Thoughts on '68 Bronco

[Project F]

Hey all, looking at possibly buying my first Bronco. It is '68 model, has a 6 cylinder, decent paint job and a snow plow on it. My buddy's dad owns the Bronco and I know it runs well enough for him to use in the winter to plow his roads and just tinker with...but I am not sure if it can be driven daily or not. I am supposed to go look at it this weekend and can report back more about the condition.

Anyhow he is asking around $1500 for it, and assuming it's not a rust bucket I was curious if this was a good deal. Right now I have an '04 Jeep Wrangler I want to sell and use this '68 as my daily driver. Not sure if that is really feasible or not but hoping so. While driving it, I'd like to build a 302 and do a swap out later on but not sure how hard that would be as I am not a mechanic by trade but I have a few buddies that do that type of work that can probably help me.

Later on I will buy a truck as a daily driver and retire this to a weekend and recreational vehicle to go muddin' and crawlin rocks. I have always loved the looks of these old Broncos and was thinking it would be a great way to get started but I really don't know much about the +/-'s of the different years and what not.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

 

[68 Broncoholic]

Sweet! Get that sucker before the ol man changes his mind, sounds like a good deal.
With the cash you get from your Cherokee you can get a 302 and up grade to a NP435 trans and NP205 t-case out of a 78 Bronco cheaply. Maybe add the 203 doubler for more crawl ratio. Then the sickness will hit ya and who knows where it will go from there...

 

[Gummi Bear]

It sounds like my wife's Bronco.


The inline 6 works just fine, you just won't be winning any races with it.

Keep the Jeep until you have the 68 running just right.

 

[Scoop]

$1500 sounds like a good deal. Check the frame out real well since it's been used as a plow truck. Not sure if they salt the roads in OK or not?

 

[Skiddy]

$1500 sounds like a good deal. Check the frame out real well since it's been used as a plow truck. Not sure if they salt the roads in OK or not?

Yes they do use salt but not near as much as up north, they usually use sand around here. That does sound like a great deal take a bunch of pics for us. If you were a lil closer I would go look at with ya I would also keep the heep for a while until everything is all working great. Let me know if I can help

 

[Project F]

Haha, I'm not worried about winning races with it. Besides I have an inline 6 cylinder on my Jeep now, it's dog slow as well.

I'm really stoked about this Bronco. My girlfriend thinks it's a bad idea to depend on an older vehicle as a daily driver. I kind of agree, but I really want this thing pretty badly. Besides with the cash I save from making my Jeep payments I can afford some maintenance on the Bronco.

Aside from rust on the frame, is there anything else I should be looking for? Any special options? I'm guessing that old means stuff like disc brakes, power steering, etc might be options that are desirable. Also, will all these be shift on the column, or is there a floor option or even an auto?

 

[Gummi Bear]

Power steering, disc brakes, D44, BB 9" are all things that came later.

Unless someone else has done the upgrades somewhere along the years.

You'll be starting with a very spartan vehicle, with a ton of potential. The only limits are your imagination, and your pocketbook. ;D

I daily drove mine for several years. Expect to be tinkering on something or another pretty much every weekend. Be prepared for lots and lots of $20-50 repairs and upgrades.

The 170 is a 2.8L motor, the 200 is a 3.3l, compared to your Jeep 4.0

Count the freezeplugs. Swapping in a 200 was pretty popular for a while. If it has 3 freezeplugs, it's a 170, if it has 5 freezeplugs, it's a 200. They're on the passenger side, below the manifolds.

Go ahead and get a contributor status, so you can post pics. Searching will net you tons and tons of great info and ideas for tech and fix-it's. There's also the FAQ section, with lots of great stuff.

If you have questions, ask away.

 

[Project F]

Well I went to look at the Bronco today, despite the crappy rainy weather and water logged feet. %)

I didn't get any pics because I didn't want my camera to get wet and ruin it, but here is a run down of things I noticed:

1. The motor is a 289 V8, not a 6 cylinder as originally thought. My buddy's dad believed his brother (previous owner) had pulled the original and stuck the V8 in it.

2. We could not get the motor to crank over. I think maybe my buddy might have flooded it but after tinkering with it a good 15-20 minutes it still wouldn't turn. It got close several times, but no dice. At the least it needs tweaked, but may need totally replaced.

3. When the 289 was installed a floor mount tranny was installed. A good thing for me as I cannot column shift to save my life.

4. No backseats of any kind. The front seats need replaced as they are in horrible condition (chunks missing). It had the original dash, guages, etc. Basically a total interior resto is in order.

5. Floor pan on the driver seat is rusted through and needs repaired.

6. Spots of surface rust over the majority of the body. It looked like it was originally a light baby blue color, and then it looks like someone went back over it with a medium green color (yuck). There was one spot about 9" x 9" where something had knocked the paint off the vehicle and it was down to bare metal (looked like silver galvanized metal). What amazed me was the thickness of the paint. I bet it was close to a 1/4" thick. Is that normal??? So at the least a new paint job is in order.

7. I wasn't able to identify any major rust spots on the frame, but admittedly I didn't inspect as closely as I wanted. The crappy weather and my lack of having an extra change of clothes or a tarp just didn't warrant rolling around in the mud. I suspect there might have been some light rust areas given the condition of the rest of the vehicle.

8. It had the original wheels. And the tires still had about 70% or more of the tread (appeared to be stock size...small ), but I'd probably replace them anyhow as I believe this thing to just sit for all but a few days of snow plowing in the winter (which hardly happens in Oklahoma) and I bet they have some dry rot going on.

9. The Bronco still had a snow plow attached to the front complete with a hydraulic box and everything. It was part of the deal, but honestly I would never use it. Any idea how much they are worth as a separate item??? It was old but appeared to be in decent shape. I was thinking it may be worth buying just to sell the plow and reduce the overall invested cost.

10. No fender flares. No lift. It had some diamond plate steps mounted to the body which were ugly as sin and needed removed. I'm sure that would be more body work to repair.


After looking at everything I was extremely disappointed. I was presented with a picture it could possibly serve as a daily driver with a little bit of work, but from what I saw a complete resto is in order. On top of it all, I found out he is asking $2,000 instead of $1,500 as I originally thought. He isn't in a hurry to sell, and I wasn't in a hurry to buy today. I think I'm going to kick it around for a little while before I leap. One of my major dilemnas is I am in the process of selling my house and will be relocating to the nearby area (exact location, house or apt, etc hasn't been determined yet), so I am not 100% sure I will have a garage for repairs and resto.

So I'm pretty bummed...right now it looks like I will probably pass and wait for one in better condition. What do you guys/gals think?

 

[BroncKrawler]

Sounds similar to how my '68 started out. I paid a little bit more than $2000 for mine which looking back was a bad idea since I'm still making payments on it and I keep finding more problems that the PO didn't tell me about %). I replaced all of my floors using sheetmetal I had laying around, swapped in some seats from a Honda, rebuilt the carb, put on some 31x11.5 All terrains, and painted it flat black. I'd say if you don't have another vehicle to daily driver than I'd pass on this Bronco until you find one in good enough condition that would serve you well as a daily driver if thats what you're wanting.

 

[73stallion]

yank that 5 speed out of your jeep and put it behind the bronco's 289. that's an NV3550 you have in the jeep!

 

[brewdude]

I agree don't buy it for a daily driver.