What started or created your path to a bronco ?

Me-
When I was 16 and a bit younger, My grandpa and my uncle both had bronco's. Grandpa had a yellow one with a camper and my uncle had a green one. My memory of them is from around the years of 1975 to 1980ish in Gilroy California.
When my Uncle would take his boat to the lake, he would swap his bronco with my dad for the weekend or longer and use my dad's truck to pull the boat over Pacheco pass. Me being 16, and 17, could not resist and when nobody was home , I would "borrow" the bronco whenever I could and drive it around the washes and 4 wheel it without permission with a friend who "borrowed" a short bed ford 4x4 from his dad. Working that 3 on the tree and cruising the washes in my uncles bronco was just the greatest thing. He had an 8 ball on the shifter but I can't remember many other details other than it was a bare bones and just tough looking beast. Even then, people admired it. I always washed it and tried to hide the fact that I "borrowed it" and to this day, don't really know if I was ever found out.
These escapades are what manifested into my yearning to own one. I've had one since age 20, and have learned a ton about working on cars by owning them. I think my current one is # 7 or 8 after 30 more years and I won't be without one ever again.

The really cool thing is that my 26 yr old in Arizona bought one about 6 years ago because of the memories we shared when he was growing up and my now 17 year old loves working and driving it when he visits each summer and winter. I'm sure he will be getting one as soon as he is financially able to swing it.

Whats your story?

Brett

I grew up in the bronco I now own.

What a cool thread!

Growing up in the San Luis Valley where the cows outnumber the people (or at least they did pre-2000), I grew accustomed to having my own space. I primarily grew up on a 1 acre patch in the middle of my grandfathers 400 acre ranch bordering the Rio Grande. My dad's a diesel mechanic and a Ford man. So naturally I too became a blue oval fanboy. Camping was a way to be secluded, away from the daily bustle and I knew that was the type of camping for me. In high school I bought my first car, an '83 Capri RS and enjoyed it, but knew I'd prefer a truck. I worked at a hardware store thru HS and a friend of mine there owned (still does) a nice baby blue '73 Bronco. That was the first encounter with an EB that I remember. I took the Capri to college and got the itch for seclusion again because the big city (Denver) was getting to me. So with the help of my folks, I bought a new '99 F150 Offroad to aid in getting away from the crowds. My wife and I married in 2000 and we began to camp as often as we could, pushing my F-150 harder each time. Finally I knew it needed to be more capable, so in went a detroit in the rear. It was performing quite well and often I'd get asked how I got it "up here". But soon I was pushing it hard enough that I was risking my one and only vehicle. Getting to work could present an issue. My lovely wife said, "well why don't you get a cheap vehicle you can go wheeling with and that way you can always get to work on Monday". So I began to look for something that tickled my fancy. A jeep? Nah - those are way too common. Samarai, too small. Turning back to the Blue Oval, I began to search for EB's, but also kept an FJ-40 on the list as well. I don't recall how I came across my first bronco, but it was a bone stock 1974, 3-on-the-tree, 302. I paid $2000 for the bronco (from a refi on the F-150) and found out what rust does to such a rig. I knew literally nothing about these rigs. But it ran, it got around and I began to wheel it. My cousin, a mechanic, and my dad were instrumental in helping me fix, upgrade, and improve this bronco and I learned so many things along the way.

I hope that I NEVER find myself without a bronco and I am hoping that I can pass along this love to my son (and maybe daughter).

cool stories guys.. lets hear some more !

Brett

I was raised to be a bow tie man. Growing up we only owned GM products. Impala's, a van , even a vega. My dad considered buying a thunderbird in the 80's and I remember having a melt down on him over the issue. By the time I hit 17, I had worked to save up the cash to buy my dream ride- An Iroc Z28 Camero. I loved that car...for a while. What a POS it turned out to be. A friend in High school had an Ford high boy that we used to wheel in but it was stolen from in front of his house. Soon after, he was driving a 74 Bronco. The Bronco had belonged to his older brother who had been killed in a car crash a couple years before. We started wheeling in the Bronco and I was hooked. My buddy was going to school down in Pueblo so he got something more economical ( Diesel VW rabbit ) and I bought the Bronco from his dad. I drove it through school in fort collins and for a few years after. Next came the Mustang bug, I picked up a 5.0 Mustang and drove the hell out of it and started to work on the Bronco to get it back on the road. I did a Fair job at best on my "Restoration". Another couple years went by and one day I woke up to find my Mustang had been stolen. There I was, back in the Bronco until the insurance money came in. Guess what I got with the insurance money...Another Bronco my 66 U13 with a half cab on it ! I tossed a few dollars into the 66 and it became my daily driver. After that, I reattempted the restorations and modifications on the 74. It came out much better this time. With both Broncos on the road, Bronco #3 found me. Originally, it was going to be a fix and flip but my son laid claim to it as his first car. We have a little bit less than 4 years to get it done!

When I was young I was a Jeep guy, I had three different CJ7 over the course of a few years. They all had that miserable Dana rear axle where the wheel hub was pressed onto the axle. It had to be the weakest design ever as I used to go through rear axles almost every time I went wheelin'.

My room mate traded an old Ford Courier for a worn out 73 Bronco. It was a total piece of crap with no top, no doors, bald tires, and every corner was dented. Well my CJ7 was disabled with broken axles so I drove the Bronco for a couple weeks and I was hooked. That SUMBITCH could go anywhere anytime. There was one hill climb that I had been trying to conquer with my Jeep for years but couldn't ever do it. The Bronco did it first time. Hell, I could stop half way up and still make it to the top.

I got out of 4 wheelin' and into stock car racing so never really looked for a Bronco to buy.

Fast forward a couple decades to when my oldest needed his first car. We bought the 77 and after working on it one time he decided to share that he preferred an import with the big muffler.

I guess it was meant to be.

No glamorous story here. I saw a rusty yellow one close to my neighborhood that was pretty rough. The only thing that would make this yellow beast worse would be a non-matching black hood. However, that thing was awesome. I didn't even know it was a Bronco. I'd jog by it from time to time and finally stopped to talk to the owner. He was really proud of it and the great times it had given him and his family. It wasn't long before I was in a full fledged hunt for a Bronco that suited me. That hunt started at CB.com which soon directed me here. I was ready to start learning more about cars/trucks and meeting some cool people. I landed a kick a$$ Bronco that I've learned a ton on. As for the "cool" people....I'm still keeping my eyes open.

Hopefully this will be the start of a "glamorous" story for my kids. "When I was a kid my Dad always took us camping in his Bronco club..."

It was in the neighbors driveway when I bought my house.

well it started with my mom saying lets go look for your first car.
we went out and looked at a Honda and a 77 ford f 250. I liked the truck but not the Honda
soo we kept up the hunt when we drove past this yellow mini truck lol
we stopped and looked at this thing well it was instant LOVE it was a small truck that had 4 wheel drive ( Half Cab ) never even knew that they
made a bronco like that but ( I was young and dumb ).
the best part was it only had 1 extra seat and all manual as far as windows and locks. It was so cool. I broke the engine so my dad helped me rebuild it
I was a stupid young kid and couldn't check fluids cost me a engine.
I was 16 when It was bought in 2000. Still have it today
Then after having to fix EVERYTHING and still fixing things on it due to the farmer/ previous owner
So I went and found a 74 that is close to being Done but needs paint and some body work. this is the one I can drive
In tell I get the 66 all worked out.
I will always own a Bronco, will never be with out one

Whenever I have been asked this question I can only respond with one answer, "If you have to ask you wouldn't understand".

I fell in love with the bronco in the early 80's and have owned no less than 7 of them. Tough times cost me a few of them, having to move or lack of space cost me the rest. Never again for any of it. I still own #5 and #7. They are going to be my grandson's (who is 6) and granddaughter's (who is 4) 1st vehicle's. I'm just hoping to carry on the passion.

My senior year of HS, my parents gave me a small graduation gift advance and let me go find whatever vehicle I wanted with 4500 bucks. The first thing I test drove was a CJ5 on 37's. After fearing for my unstable life, we then went to drive a 69 Bronco. So much better!! The deal was done. I drove it through my freshman year of college up in Boulder but it wasn't real conducive to commuting back to HR often and weekly ski trips. So I sold it and bought a newer more "reliable" Jeep Wrangler.

Ever since graduating college I've wanted to get another Bronco. I finally reached a point in my life where I wasn't moving every 8 months and had a garage for a project. So here I am- loving and hating every minute of it!! If you've followed some of my threads over the last couple months, I've had some pretty bad luck but I guess I should view it as being immersed via firehose. When all said and done, I'll have 1000 percent more working knowledge than I did 2 years ago!



The original. Many years ago and lbs. ago.

Barbie has a Jeep.
Clint Eastwood drove a Bronco.
Enough said.

I always liked the looks and dug the capability of the early "bob tails" and always thought I wanted one. I was a bit disappointed when my oldest decided to go ahead and build a car instead of a Bronco but it was a classic Mustang, for his first vehicle but that was up to him. I was thrilled when my second (youngest) son chose one over a CJ-7! We searched, found a good candidate located in conifer, I drove up, made the deal and told the seller that it was contingent on my then 14 yr olds approval. Well he approved so I drove it down the hill. I called my wife before I hit I70 and told her that as soon as we were done with his... I was going to need one of my very own!

Little did I know that you are NEVER DONE!!! But that is ok - there are now 3 - or parts of 3 in my garage.

Her Jeep Grand Cherokee is languishing in the Driveway - not good, not good at all....

I wanted cj3b. My dad call me one night and said he made a deal that I would buy a 1968 Bronco from a friend of his. This friend of his has a son that could not keep the Bronco, a new truck and the girl friend. So I got the 1968 Bronco just take over the payments. The rest is history. That was in 1979 and I still have that Bronco. It is being rebuilt for the second time.