Earliest Broncos known to exist (1-30)!!

DirtDonk said:

Have we discussed anywhere how many of these very early models (or any later ones for that matter) might have been delivered with a single-cardan front driveshaft?
I've run across several '66's now, three were original owners and could verify that each had at least one shaft with single joints at both ends.

Even the early literature showed double-cardans front and rear (remember those rolling chassis images?) so it was probably not a first batch of Broncos kind of thing, but I'm curious if there was just a batch all at the same time, or if they were spread out over the model year.
Too bad I never thought to get the VIN's on them at the time.

Maybe it's even been mentioned in this thread, but I haven't gone back over the early postings to find out if it had come up.

Paul

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okie4570 said:

U15fl732243

Frame and driveline is all that's left, body was sold recently.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/1620460484935925?view=permalink&id=2363021934013106

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Gas Pig said:

Hey I’m kind of curious of all the early vin Broncos are any of them heavy duty trucks?

My #51 is a heavy U152.

Here is also an old picture but hopefully soon the restoration will be completed in a few months! ;D

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196676bronco said:

New to the site

I recently purchased a 1966 Bronco August build date. 734488 U15
A little history its been in Michigan its whole life. A few years ago I was driving past a house and saw it tucked next to a barn. I stopped in and talked to the old man for a bit he was 89 years old at that time. I ended up talking to him for a while and at the time he didn't want to sell but got to look over the Bronco he started it up for me and we talked for a couple hours. I would occasionally stop in in to say hello he was always working on something. In November I thought I would ask again this time it was for sale. Unfortunately he started tearing it apart to fix some rust the old school way with sheet metal and rivets but I got it pretty cheap so it didn't matter. As I have been learning about this truck through the site it seems pretty complete. I had no idea at the time it was such an early build and a Budd body. I found the Budd tag on a wire under the hood behind the motor and the other tag on the passenger kick panel that luckily he kept because the whole panel was rusted off. It has the 66 top with the handle, the silver front seats, the hood with all the rods, the offset radiator, the right air cleaner, the eyebrow grille the right tailgate, the rain gutter under the dash, forward shocks, round mirror, square rear bumper etc. Looks to have about 54000 miles but hard to tell. The issues I see are someone converted it years ago to electric wipers and drilled new holes, the hubcaps are later ones unless they came in 66 not sure?, the rear seat is white out of another year, and the front bumper is not square. Its light blue and had dark blue carpet with the silver. The main issue is it was pretty rusty. He said it was originally a plow truck in Michigan at a local ford dealership. I have the 1986 title for it from the previous owner because the old man never changed it over to himself. I don't believe its been on the road since he has owned it so it has been kind of a cool time capsule. As of now I have new quarters on it, inner/outer rockers, complete floor front/back, passenger front fender, core support and inner front sheet metal and door supports. Like I said rusty. The one thing that I thought was cool is he had the front and rear door supports that he bought back in 1986 (NOS) still had tags on them. The problem is after I mocked one up I realized that 66 is different for the rear so had to buy aftermarket for that so will need to sell those at some point. They are such better quality that the new stuff it crazy.

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ngsd said:

Is there any idea of the earliest V8 VIN? Just curious as mine is early and has some interesting changes such as VIN over-stamped with an N over F and front rad support is different than most.

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CopperRanger said:

Looking great so far, keep up the good work. Where are you in Michigan?

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ngsd said:

Is there any idea of the earliest V8 VIN? Just curious as mine is early and has some interesting changes such as VIN over-stamped with an N over F and front rad support is different than most.

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ngsd said:

It is 834030 so it definitely is March and probably Mid? Given that I am building it up with a new drivetrain the historic value is not relevant but just curious.

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ngsd said:

It is 834030 so it definitely is March and probably Mid? Given that I am building it up with a new drivetrain the historic value is not relevant but just curious.

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ngsd said:

Have you seen the VIN stamp on the frame? Mine was double stamped with a faint F under the N. Just wondering if the all had initial stamps or changed when they changed engine option

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