Survey..................How'd you get your EB?

[donks&broncs]

I came home on leave prior to getting out of the navy and went lookin for my dream truck... A '70s classic... Blazer. Fortunately a friend (known here as BFPD 630) talked me into going and looking at a '75 bronco in the paper. One test drive and I was sold.

 

[SecondChance]

My Bronco was given to me by my brother. When I picked it up it was only a shell. With the help of my 78 full size, I now have a 1970 Bronco with full size difs,c6 to a 205 transfer case. the original 302 has a 90 Grand Marquis injection on top.

 

[SaddleUp]

My Bronco was given to me by my brother. When I picked it up it was only a shell. With the help of my 78 full size, I now have a 1970 Bronco with full size difs,c6 to a 205 transfer case. the original 302 has a 90 Grand Marquis injection on top.

And it was thrown together in 5 weeks to get it ready for SOB...

http://www.classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69276

 

[dk5122]

A good buddy of mine saw it in a backyard covered with pine needles,leaves, branches, and everything else you could think of. He new I wanted one since I was a kid. "38 years old now" Bought it 3 years ago... It sat for 3 before I got it. Paid $2000 for it. New top in box, door panels, seats, two new 36" swampers. Rollbacked it home... Got it running, and it made all kinds of noise... Loud banging in the engine. O well... Very little rust.. Only on front of the hood. So now it has become my garage queen. Currently Found a 351.. Pulling the tired 302, trans, tranfer case, and starting my winter project. ;D
I would have started sooner but I was saving for a new house that I bought last December. Now the my money is back on track hope to have the Bronco ready for spring... Thats my short story..LOL..Dan

 

[rollrock77]

My Bronco

About 10 yrs ago, my dad saw a high school kid driving the bronco around so he followed him. When the kid stopped, my dad asked if he was interested in selling the truck, and he was! Two nights later and $175, dad drove it home. He drove it a few times and did some work to it but then it sat until about a year ago.
I had always told him I wanted it, and finally convinced him to give it up. It didn't run anymore so he had a friend put it on a trailer for me. Since then I've done the following: centech harness, new brakes (lines and hoses), engine tune up, new exhaust, wheels and tires, 24gal bc gas tank and new lines, new alternator, new power steering pump, new shocks, and quite a bit of body work.
Dad gave it to me, but as all of you know I've more than paid for it. \

excellent topic by the way!

 

[grs44310]

One horse leads to another

When I was growing up my neighbor at my folks had 3 Broncos. I always thought there were cool trucks and used to beg him to go for rides in them. When I was 16 the neighbor asked me if I would take care of their 3 horses (4 legged) while they were on vacation for a week. He lived 2 miles away and I didn't have a car of my own yet so he brought down his blue and white '76 Bronco for me to drive back and forth. I fell in LOVE with that truck and told him if he ever wanted to sell it he should call me.

Well I grew went to college and got married with my own place. A couple years later that same neighbor from my parents called me up and told me he wanted to sell the blue Bronco. I told him it was SOLD and I haven't looked back since.

 

[JRS77]

Saw it in an abandoned shopping lot while moving my Mother-n-Law. Made my wife pull over and went and looked at it. It was a fresh frame off and I told her that it wouldn't sell less than 9-12K. Dude came up and said that his wife told him "Two broncos is to much. Either get rid of one or I'm leaving." Told me he was divorcing her and that he only wanted one anyway. So he sold it to me for 6,800. Not bad for a 77 completely redone 15 years ago. Man Has it been that long. My how time flies.

 

[68 EB]

My 68' was sitting at a dinner club when I saw it for the first time. I stopped and put a letter on the windshield asking if they were interested in selling it. The guy called me back with a crazy price so I passed on it. The guy called me again a year later with a lower price but still to much. 6 months went by and the same day I got canned from my job I seen the guy at a gas station and he says he needs to sell it like yesterday so I had my dad float me the cash (1/2 the price he was asking 6 months prior). $2000 I couldn't pass it up.

 

[mudstud]

I have always wanted a Bronco from the time I saw one. My Grandfather’s neighbor had one with no doors. I instantly fell in love with it but never seem to be able to find someone willing to part with theirs. I had worked a good bit of overtime and had a little extra money burning a hole in my pocket. I went searching for something and really had a heep in mind but ran across my current addiction. I brought it for $2,400 and have no regrets. The wife does not think I should spend as much on it as I do but if we agreed on every thing it would not be any fun being married.

 

[pooneee]

I saw my '71 advertised in the paper for $650. I talked the guy down to $500 and drove it home. He was going through a bad divorce and didn't want his wife to get her hands on it.

Poone.

 

[Broncoman]

My dad bought my 72 in 1973 for $2,000 for Pinkerton Guard Service in Birmingham, Al. The truck was used around town only. It had never been offroad in its life. At the time they had a total of 8 Broncos for sale. Fast foward to June of 1999. I convinced my dad that I wanted the Bronco when I turned 16. We got it painted, put on new weatherstriping all around, redid the seats, and got new wheels & tires. I didn't turn 16 until Jan so I had to weight what seemed like forever to start driving it. I drove it everyday until high school grad when I got a new car.

My 70 sorta found its way to me in April 04. My neighbors were having a new driveway paved and one of the guys working on it saw my 72 sitting in under the shed and walked over when he saw my dad out in the yard. He looked mine over real good. He asked my dad if I needed another one and my dad said no......but he would want another one. My dad got his number and I called him when I got home. I arranged to me him to look at the bronco a couple days later. He wanted $1200 for it I told him I wouldn't pay that much for it. He told me was trying to get up a little cash to get another car because his had died on him. I called him a few days later and we settled on $800. I had him bring it to my house a couple days later. He told me he had a few more parts to go with the truck that he would bring me in a few days. A week later I called him to see where the rest of my stuff was. Some other guy answered the phone and said that tommy does have that phone anymore. The man has disappeared from the face of the earth, but no harm done.


The pic on the left is my 72 before I got it. Middle one is the 72 now. The one on the right is my 70 the day after I got it. Its in about a million pieces now.

 

[Grunt1058]

1971 Bronco... I searched High and Low for an EB within driving range. Finally found one on classiccartrader.com...or something like that for $1800.00. Called the guy and talked to him for a little over an hour. 2 days later, I drove up to Denver CO and picked her up for the $1500.00 I offered to him sight un-seen. I took a tow bar and some tools to bolt the brackets to the front bumper. But, drove it home while my buddy drove my Explorer home. My main purpose for this Bronco was to build it and get rid of my 99 Jeep Wrangler I had. I made the mistake of listening to my wife and sold my Bronco and built the Jeep.

1974 Bronco... My cousin's new found buddy in the Albuquerque Police Department had this Bronco in his garage. He had the 302 rebuilt 900 miles ago and then drove it 900 miles from NC to NM. He didn't make it and had it towed the rest of the way. He started working on it but never finished it so I picked it up from him for $800.00. The frame was swiss cheese as was the main tub so I parted her out.

1973 Bronco... I realized the faults of my wifes thinkings so I parted out my Jeep and bought a truck. Now, I needed a toy. So I searched high and low again and found a clean, mostly rust free Bronco here in town for sale at a fairly reasonable price. I made the guy an offer and he accepted. I got it home, lifted it and drove it for several months before I decided to do a full frame off re-build. I stripped her to the frame and there she sat for almost a year. Ended up parting her out after I picked up my current 1971. It was a very sad day the day my wife told me I had to get rid of "Old Yeller".

1971 Bronco... I sold my truck for another truck which didn't work out for me. So I returned my new truck to the Stealership who sold me the lemon. I decided to save some $$$ instead of buying another F350 CC 4x4 Lariat, I went for another EB. I found this on on eBay in Washington state. I called and talked to this guy for several hours and finally made the fatal click "Buy It Now". I flew to Portland OR and saw this Red Bronco on a trailer. Man did she ever look so pretty. Once I got close, I should have taken my instinct and walked away. The pretty paint is a half assed job and the "Strong running 302" ended up being crap. But, I towed her home anyways. 1400 miles... A freshly rebuilt 351W with a few mods and a body lift and some 35" tires, a BB9" axle, new Power Steering and Power Brakes and now a WIP C4 install and this Bronco isn't even the one I bought for $7000 + Shipping. FUN FUN FUN!!!

1974 Bronco... I started keeping an e-mail list of all Albuquerque EB owners and attempted to maintain contact with these guys. One day, one of the guys sends an e-mail to my list saying that he had rolled his Bronco and needed to get rid of it a.s.a.p. I went to look at it with several others and ended up picking it up for $2000.00. I used most of the good parts in my 1971 re-build. The rest has been parted out or is in the process of being parted out. This is my last EB part out I will ever do. I absolutely HATE parting out Broncos. :'( :'( :'(

 

[blksn8k]

What an awesome thread! These stories are great.

Unfortunately, I haven't driven my 75 much this summer which kind of explains why I have not been on the board much. I keep the EB in a two car garage with two other cars. %) Needless to say it's a tight fit. Anyway, I wanted to be able to drive the Cobra this summer so the Bronco got relegated to the back of the grarge and its a real PITA to get it out. I also spent a lot of time this summer doing some badly needed maintenance on my Thunderbird SC.

I found the Bronco in Conn. on eBay almost two years ago (wow! I didn't realize it had been that long!) which explains why the plates say EBAY EB. Got it for $7000. In hind sight, I probably wouldn't do that again but hey, live and learn. It does have a pretty solid body so I suppose if it had been in better mechanical condition it might have been worth the price. It was driveable but just barely. The biggest problem was the worn-out steering box. The truck had 35" tires with a 5 1/2" suspension lift and a 2" body lift. Can you say "Nose Bleed"? Needless to say, with that much lift and a loose steering box it wasn't much fun to drive. It also had a warmed over 302 and a 3-speed with a Hurst floor shift conversion. At some point in its life the front axle had been swapped for a D44 with discs and it had a 9" rear with a Detroit Locker. The axles have 4.10 gears. It also had what appeared to be Mustang II bucket seats. I believe the truck was originally a half-cab as it still had the factory bulkhead but someone had installed a full top and a rear seat. The front fenders are 'glass and it was painted Grabber Green base coat/clear coat with a white top. The people at work call it the Green Monster.

My first mod was a new steering box and Saginaw pump kit from Tom's. Then I replaced one of the tires which had a patch on the sidewall. %) Had a hard time finding a tire to match since they were a discontinued model. Next up was a new section of floor pan and an inner rocker, both on the driver's side. Then I decided to replace the 3-speed with an NV3550 5-speed which I also found on eBay (new). In the process of getting ready for the tranny swap I discovered that the 302 had a bad cam. Oh well, I always wanted a stroked Windsor so I found a 393 Fox Lake shortblock for sale on the Corral website. I added a set of Roush 200 heads, Edelbrock intake and carb, a Comp cam and a set of Jeff's full length headers. The torque output in 2nd and 3rd gears is fantastic! ;D After that I replaced the front springs with a set of 3 1/2" coils from Cage and removed the 2" lift blocks from the rear springs. Next was a full set of Bilstein shocks. Now she handles almost as well as she goes. I also replaced the front seats with leather buckets from a Dodge Daytona. Along the way I also replaced the fuel tank with Chuck's 24 Gal tank. I still have a new soft top, wiring harness, some weather stripping and a couple more gauges to install and I want to add a full cage. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I added a Duff's twin stick and rebuilt the transfer case when I installed the new drivetrain.

At this point the truck looks and drives pretty good and is about 200% more reliable than when I got it. Would I do it again? Maybe. But lately I've had my eye on one of those Factory Five two-seat Cobra roadster kits ...

 

[Jeff B]

I had bought a 77 Scout II about 16 months earlier that I wanted to fix up and drive. One day, a guy I work with asked if I still had an extra bedroom/bathroom I wasn't using and I said yes. He told me there was a girl at work that was looking for a place to stay and would I be interested.

She moved in and while I was helping her move out of her old place she said I need to move my other truck (she had a Jeep Cheeroke). I said what other truck? She walked me out to the parking lot and said this one! It was an ugly brown 74 with a bad interior but a good body (came from Califorinia).

I said what are you going to do with this thing? She had plans to get it fixed but she just parked it and it never got driven. I had a couple of nice mountain bikes but didn't ride anymore due to a wrist injury that required surgery. She kept borrowing my bikes to the point I'd rarely see them anymore.

Well, we got to talking one day and I said since you don't drive your Bronco anymore and I don't ride my bikes anymore... why don't we make a trade?

A few weeks later she was the new owner of the bikes and she signed the title over to me. Not a dollar came out of my pocket. ;D Now, I still have both trucks and working to finish restorations on both of them. I LOVE MY BRONCO!!!

 

[braxton357]

My grandfather owned it. He had two eb's. This one was the first vehicle I ever drove and ever went offroad in that I can remember back at his hunting camp. He sold one to my uncle and when he died of cancer he gave me this one. It sat for 4 years in bfe ks until it made it's way here. It definately will never be sold...for any price.

 

[SeaBiscuit68]

My 68

Like so many others I've wanted one for as long as I can remember but money has always been hard to come by for me and the price of these trucks kept them out of my reach. I kept hoping the good deal would come along but it never did. I kept my eye open though. Fate would have to intervene eventually.

I went to bid a job on the outskirts of town and across the road was the saddest sorriest looking Bronco I ever saw. It was covered in pine needles and green slimey mold. The moss was so thick it was coming out the hood vents. The tires were all flat. It had dents. It had rust. It had dents in the rust. There was a for sale sign in the windshield that was so old you couldn't read it. I knocked on the door and met the owner's sister. We talked for awhile and I found out her brother had entered the service 12 years earlier and it had been sitting since. He would come home from time to time, fill it with fluids, run it then drain it. The family had been pressuring him to sell it to get it out of the yard. Damn eyesore I think was her phrase. Well he'd been wanting way too much. Seems everyone who bothered to stop and inquire about it walked away. Couldn't really blame them. Most folks are about looks when vehicle shopping. It had this hardtop that was pure rust. There were so many hornets living in it that to just approach it was a challenge. I spent about a half hour to get the driver's door to open 'cause the locks and latches were siezed. I figured I'd risk some oil and gas and check out the engine. Surprisingly it ran well with good and even compression. I was feeling pretty good about it at this point. Most electrical stuff didn't work but that didn't bother me. There were some positives though. It did have power steering and a locker, headers, a suspension lift and nearly new gnarly tires. If I could actually drive it around the block a time or two I was intent on taking it home. I had to take the tires two at a time to the station for air then unsieze the drum brakes before it was ready to roll. The maiden voyage was crazy. I had to steer like mad to go straight. I began to attract alot of attention from the neighbors who seemed excited about it's apparantly imminent departure. A deal was made and I headed straight for the car wash. A good scrubbing got the first layer off and then took it home where I fired up the pressure washer and really went at it. I scoured the engine bay, the passenger compartment, underneath, everywhere I could get at though even a year later I would still get random hornets at the worst moments.

I've put in alot of time and energy and $ and have been driving it everyday for almost three years. It has an incredible spirit, is very reliable and takes me anywhere I want to go. I swear it thinks of itself as half mountain goat. The dents and rust are still there. If there ever was a candidate for a complete frame-off this is it but I cannot do it. To be without it is more than I could bear. Far more faithful than either of my ex-wives. This is true love. Folks I'd like to propose a toast. Let's raise a glass to the best damn vehicle ever. Cheers!

 

[Fishmanndotcom]

i went to ECBR's Fall Crawl up at WITC in summertown, TN and some guy had a green uncut halfcab that ran and drove. i offered him $1500 and he took it. said he had too many projects, lol. so thats my story. ever since i have been getting more and more into the bronco pandemic!

dam i love this addiction

-cutts-

 

[Skipdevil]

I found mine through the Autotrader.com in San Diego in 2003. The girl that was selling it just had a baby and had to get rid of it. The Bronco was really ugly....She had it painted purple and it was a really, really cheap paint job. It did however had very little rust and mechanically it was in good condition. It was had a 302 with a C-4, power steering, 3 inch lift on 33 in tires, and a new STC top. This is exactly what I wanted and converting major components is a pain. I paid 6k and have done an extensive rebuild. I probably could have barganed down the price some more but it seemed like she needed the money and most of the other Broncos that I looked at were complete rust buckets. It went into the paint shop yesterday and my project is almost complete.

 

[Kidney]

Bought mine on an impulse. I had 2k burning a hole in my pocket. I found one locally and bought it. I ended up getting rolled on the deal. Oh well...At least it takes me back and forth to work in the winter. Maybe if I wreck another motorcycle I might start putting money in the Bronco.

 

[Leo73EB]

I was getting tired of the Jeep scene and the EB rekindled my love for the hobby/sport! Traded with a friend in TX. Glad I did, now... but back then, I probably shouldn't have. The owner, before my buddy (we'll call him DPO), got his hands on it really did a hack job to the EB.

I still remember what DPO said to me on the phone when I called him to get a jist of what he'd done to it. "Yeah man... about another $1000 dollars in stuff for her and you'll have a great running, reliable Bronco!"

%) <-- over $6500 later in mods and cleaning up his mess(es)!

I "think" I'm on the homestretch with her now, though. We'll find out soon. ;D