorite Bronco model.

Please post more Gen 2 pics....

Rank 0

Mar 10, 2021

#5
I bought mine about 20 years ago. My wife and I had 3 boys at the time and needed something we could all ride in. We also bought a camper to pull behind it. We restored it and drove the wheels off of it. We took it from arkansas to south dakota to colorado across kansas then back home with the camper. We have been to florida twice pulling the camper. We have been in the creek, mud and snow. Later we had our girl and changed the buckets out for a bench seat to make it a 6 seater. Thought about selling it a few times but just cant imagine anyone else having it. It is ours and will be for a good long while yet.IMG_1545 by Daniel Crymes, on Flickr
CliffB, Chief Ron
Moderator

Rank V

Mar 10, 2021

#6
I bought mine about 20 years ago. My wife and I had 3 boys at the time and needed something we could all ride in. We also bought a camper to pull behind it. We restored it and drove the wheels off of it. We took it from arkansas to south dakota to colorado across kansas then back home with the camper. We have been to florida twice pulling the camper. We have been in the creek, mud and snow. Later we had our girl and changed the buckets out for a bench seat to make it a 6 seater. Thought about selling it a few times but just cant imagine anyone else having it. It is ours and will be for a good long while yet.IMG_1545 by Daniel Crymes, on Flickr
Looks sharp! One of my favorite color combos!
Bduff007, JgaryB

Rank IV

Mar 26, 2021

#7
I have a lot of great Bronco stories, as my dad had several Broncos when I was growing up. My 78 Bronco was one of those Broncos, which I decided to buy from my dad and build it the way I wanted. This Bronco has been in Michigan itā€™s whole life and has made many trips from the Lower Peninsula to the Upper Peninsula, while hauling a camper. It now spends all of itā€™s time in Michiganā€™s Upper Peninsula and has made two trips to the Bronco Super Celebration, not on a trailer. The first trip to Townsend, TN I drove it through an ice storm and an icy Mackinac Bridge. I canā€™t imagine ever getting rid of this Bronco, there are just too many memories with it.
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Attachments

CliffB, Chief Ron

Rank III

May 20, 2021

#8
Found my first Bronco in a small farm town, was a one owner, not all cut up or rusted out. Didn't look to closely initially as it was a good price and I planned on doing some mods. Had dreamed of setting it up with a lift kit, bumpers, winch, gears, lockers and 38's as the primary use is for accessing the cabin through deep snow. Have had several F-series and wrenched most of my life so no stranger to old Fords, but once I started to get familiar with this Bronco, it was to original for modification IMHO. So tried to sell it on BAT as barn-find, but nope they didn't want it with all the dust. So spent hundreds of hours doing a refresh and will be up for auction on BAT within few weeks. Will have to finish the story once it's gone and probably be like the rest of you guys sayin "Wish I never sold it!" lol has been quite the project and adventure.
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JgaryB, Bduff007

Rank 0

May 21, 2021

#9
YOu should keep it . It would get to your cabin in the snow
JgaryB

Home, home on the range

May 21, 2021

#10
Found my first Bronco in a small farm town, was a one owner, not all cut up or rusted out. Didn't look to closely initially as it was a good price and I planned on doing some mods. Had dreamed of setting it up with a lift kit, bumpers, winch, gears, lockers and 38's as the primary use is for accessing the cabin through deep snow. Have had several F-series and wrenched most of my life so no stranger to old Fords, but once I started to get familiar with this Bronco, it was to original for modification IMHO. So tried to sell it on BAT as barn-find, but nope they didn't want it with all the dust. So spent hundreds of hours doing a refresh and will be up for auction on BAT within few weeks. Will have to finish the story once it's gone and probably be like the rest of you guys sayin "Wish I never sold it!" lol has been quite the project and adventure.
View attachment 13355
This is exactly what I was hoping to find before I decided to buy the new Bronco. I'd hang on to it if you have the room. Rigs in good shape are getting hard to find unless someone has restored them and are asking big money.
2022 Bronco Black Diamond 2dr 2.3L manual Hot Pepper Red. Reserved 8/7/20. Ordered 1/23/21. Reordered 10/08/21. Scheduled week of January 24th 2022, delivered 2/24/2022

Rank XXXXXXVVVVVIIII

Oct 22, 2021

#11
Man I sure miss my 79 Bronco can't wait to get my new one!

Rank IV

Aug 06, 2023

#12
On Feb. 16 1979 My family went to the Chevrolet dealer to follow up on the status of our station wagon we ordered months before. The dealer was giving my parents the same runaround as he had numerous times before. My dad canceled the order we got our money back and went across the street to the Ford Dealer. We test drove the demo and we all fell in love and bought the demo. It is a black 1979 chromatic custom with bucket seats sport steering wheel and a manual transmission we took it home that night. two days later on February 18 and 19, 1979, an epic winter storm took Mid-Atlantic forecasters by complete surprise. The storm buried much of the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area under more than 20 inches of snow, sometimes falling at rates up to a virtually unprecedented five inches per hour. Back in 1979 there was no such thing as a SUV there were 4WD trucks and Bronco's were MPVs and there were not that many on the roads. The night of the 18th a call went out over the radio and TV requesting people with 4WD vehicles to volunteer to pick up and drop off Doctors and Nurses for the shift change. My dad and I showed up at our local hospital and started driving Doctors and Nurses well into the night and we continued for 3-4 days at every shift change. The funny thing that I did not realize as a 6 yr old was my dad and mom were sports car people not trucks and my dad took to the Bronco like a fish to water. Fast forward ten years and that bronco became mine and may of mornings my father would wake me up by yelling at me that the mud from the truck was dripping and crumbling off on to the driveway and making a mess. Years later I took him off road and he apologized for all of those mornings yelling at me about the mud, he simply did not have any idea how much fun off roading was. I parked it because life got busy, marriage kids, house and career. now the kids are teens and my father is now gone and I still have the '79 it is sitting in a field waiting for me to be able to get it out and restore it so I can cherish those memories of my dad again.

Fast forward I knew the bronco was coming and I followed all the hype for 4-5 years before the launch hoping that Ford would do the heritage right with a great design, and fast forward to 2020 and the launch of the Bronco an Ford hit it out of the park. I needed a new car and we were about to have a new driver so I placed my reservation And ordered in early 2021, on May 1st 2023 I picked up my Badlands in West Texas Sewell Ford and drove it back home 2400 miles 5 days with my son and hopefully made some memories for him like I have with my dad.
CliffB, Thesedays

BYOBā€¦ Bring your own Bronco!

Aug 06, 2023

#13
Very nice story. I hope it is a tradition that is continued w/ your children and grandchildren. In a world of šŸ’© storms, itā€™s nice to read a heart felt story. Thanks for sharing and i hope your continued enjoyment of the Bronco! šŸŽ
2023 Wildtrak, sas, mid, soft top. Not crazy offroaderā€¦. Just a normal trail junkie
JgaryB, CliffB

Rank VI

Aug 07, 2023

#14
Very cool story! I wish I was able to have a first or second gen but my bronco story starts in 2021 when I got my 2 door Velocity Blue Black Diamond. Still to this day I am in love though.
MY21 2dr Black Diamond 7MT Velocity Blue!
JgaryB, CliffB

Gladesmen

Aug 07, 2023

#15
Awesome story, Mine is not so cool. But my first Bronco story back in 1998 for my birthday my Dad gave me his 1984 XLT drove that thing 50 miles each way to work I had to add oil to it every day, until the summer of 2000 when the motor just gave out. I had a new F250 on order and could not afford to fix it so I sold it to a buddies uncle. But they still have it in the family and I get to see it from time to time. the day I sold it I told my wife if they ever make a New Bronco I was going to buy one. Then 2004 came and got my hopes up with that concept, then nothing. After that every few months there would be a new Photoshoped Bronco sent out by people claiming it was an official concept. so come 2017 I didn't really trust that they were going to Bring the Bronco back. so one day I was spec'ing out a Jeep and found one about 2 hours away but it had a bunch of extra options that brought the Willis to $55k. I was wishing there was a competitor that would give me a good option. Then I thought about the Bronco, so I googled it and that happened to be exactly 1 month before the July 13 launch. So I drug my feet a little trying to decide what trim I wanted and finally reserved my nosquatched 4-door Black Diamond 7-speed in the $40,000s on July 30th and waited then when the time came to Order the Bronco my wife wanted more creature comforts so we bumped it to a nosquatch Badlands high package hard top trailer $50k. In late 21 I dropped the Hardtop still no build, then in early 22 they release the Everglades My thought was this was my best chance at getting a Bronco in MY22 so I jumped on it plus I could get Tan, $55K go figure. In this same time My brother reserves a fully loaded Basesquatch 2 weeks after mine orders it a month after me changes the color 1/2 dozen times gets his Bronco in July 2022 drives it for 4 months then sells it about 1 week before my/our bronco comes in. Our MY22 Bronco Everglades was officially Built 2 days before my 50th birthday and we took delivery on my Wifes 50th Birthday. In the last nine months we have put over 16000 miles on it and love it.
Bronco Nation 1100. Everglades, Desert Sand
Res: 7/30/20 ordered 1/22/21 reorder 10/15/21 changed to Everglades 3/9/22 schedule 8/29/22 bumped to 9/5; 9/7/22 blend, 9/9 Mods, 9/26/22 completed, 10/7 shipped, 11/3/22 delivery
CliffB, PSUTE

Rank 0

Jan 23, 2024

#16
Summer of 1992, Iā€™m 16 and weā€™re on a family vacation at Williamsburg in Va. One morning at breakfast my Dad asks if I had thought about a vehicle and that he worked with a guy selling an old Bronco. We get home and go and check it out, itā€™s tucked away in the corner of a dimly lit barn, covered in bird squat, dirt, boxes, etc.. After a bit of haggling between my Dad and the seller weā€™re on our way home with it. We fix it up I drive it through HS and College, later it becomes a toy gets a lift and a 460.
Turns out the way itā€™s optioned itā€™s one of one.

Attachments

Jakob1972, PSUTE

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