Were Broncos meant to be daily drivers?

[Nightstick]

A conversation with a fellow EB owner got me thinking... This person was saying how things on his/her bronco seem to be wearing out or breaking at a rate we in 2012 don't see with our fancy new cars. Here's my thoughts...

I think most pre-1980ish vehicles weren't made to be as reliable as the cars of today are. Over that time, parts have been improved and have been made to last longer i.e. wheel bearings, gauges, engines, name it. In my experience, most of the original broncos or any classic for that matter that is still "on the road" after all those years are the ones that have around 75k miles on them. Heck, we put that many miles on our new cars in 5-6 years these days.

So, in my opinion I don't think these old rigs were meant to be what we consider a DD. Can it be? Sure. but we can't expect them to run for long periods of time between service intervals and replacing parts that are prone to wearing out. Don't take what I'm saying as a knock against anyone who does have a DD bronco, I'd love to have the same thing, just sayin...

So what's your opinion?

 

[fatboy]

When these trucks came out, most people had difficulty affording one vehicle let alone 2. I would guess they were meant for daily service.

 

[broncotime]

My dad purchased the family bronco brand new in 1970. We had a 66 ford country squire station wagon, but we lived in the mountains and the bronco was not only a daily driver, it was the only way to get down the mountain to town to get food and supplies in the winter. Having a bronco that could make it through the snow and ice of winter meant not having to drink powdered milk during the winter!

Heck yeah, it was a daily driver for probably the first 12 years of it's life. Pretty reliable as long as you stayed on top of the maintenance.

 

[Bulletman]

Night, are you old enough to remember early 1970's? I remember as a young teenager both my brothers had bronco's a 66 and a 72, both were daily drivers. Back then the average miles per year was more like 12,000 than the 30,000 a LOT of us average these days. I can remember that we only made ONE grocery trip per week and we only lived two miles from town,,,,,,,,, now the teminology is "run to town" and the town most around me refer to is 20 miles away. Yes bronco's were designed as daily drivers and were quite reliable, you just had to know how to change points and spark plugs as needed and carry enough tools to fix what was needed on the side of the road. I can remember that every spring Dad had to "work on" the lawn mower because the flywheel would rust and it wouldn't get any spark,,,,, today's small engines have electronic ignition and start after sittign with no problem. The techlology is advanced but they didn't dumb down our loved bronco's back in the day.

 

[asinor]

I think if you keep it maintained, replace wear and consumeable items, even an all original EB in good condition would be a fine DD. I have no problem driving my far from complete or perfect EB every day, I choose not to because its not where I want it to be cosmetically.

Just about every production vehicle is perfectly capable of being a DD.

 

[pcf_mark]

Once you have renewed what is worn out then you need to follow the maintenance guide. What most people do is treat it like a new car and never grease anything or top off fluids then stuff wears out and the thing lets you down.

I have a newer car and I have only looked under the hood three times in three years. My Bronco would have let me down if I tried that on it!

 

[Mountain Ram]

Everything on the EB was serviceable by shade tree mechanics... I won't even change the oil or rotate the tires on my wifes 2010 Tahoe! I don't know how to reprogram the air sensors or the oil life meter... Man I feel stupider for typing that in... LOL!

Todd

 

[sprdv1]

They were DD in their day and they can be now

So Yes senor.

 

[NGABronco]

Hey Nightstick, I think I know what you getting at but you need to define DD??? Is it 10 mi. per day @ 35-45mph or 50 mi. on the freeway a 65-70mph.
I prefer to tow mine when it's over 30-40 miles, it gives me a way home!!!%)%)

 

[Nightstick]

Good point NGA... My opinion of a daily driver may differ from others, but what I have in mind is something like 20 miles each way, and 65-75mph. Not the way vehicles were driven back in the day. The trip down the mountain, or a few miles back and forth to town is not what I meant.

And no, I'm not old enough to remember the early 70s... barely old enough to remember the early 80s, lol

 

[half cab]

The second Bronco I owned was in 1979 and it was a '66 ..170 inline 6 with around 150 thou on it.I drove it several years into the '80's and was still running strong when I sold it...Yea it was wore out,but still goin strong..

 

[N747JB]

Most vehicles built in the 60's when the Bronco debuted were designed to last 5-8 years and 75,000 miles or so. Warranties were 12/12, financing was 24-36 months, people didn't have long commutes as others have pointed out. A lot if not most of the Broncos were sold in less populated areas, folks just didn't drive as much. It's not uncommon for us to see trade ins averaging 25-30K per year, that was almost unheard of 40 years ago, with the exception of traveling salesmen.
These truck weren't expected to be around 40+ years later, the manufacturers intended you to just buy a new one every 4-5 years.;D no one thought about all us fools fixing these old gals up in the future.

 

[Pa PITT]

Nightstick My Running Buddy drives his daily .. But he may be 3 miles from work. He has A 1966 but with a 302 carbed & auto and soon to be EFI . He has driven his daily for about 10 years now. But in a small town daily is so much easier and his is garage kept.
....
..... I don't even like to drive mine to town 5 miles .. Summer it's too hot and winter it's too cold no heater well not much heater..
... So I drive mine to town for fuel once a month an on the farm after that..
... When You coming down to hunt.

 

[bknbronco]

They "were" ment to be DD. But that was a time when yearly milage was probably less than 10K a year.

Now if the question was....are they a "good" DD for todays commute?

Id answer NO! For thoughs of us that drive 20K-30K a year these things would never make it. And at around 10mpg im not sure id want to put 30K on mine. Im spoiled with the vehicles i have had in the past and would never want to drive my bronco, lets say, on vacation from minnesota to the florida keys and back (expecially with a 12 gallon tank). My past 2 trucks (a 3/4ton burb, and a deisel excursion) i have made that trip 3 times with each!

I do hope to get my bronco finished soon and attempt to drive it as my DD, but well see how that goes! I hardly drive anyware now because i have no work so it wont be that hard to do, but i do also love my cadi! We get spoiled nowadays. Back in the 70's the bronco had the bells and whistles that every vehicle had (not many).

 

[RH]

They can be D.D. mine has over 170,000 miles on it of which I've put about 110,000 at one time it was my only vehicle and I drove it everywhere.

 

[shamu]

Where is IZZY ????????????????????? Oh yeah he has a volvo (not a tow rig) and he puts 20k a year on his broncos. He has me beat hands down.

 

[broncojon68]

I've had my current DD 1968 (the green sloth) for 16 years. The first 5 or 6 years I drove it as a work vehicle 100 to 150 miles a day @ 10-12 mpg now re powered my DD is more like 5 or 10 miles a day @ 15-17 mpg. Jon

 

[El Kabong]

I voted yes. Can you imagine Ford (Or any manufacturer) selling many of something that they didn't intend for daily use? They seem like the other vehicles of their day. Anything built in those years was considered pretty old at 100,000 miles, & now the 1st spark plug change is at 100,000. A lot of us got more miles out of those vehicles, but they all needed more regular maintenance than modern vehicles. Even tire mileage has gone up dramatically. As we rebuild them today with hardened valve seats, high powered ignitions, better bearings, better timing chains/sprockets, and so on, they should do better than the originals.

 

[69 Fl. Bronc]

Of course they were.

 

[ransil]

As a stocker they were a nice rides..

Now that we have modern vehicles and I'm getting old and turning into a candy ass I need leather heated seats, 6 way adjustable with lumbar , air conditioning, dual climate control built in GPS voice controlled everything, remote and push button start, cant be bothered with inserting and turning a key..