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1967 Military Bronco — U.S. Navy range security

molecvir

Newbie
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
18
Hello all,
Hopefully this is the right spot for this thread but I somehow got lucky and acquired a 1967 Military Bronco in service for the U.S. Navy as a range security vehicle. It’s just a guess but I’m thinking it was used at Naval Base Coronado because I picked the bronco up in California but again that’s just a guess.

The only identifiable markings are the following:

Range security on the tailgate and also on the tailgate a the numbers 94-5188

No doors came with it and no hood or front bumper. Which from pictures of old jeeps would have likely contained letterings as well

My goal is to restore to original. Any help with locating pictures or any information on this bronco would be greatly appreciated.
 

okie4570

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
9,227
Loc.
NW OK
JGbronc is the military bronco guru here, I'll let him know. And welcome to classicbroncos!
 

JGbronc

Bronco Maniac
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
6,211
Welcome to CB!

The Military Broncos had several unique features. The Navy Broncos had a plate on the lower center of the dash that read “US Department of the Navy” along with contract numbers and the VIN. Also there were unique headlight guards, special rear bumper with shore power connector, fender mount mirrors similar to that of a ‘67 Roadster, Warranty decal on the glovebox door, and the colors were unique special order colors. A Navy Bronco would be gray, Air Force blue, and Marines/Army was green.

They were usually simple with few options, front buckets with rear seat, 170/3-speed with 4.11 gears. Although there has been one confirmed 289 equipped.

Here are a few pics that show the various differences I mentioned:
 

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mebco09

Full Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
460
Welcome to CB!

A Navy Bronco would be gray, Air Force blue, and Marines/Army was green.


Here are a few pics that show the various differences I mentioned:

So here is a question on colors. I have a '67 military also, Marti says it was painted special green (assuming that is OD green.) That paint is underneath all the military applied undercoating on mine.

In the bed area of mine, there is a lighter green color, similar to the color painted that you show on the "range officer" bronco in the photos you posted. (on the outside left rear quarter.) There is no OD green paint anywhere on the floor of mine underneath this lighter green color.

I thought all of these broncos were OD green and then the individual services painted them upon delivery.

Here is a photo of my floor. Trying to figure out where this color came from. DSO and Marti show this one as US government ordered.
 

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JGbronc

Bronco Maniac
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
6,211
So here is a question on colors. I have a '67 military also, Marti says it was painted special green (assuming that is OD green.) That paint is underneath all the military applied undercoating on mine.

In the bed area of mine, there is a lighter green color, similar to the color painted that you show on the "range officer" bronco in the photos you posted. (on the outside left rear quarter.) There is no OD green paint anywhere on the floor of mine underneath this lighter green color.

I thought all of these broncos were OD green and then the individual services painted them upon delivery.

Here is a photo of my floor. Trying to figure out where this color came from. DSO and Marti show this one as US government ordered.

So the original green color was not actually OD green. It is a dark green but not the typical military green. See pic below:

The story of the military branches painting them the individual colors is simply false, sorry. They left the assembly line painted the color representative of the branch it was sent to. In fact you’ll find that most were built in groups (VIN numbers will be close to others from the same branch), but these groups were spread out and there were more than one group for each branch.

As far as yours, it’s hard to tell from that pic. Maybe it’s my phone. Do you know what branch yours was from? Are you sure it’s not a Forestry service instead of Military?
 

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mebco09

Full Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
460
So the original green color was not actually OD green. It is a dark green but not the typical military green. See pic below:

The story of the military branches painting them the individual colors is simply false, sorry. They left the assembly line painted the color representative of the branch it was sent to. In fact you’ll find that most were built in groups (VIN numbers will be close to others from the same branch), but these groups were spread out and there were more than one group for each branch.

As far as yours, it’s hard to tell from that pic. Maybe it’s my phone. Do you know what branch yours was from? Are you sure it’s not a Forestry service instead of Military?

Attached is a photo of the underside of the inner fender where I removed some of the undercoating. I am pretty sure that the undercoating is military in nature, because it was old and everywhere. Matches the undercoating on my Dad's 67 as well. (Removal of the undercoat was going to be a huge job, so I decided to put it back) That color is the OD green that I thought was factory. Maybe thats a primer? Its also dark green under and around the VIN tag.

So my Marti also says Special Paint Green, Ford # MX7041195. Domestic special order # 106. 16 serial #'s away from my Dads, and we know that my Dad's was Army because his has the tag on the dash. Mine had the same or similar tag on the dash, because the holes are still there in the same spot.

The second photo is my bed side. The Bronco was painted by someone, after it was built, but it was a pretty thorough paint job, up underneath the bed sides and the entire interior. They sprayed the top of the transfer case, frame rails by the rear bumper. Weird thing is that there is no green paint under the interior lighter green color.

I think that the Bronco was green when it left the factory, and then possibly surplussed and sent to the USFS where it got it's lighter green color. It spent a significant amount of time in Winthrop, WA, which is in the middle of the Okanogan NF. (Dad's ended up with the Oregon Dept. of Forestry, so forest use might have been common when the Army was done with them.)

History on these is interesting. My Dad saw two Broncos as a 19 year old Army recruit at Fort Lewis, WA in the Fall of 1967. I like to think that we might have one of those! If they could talk...
 

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molecvir

Newbie
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
18
The story of the military branches painting them the individual colors is simply false, sorry. They left the assembly line painted the color representative of the branch it was sent to. In fact you’ll find that most were built in groups (VIN numbers will be close to others from the same branch), but these groups were spread out and there were more than one group for each branch.

@JGbronc

Mine definitely has a dark green paint then looks like it was sprayed Navy Grey after the green. Is the green the primer and painted grey at the factory?

My marti says something similar special order green.

Mine does not have the headlight guards and is missing the front bumper.... luckily the rear bumper is there with all the goodies.

Mine appears to have been a beach runner, big balloon tires in the rear and fenders hacked away to accommodate those tires.

Thanks for all the help everyone

Scott
 

JGbronc

Bronco Maniac
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
Messages
6,211
The story of the military branches painting them the individual colors is simply false, sorry. They left the assembly line painted the color representative of the branch it was sent to. In fact you’ll find that most were built in groups (VIN numbers will be close to others from the same branch), but these groups were spread out and there were more than one group for each branch.

@JGbronc

Mine definitely has a dark green paint then looks like it was sprayed Navy Grey after the green. Is the green the primer and painted grey at the factory?

My marti says something similar special order green.

Mine does not have the headlight guards and is missing the front bumper.... luckily the rear bumper is there with all the goodies.

Mine appears to have been a beach runner, big balloon tires in the rear and fenders hacked away to accommodate those tires.

Thanks for all the help everyone

Scott

No the green wouldn't be the primer. So are you sure it was Navy used from the beginning? Does it have the Navy dash plate? These were sold in auctions or repurposed and could've been used for a different purpose later.
 
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