How many years have you all been involved in the Bronco world?

[bigmuddy]

Roughly 30+ years. Bought my first one from a Toyota dealer in Loveland CO.
I had always had beaters to tinker with but had bought a really nice Toyota pickup and liked it but really wasn't much to do as far as mods. Driving the back way from Loveland to Ft. Collins my wife and I spied this 1972 red and white bronco and it was a cherry. 302 with 3 spd, basic model but it was kept up and had no rust.. Pulled in and made a deal and left with the bronco and we have had one or more since.

I've bought and sold probably 12 or more over my life time but the 1975 ranger I have had for the last 25 years and hoping to finally get it back on the road this spring!

 

[Speedrdr]

Bought my 1st EB, a 72, in 80…so about 40+ years all told. Had a brief gap when I mistakenly sold it before I bought another one.

 

[sanndmann3]

I bought mine in 2000 shortly after getting married. Early Broncos caught my eye at the sand dunes (been going since 1990) and the rest is history.

 

[abn373]

I bought mine in 1997 ('73), but my grandfather had a 72 and later a 76 for plow trucks and daily driver and I believe he had bought both new at the time and I remember lots of riding around in them. one of my memories that sticks with me was getting picked up from school as a small kid because President Reagan had been shot, and riding around in the back running errands, sitting on the floor because he always had the rear seat hanging in the garage. He had the spare tire mounted inside on the driver's side. Which now seems strange to me.

 

[Broncobowsher]

I can remember visiting the shops of Vintage Broncos in Mesa, AZ and my first trip to Vegas I stopped by the old K-bar-S shop before they moved to the North side of Vegas.
Then found I had a co-worker who bought a Balloon Chase Bronco from K-bar-S and drove it to Chicago.

 

[BroncoJimbo]

I think this is an absolutely GREAT thread!!!!! Getting lots of contributions from people I have never seen/heard of since I joined in 2010. So, I am a relatively baby in the classic Bronco world @ 15+ years.

I've been around long enough to remember the old EBML days...

 

[BroncoLew]

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the purchase of my 1972 Bronco. how long have you all been involved with Bronco's?

I was born in 90 and my grandfather had a 73 Explorer. He used to ride me around in it on the weekends when I would stay with them and instead of playing outside or watching TV I would be down in the garage with him tinkering on it or any of the other vehicles he had. I used to spend hours playing in it pretending I was driving it. This was when I was around age 7-9. He always told me that Bronco would be mine the day I turned 16. Its a long story but it actually belonged to his brother and when my grandparents divorced its went back to his brother and I didn't see it again until around 2008 when he had it completely frame off restored. I got a picture of it a few years ago when my cousin had it and he told me he had no plans of selling it and then I found out a few months later that he did sell it. I was furious. Then God, for some reason, decided I needed one and I stumbled into the one I bought in 2023. Here is a picture of the 73 from my childhood that I took sometime in 2021. If anyone here recognizes it and knows the owner please let me know.

 

[U13FL735]

My Dad had to sign because I was only 16. I bought it in Nov, 1971. A 66 with 58K miles, and a snow plow. I wrecked it in Mar '72, with about 60K miles. Kept it all these years, started restoring it about 4 years ago. Might finish it up this year. So, 55 years.

 

[hsach]

Man, this is a great thread. Nice to hear how people got into the bronco world. My bronco involvement started with a toy Stomper, hopefully some will remember what those are. It was green and my friend and I cut new wheels from foam to mimic a suspension lift, and he found that if we used a huge lantern battery with long wires instead of the double A or whatever it took, that thing was fast and we could jump it over stuff.

Around that time, we bought a used '84 bronco and I loved how that thing would go through the snow where we lived. I didn't get my first bronco driving experience until I got out of the Army and blew up my camaro driving home. The first car I was going to buy was a '72 bronco, and I should have bought it after drove it. So much fun, but I wanted more space.

Found my '78 bronco around 96-97 sitting in a friend's mother's garage, non-running. $500 and it was mine, crazy to think of that price now. I daily drove it for many years and still drive it when I can.

The '67 was bought in 2014, a local one that sat for many year as well. This one is taking a lot longer to finish than I planned on, but it makes me smile thinking about driving it someday soon. The one regret I have on this '67, is not getting it done before the previous owner died. I got to know him a little, and when I drove off with it on a trailer, he was crying. It was the family camping/hunting vehicle for a long time. I visited him a few times after that, and I always had the thought of bringing it back by when it was restored so he and his wife could see it again. Unfortunately, life got in the way of me finishing it, and he passed a few years ago. He was great at restoring trucks and tractors, so I am trying to keep a few things on the bronco that he worked on.

 

[catfan]

I can remember visiting the shops of Vintage Broncos in Mesa, AZ and my first trip to Vegas I stopped by the old K-bar-S shop before they moved to the North side of Vegas.
Then found I had a co-worker who bought a Balloon Chase Bronco from K-bar-S and drove it to Chicago.

I wonder what ever happened to Dean and Terry ?

 

[toddz69]

I wonder what ever happened to Dean and Terry ?

They divorced - as you probably knew -and what was left of the business got liquidated in the late '90s.

I randomly heard from Dean maybe 15-18 years ago? He was racing a Factory Five Cobra in the spec series that existed for awhile and came across an article I had written somewhere about the 3G alternator swap and he had a question or two. I think he was still living/working in the Phoenix area and doing well as I recall.

He brought so much new tech and popularized a lot of good stuff in the EB world.

Todd Z.

 

[toddz69]

My first memory of EBs was seeing them on the lot at my uncle's Ford dealership in Ohio in the mid '70s. I fell in love with them when we moved to AZ in '78 and one of my cousins had the issue of Four Wheeler magazine where Duane Kennedy's "Silver Fox" Bronco rebuild was featured (now owned by @66Bronco). On July 3rd, 1981, my Dad purchased the faded blue '69 Bronco that I still own and drive today. The Bronco addiction kicked into high gear that day for me. My only other Bronco ownership other than that truck has been 1/2 ownership of two Stroppe racers with @BajaBronco. If I had the time, money, and space, there are about ten of them I'd like to have though!

Todd Z.

 

[catfan]

They divorced - as you probably knew -and what was left of the business got liquidated in the late '90s.

I randomly heard from Dean maybe 15-18 years ago? He was racing a Factory Five Cobra in the spec series that existed for awhile and came across an article I had written somewhere about the 3G alternator swap and he had a question or two. I think he was still living/working in the Phoenix area and doing well as I recall.

He brought so much new tech and popularized a lot of good stuff in the EB world.

Todd Z.

Thanks Todd , I lost track of them in mid to late nineties .

 

[Broncobowsher]

They divorced - as you probably knew -and what was left of the business got liquidated in the late '90s.

I randomly heard from Dean maybe 15-18 years ago? He was racing a Factory Five Cobra in the spec series that existed for awhile and came across an article I had written somewhere about the 3G alternator swap and he had a question or two. I think he was still living/working in the Phoenix area and doing well as I recall.

He brought so much new tech and popularized a lot of good stuff in the EB world.

Todd Z.

Probably the biggest one he brought to the Bronco world was figuring that you could mix and match GM disk brake parts with Ford rotors and made the very common GM disk conversions. Developed the first commercially sold GM disk conversion. At the time the only options were factory parts or the Duff conversion.

 

[bmc69]

I grew up with Scouts..every truck on our farm was IHC. I left the farm in '74 and went in to landscape construction. Still had Scouts...many. Turned down a 1977 loaded EB that was offered in trade for a bunch of trees I'd moved to a new home property. I think it had 15k miles on it ...garage kept. Pfft..not interested.

 

[broncotime]

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the purchase of my 1972 Bronco. how long have you all been involved with Bronco's?

My dad purchased a new bronco in 1970 (I was 9 years old). My son has that bronco now (in like new condition) and I picked mine up about 30 years ago. So that means for 56 years I have been riding around in early broncos.

 

[56f100bbw]

Broncos since 2003 /Shelbys since 1975

 

[Bruners4]

My high school buddy (Mark) Dad was a rural mail carrier and bought a new '76 base with little or no options. Mark got to borrow it one Saturday evening and came over and picked me up. Mark's Mom drove it a couple of times and also wanted one, but all the '76 were gone. So they ordered a '77 with all the options! It was really nice!! Well there was a blizzard and it was Saturday night and us boys needed to get to town. Mark picked me up in the '76 and we were out bust'n drifts on the county roads higher than the front fenders. We had to stop a few times to clean out the snow in the engine compartment to allow the fan to spin and the alternator to charge. But didn't get stuck!
So that started the 4x4 phase of my life but with pickups. It wasn't until 2016 that the '96 arrived. Then the '68 found me and we ordered a '21 2 door FE. I waited a long time to get back into a Bronco.

 

[MarsChariot]

Someone should harvest this information and turn it into a simple histogram.

 

[toddz69]

Probably the biggest one he brought to the Bronco world was figuring that you could mix and match GM disk brake parts with Ford rotors and made the very common GM disk conversions. Developed the first commercially sold GM disk conversion. At the time the only options were factory parts or the Duff conversion.

That was definitely a biggie - really revolutionized braking for EBs.

Some others that I can think of:

1. popularized the NP435 conversion
2. popularized the 2WD F-Series box conversion (Scott Ibeling of Ibeling Repair Service in Iowa was the one first to sell a kit that I'm aware of but Dean really made it popular)
3. 31 spline axles (Viva Broncos had them in their catalog in the 70s but Dean really made them popular)
4. reproduced Ford's vacuum brake booster bracket
5. progressive rate lift coils (made by Eibach) and 10 leaf long travel rear springs (made by National)
6. shock hoops for the front end (made by Protofab for Dean)

I've always felt WH was the spiritual successor to Vintage Broncos in a lot of ways in terms of product offerings in the 90s. Of course Jim has far different business practices.......

Todd Z.