Today, August 11th, 2023, is the 58th anniversary of Ford unveiling the Bronco to the automotive press. I thought today would be a good day to bring you the research I did on the origins of the Bronco.
Back to the question: when was the Bronco born?
Seems like an easy question, doesn't it? Most people would tell you that the Bronco was born on Thursday August 11th, 1965, but in reality, it existed before the public had the chance to see or buy one.
Do we consider the first time it was sketched, or when Henry Ford II gave the project the green light?
Was it when the first prototype was finished or maybe when the first Bronco rolled of the Detroit assembly line?
I am not sure what the correct answer is, but we will dive into these stories and find some interesting facts.
Let's roll the clock back to 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, Dr. No (the 1st James Bond film) is released in theaters, three men escape from Alcatraz, both Walmart and The Rollings Stones make their respective debuts and in October the whole world held its collective breath during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In Dearborn the talk of a Scout like vehicle was taking place at Ford HQ.
You may remember that Ford had built some 250,000 Jeeps during WWII. Ford in fact was responsible for many things related to the Jeep including the name (from GP, although that is often debated).
Suffice to say that Ford had some experience with short wheelbase four-wheel drive vehicles before the Bronco was born.
When the war ended many returning GIs bought the surplus Jeeps being sold by the government. They found new uses for the Jeep in the American back country; this opened a whole new market for automakers. This was the beginning of the SUV.
Some could say the Bronco was born in July of 1963. It was then that Ford designers were tasked with designing a competitor to the International Scout, the Jeep CJ and the Land Rover. See the memo below.
The Project Bronco team needed to shape the concept into something the American public wanted and use as many existing Ford parts as possible.
Ford reached out to approximately 300 four-wheel drive clubs to see what they liked and disliked in the available vehicles on the market. The want list included:
- Tighter turning radius
- Better seats
- Increased highway speeds
- Smoother ride
- Watertight cabins
- Availability of upgrade parts
What the public wanted was a street vehicle that could go off-road, basically what we call a "cross-over vehicle" nowadays.
It is interesting that in 1965 International revised the Scout 80 into the Scout 800, incorporating some of these desires into the new model. Corporate espionage, coincidence or something in the air? It is more likely that one of the people querying either worked for International or knew someone who did and a copy of the questionnaire found its way to International.
Ford now knew what the public wanted: "A Mustang for the great outdoors", as Motor Trend put it. Ford even considered building a 4-wheel drive version of the Ranchero, imagine that for a moment....
Do you know how many times the Ranchero changed body styles in the years between 1966 and 1977? Five times!
Back to the story, Ford was a little late to the game. By the time Ford was seriously considering an SUV project the Jeep CJ2A had been around for more than a decade, being released in 1944.
The Land Rover was introduced in 1948 and the International Harvester Scout saw the light of day in '60. By the mid-sixties the Toyota Land Cruiser had sold over 50,000 units Worldwide. Ford had some catching up to do.
In October of 1963 the following memo was distributed at Ford.
Here is another sketch of the concept from November 1963. This was drawn up in the morning of Friday November 22, 1963. How do I know it was done in the morning?
Because on Friday November 22nd, at 1:30pm, Detroit time, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, and NO ONE in America did any work that afternoon.
Another clay model was ready the following week (the day before Thanksgiving), Ford now had a better idea of what the Bronco would look like.
Note the tailgate is reversed from the production models, I wonder why they changed it?
Another clay model this one from the 1st week of December 1963
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Yet another mockup, this one of the 1/2 cab-pickup version, dated 1-9-1964
another mockup from July 14, 1964, it pretty much looks like the production Bronco, can we claim this as Bronco's birthday?
A member of the clay modeling team working on the Bronco kicking horse emblem, using the Mustang's running horse as a reference.
The man in the photo below is Frank Debono, his granddaughter followed his footsteps by working on the clay model for the 2021 Bronco.
Ford designed the body around the existing F-series Truck's body lines. They gave it the new mono-beam coil spring front suspension that was being developed for the 1/2-ton F-series trucks. This would correct two complaints made by SUV owners of the day, a smoother ride and a tighter turning radius.
The motor, a 170ci six-cylinder motor, was borrowed from the Falcon/Mustang platform. This was not to be the only motor available; Ford knew from the beginning that, once proven, the Bronco would get a small block V-8. In fact, the very first assembled prototype was given a 289 V-8 engine, more on that later.
Parts for the Bronco came from a variety of sources. For instance, the seats and door handles (inside and out) were from the 65/66 Mustang, the dash controls were from the F-series truck as were the taillights, the front blinkers were from the Fairlane.
The mono-beam suspension gave the Bronco a tighter turning radius (no leaf spring in the way of turning) while not compromising sway. The suspension also improved the highway ride and allowed for freeway cruising.
The interior was roomier than the Jeep and the ride smoother, quieter than any other SUV being made.
Although the project was already named "Bronco" the team at Ford considered other names. Many of these names appeared later on SUVs and Cars.
- Bronco
- Bravo
- Gaucho
- Caballero
- Explorer
- Trail Blazer
- Wrangler
- Rustler
- Sprint
- Custom
At one point Ford even called the project the '66 G.O.A.T., the acronym standing for "Goes Over All Terrain"...while Bronco owners would say it stands for "Greatest Of All Time"
The prototypes and the first 200 Bronco bodies were built by the Budd Company in Detroit. They were assembled at the Allen Park pre-production facility.
Do we count the Bronco's birthday when these first Broncos were produced? The very first Bronco produced was used as a test vehicle and then given to Carroll Shelby. Should this be the Bronco's birthday?
In June of 1965 one of the first Broncos (most likely another pre-production prototype) was turned over to Motor Trend Magazine for testing. The Bronco was a U-14 Pick-up and was not only missing some parts (dash pad and a few other items), but had parts from other vehicles, most notably was the steering wheel horn button/ring....it was from a Falcon.
This was followed by a large ad campaign
Note the suspension parts that are highlighted in yellow, the Bronco's suspension was not just different, it was revolutionary.
Timeline of Events
1940 Ford develops the Jeep concept vehicle, called the GP for "Government Pygmy" or "General Purpose" depending on who you ask.
1940 Batam Motors is awarded the contract, but Willys Overland and Ford manufactured them. Ford produces 250,000+ Jeeps during WWII
1944 Willys Overland introduces the Civilian Jeep (CJ2A)
1948 The British Land Rover is introduced
1951 Toyota introduces the Land Cruiser
1961 International Harvester introduces the Scout
1962 Ford begins internal discussions of a competitor to the Scout
1963 Drawings go from concept to clay
1964 The Bronco is given the green light for production
1965 July The Bronco is shown to Motor Trend
1965 August 11th, 9:25 AM the Bronco is introduced to the press.
Late 1965/ early 1966 Broncos hit the showroom floors
Did we figure out when the Bronco was born? In my opinion it was when the first prototype was finished in late '64/early '65, but this is my opinion, what do you say?
Ford Bronco Concept History: The Coolest, Weirdest, and Worst (motortrend.com)
Digging up buried Bronco treasure in Ford's private archives - Hagerty Media
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