BAT Craziness

[Zeke]

I once owned the orange and white 1977 Sport Decor that sold on BAT a couple of weeks ago (back in the 90's before it was restored). I bought it from a small car lot and knew it came out of PA. It was very original also.....original exhaust with the little "football" cat converter, Firestone spare, interior and parchment floor mat.

Funny, both these 77 Sport/Decor's came out of PA (different dealerships) and both had dual tank doors, but no aux. tank or dash controls (the aux. gas door was fixed from the backside with some kind of bracket). I guess Ford was using up the parts on hand.

Z

 

[toddz69]

Yeah, you guys are right - the Ranger and Explorer inserts are cloth. They're not what I typically think of when I think of cloth material in seats but they definitely are. The Sport seats were always what you see in the pics. I'd refer to them as parchment rosette too. When I think of "knit vinyl", I think of the seats we had in our '77 F250, which was our "family car" for many years and I think the theory was that it breathed better than a regular vinyl seat.

Todd Z.

 

[LUBr LuvR]

The knit vinyl in the 1977s (and 1976s) is a different insert. The pattern somewhat resembles fish scales. I’ll post up a better pic tomorrow.

 

[okie4570]

All the RV and SV codes say "knitted vinyl".

 

[DirtDonk]

Sorry that I dragged it off subject, but for me, this is very interesting stuff!

 

[LUBr LuvR]

Here’s some closeups of the pattern.

 

[fordfan]

Here’s some closeups of the pattern.

View attachment 920254

That's right Mary... and '75s also had the 'fish scale' textured vinyl.

 

[LUBr LuvR]

That's right Mary... and '75s also had the 'fish scale' textured vinyl.

Thanks Dennis, was wondering about the 75s. Maybe it came with the wider spoke steering wheels

 

[fordfan]

Thanks Todd, this will be a fun watch.

Yes. This is a very nice Bronco with one of the best parchment mats that I have seen. The repaint of this Bronco would bother me a bit though. By looking closely at the detail pictures, it's had an all over respray with even the door jambs and door edges sprayed. Most of the tailgate components were also sprayed Bright Emerald. The respray makes you wonder why on a Bronco with this low of mileage. I think the respray quality is the reason why the seller decided to leave it coated in the 'barn dust'.

 

[fordfan]

Thanks Dennis, was wondering about the 75s. Maybe it came with the wider spoke steering wheels

Yes. The '75 was the first year of the fat spoke wheel too...

 

[toddz69]

Interesting details on the upholstery. Thanks @LUBr LuvR and @fordfan for additional details.

Todd Z.

 

[hyghlndr]

Weird that I have seen so many of the late 77 special decor in PA, more than anywhere else but most have been very rusty.

 

[toddz69]

Weird that I have seen so many of the late 77 special decor in PA, more than anywhere else but most have been very rusty.

Does seem to be a lot of them in that region, now that you mention it. Similar situation to a number of the last '77s being in a certain area in TN - @clarrance has mentioned that numerous times - and I think most of the TN late trucks are a dark green color.

Todd Z.

 

[stout22]

That special decor is one of my favorite 77 colors

 

[DirtDonk]

Any chance that mat is one of the new replacements?

 

[Slowleak]

It’s odd that the Marti shows “reduced noise exhaust system” but it has the standard rear pipe.

 

[DirtDonk]

I think Ford was just being euphemistic and was making the standard exhaust sound exotic and worth more money.
When all they meant was that they were actually installing some tubing and a muffler behind the exhaust manifold!

 

[Slowleak]

The reduced noise exhaust option was a tailpipe that had an extra bend so that exhaust, and noise, exited out the rear. It was required in some urban locations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DirtDonk]

Interesting. So the standard exhaust went straight out the side? And the reduced noise version faced rearward?
Never knew that, and only saw the latter on Broncos with original exhaust around here. For your stated reason most likely...
Wonder if we can find any pictures of both original types.

Paul

 

[chuddy]

Here's a picture of my "pre-ranger" Ranger with the reduced noise exhaust, this was a pretty unmodified truck before it burned to the ground.