Classic Broncos: Bronco Stories: Doug Nash's Bronco Buster

This Bronco story is about another Bronco that wasn't really a Bronco, but here at the blog, we talk about all things classic Bronco and this one did help increase awareness of our favorite Ford.

This is a bit of a short story for a couple reasons, one there isn't much to say about the Bronco Buster and two, it wasn't around for very long.

Doug Nash was a Detroit native who grew up during the 1950's in the Motor City and was bitten by the drag racing bug.

He campaigned a 1965 Comet Altered/Factory Experimental (A/FX) car before building our subject vehicle. For the uninitiated the Altered/Factory Experimental cars were the predecessors of the Funny Car. They altered the wheelbase to get more traction and the more they stretched them, the funnier they looked, thus the nick name "funny car".

In early 1966 Nash decided to build a funny car using a 1966 Bronco 1/2 Cab for the basis for the body. The nose was, per the unwritten rule of funny cars, elongated.

Here is the young Mr. Nash in 1966 working out some geometry on the Bronco Buster

One of Nash' biggest sponsors was Crane Cams

Of course, the body was made from fiberglass and the chassis from aluminum, so it really wasn't a Bronco. The combination did net him a weight of 1700lbs (including Nash in the seat) and several 8 second runs.

The Bronco Buster featured a Ford 289 ci small block, that was first injected and then equipped with a blower.

Nash campaigned the Bronco throughout 1966 and part of 1967 before a new NHRA rule that banned both funny car pick-ups and aluminum frames sidelined the Bronco.

At any rate, the rule change ended the Bronco Buster and Doug turned his attention to engineering transmissions. His transmissions were a huge success in drag racing and hot rodding.

Despite the fact the that the Bronco Buster spent less than 2 years on the track, there are a lot of pictures of it in action. Thankfully, due to it being an oddity people did take pictures of it.

Rumor has it the Bronco Buster was cut up and scrapped. The motor was used in other cars. Doug sold his transmission business and retired to the Cayman Islands before moving to Key West. Doug passed away in 2015 at the age of 73.

Thanks to model makers and builders, the Bronco Buster lives on.