European Bronco?

[Jr.mudflinger]

I saw a picture of a Bronco Ranger and though it looked off..noticed the guy was right hand driving. Never knew the Bronco might of gone to Europe. Any insight?

Colton

 

[bronco1017]

Are you sure the picture wasn't flopped? Look at the emblems and see if they read right.

 

[BRONCOchild]

i thought the same thing. someone in here, a while back, posted a pic of "how rare my bronco is with the gas caps on the passenger side". needless to say, his hoax was not that cleverly though out, as the "classicbroncos" sticker on his window was flipped around backwards-indicating that he merely flipped the picture of the bronco over.

 

[Jr.mudflinger]

It wasn't flopped because the lisence plate numbers were the right way. Gas caps were on the same side as ours just the drive was on the opposite side. It looked like an older picture, too.

 

[bmc69]

The IHC Scouts were often set up for right-hand drive for postal delivery use..just like the Jeeps were. Maybe there were a few Broncos too?

 

[Revelation]

Always wanted to build a right hand drive

 

[Viperwolf1]

Right hand drive might open up some steering box retrofit options.

 

[Jr.mudflinger]

Here is the picture.

 

[clarrance]

Thats an interesting picture. Even the turn signals look different.

 

[eaglenest66]

The wipers are opposite direction and is it me or are the side view mirrors different from each other? One looks round while the other is rectangular.

 

[Stroppe-Envy-77]

There also appears to be a shoulder belt.

It looks to be some kind of advertising or promotional photo, so perhaps Ford was toying with the idea of selling the Bronco in Australia or New Zealand and put together a prototype(?)

What might help is to find a license plate expert (there are collector groups) to ID the plate and the registration sticker in the windshield.

 

[FRANKO289]

THE LICENSE PLATE IS A NEW SOUTH WALES "AUSTRALIAN" !!
sorry not a Euro Bronco but one from Down Under !!!!!!
Great pic ! I am curious if its got the ford falcon v8 ?!?!

 

[BajaFresh75]

Adjustable mirror on one side and round on the other...wierd! I love the Euro turn signals. This is the best newly discovered Bronco picture I've seen in a while. I want some of those Euro lenses. They look like a 66-68 with 2 bulbs and 4 screws.

 

[Stroppe-Envy-77]

So, were Broncos ever sold in Australia? I'm thinking no, as we certainly would have heard about them before now.

To further my earlier guess, this could be a photo of a prototype that may have never even been in Australia. Ford could have toyed with the idea of selling them there and had their product planning and engineering people put together the example seen in the photo. Run out to a wooded section of the Dearborn proving grounds and snap some pictures to run by the brass.

Going by the motor vehicle codes of that country, they would have just added the equipment (as well as the RHD) required by law to make it look right and legal. The clear running lights / amber turn signal combination, round mirror on the "driver's" side, shoulder belt, and of course the license plate could have all been easily put onto a Ranger, once the RHD conversion had been done.

(And here's a further thought. What if they just added a phony steering wheel to the right side, shot the picture and then altered the photo to remove the real driver? True, there was no Photoshop in the early '70s, but a good photo retoucher would have easliy been able to do it. Much easier for a "maybe" project than re-engineering everything mechanically.)

 

[Scoop]

Adjustable mirror on one side and round on the other...wierd! . . .

I don't believe there is a matching mirror for the Ranger remote driver's side mirror. I have never been able to find one even off another vehicle like a Granada or such. Thus they just put a non-remote round one on the "new" driver's side!

 

[Bajabrewer]

There also appears to be a shoulder belt.

It looks to be some kind of advertising or promotional photo.

I was thinking the same thing. Notice the body rolling right & the driver leaning left & with his right hand at the top it looks like he's steering back to the left to kick the rear end out. Neat pic & a unique looking Bronco!

 

[Broncobowsher]

I have looked off and on again for many years. I have never found a RHD Bronco (factory built anyway).

That photo is interesting. Looks like they at least thought about it enough to build one with all the correct regletory pieces. Even so far as to do the proper RHD wipers (RHD cars have wipers reveresed as well, makes getting windshields for them here in the states a real pain).

It would be interesting to see what they did in regards to steering and track bar setups.

 

[FRANKO289]

OK ... after seeing this thread i made some phone calls to friends overseas and down under.

My Aussie mate told me he never seen a Bronco in AUS. made prior to 78 but in his travels to
South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Swaziland & Botswana he seen a bunch of them !!

Would luv to get my hands on a right hand drive EB !!!

 

[shamu]

OK ... after seeing this thread i made some phone calls to friends overseas and down under.

My Aussie mate told me he never seen a Bronco in AUS. made prior to 78 but in his travels to
South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Swaziland & Botswana he seen a bunch of them !!

Would luv to get my hands on a right hand drive EB !!!

I have seen another pic (Camel cigarettes) with the spare on the hood. I don't think the hood will hold up very long.

 

[GeoffatBestop]

GoogleFu: I can only find this image one other place on the world wide innerwebs.

According to this Australian blog about cars, the image comes from "Wheels Magazine" and he uses it to illustrate how Ford became a force in Australian car sales.

http://bestsellingcarsblog.com/1977...-catches-up-on-holden-a-datsun-on-the-podium/