Introductions

I'll start this first blog post with an introduction. I am a lifelong lover of Classic Broncos. 

After an uneventful birth, I was brought home from the hospital in May of 1970 in a '67 Ford Bronco....I spent my youth riding in the back seat of my old man's Bronco and couldn't wait until I could get one of my own.
As a child my parents joined a Bronco Club, called the Western Washington Bronco Busters.....we had weekend camping/trail runs, we competed in off-road jamborees, donated time cleaning up trails and even competed in the 1974 Mint 400 Desert Race.

I have been around classic Broncos for my whole life, and working on them for the past 30 years or so. I don't mean to imply that I am an expert, but few people have had more exposure to these rigs than myself.
I grew up just 30 miles from the Olympia Brewery, sponsors of the Big Oly Bronco. James Duff's shop was in Sequim, just across Puget Sound. One of the members of our Bronco club owned a shop called RVA, (Recreational Vehicle Accessories) and was one of the 1st to sell aftermarket parts for Broncos.

Before getting into the story of my Bronco, I'll start with the one I was raised in.

My Father bought his 1967 harbor blue Ford Bronco in 1968 (used). It was originally equipped with a 170 cubic in-line 6 cylinder with a 3 speed on the column....no options, no radio, no carpet, not even floor mats...and manual everything. The interior was the creme white color. It had the hard top, bucket seats and a bench in the rear. The spare tire was mounted to the inside of the tail gate.
It looked similar to this 1966 Wagon except for the color and the bumper were painted white instead of chrome.

 
A few years after my Dad bought his Bronco he was approached about joining a Bronco Club. He had already spent a few weekends in the woods with his Bronco and was interested in learning about ways to make it more trail capable.
Here is a picture of my parents enjoying their Bronco, this was taken in 1968 or 1969

 

It wasn't long before he was swapping out the 170ci 6 cylinder for a 289 V-8 with a high rise 4 bbl and an RV cam. Then came the roll cage (the back half was made by a friend, the front half came from Smittybilt and was added later).
Then came a Dana 44 front axle, a larger 9" rear axle, bigger tires (11.00-15), which required cutting the finders.

Soon he repainted it a burnt red (orangeish red). The manual steering box gave up the ghost, so he installed a Lincoln Continental steering box. This was a popular retro-fit back then. After a few accidents, a couple of roll-overs and one endo through a ditch...it doesn't look at all like it did when he bought it.

I'll be posting more pictures of my Dad's Bronco as we go on....