Bronco Cryptozoology #24: The Barbie Bronco

Cryptozoology is the study of mythical creatures that may or may not exist.

This applies to Broncos how? Well, there is a lot of mystery and myths surrounding certain Bronco models and specialty-built Broncos.

So, this new segment at the blog will focus on these prototypes, one of a kind, special editions and the most historical Broncos ever built.

To keep the posts short, we will include only a brief story of each

We will try to separate fact from fiction and possibly come up with more questions than answers.

At first, I was going to compile this into one post, but it got waaay too long.

The Barbie Doll was introduced by Mattel in 1959 and in 1975 the makers introduced Barbie's little sister named "Skipper". This doll would grow in length when the arm was moved, they called it "growing up Skipper", that was not all that happened though, Skipper's breasts also increased in size.

The public outrage was immediate, and Mattel pulled the doll from the shelves.

They went to plan B which was to offer some new accessories.

Malibu Barbie (tan skin and bikini) had been introduced earlier (1971) but she never got the surfboard and Jeep that every Malibu girl must have. 

Mattel went to AMC (owners of the Jeep at the time) and attempted to work out a licensing agreement. At the same time AMC wanted to build a full-size version of the Barbie Jeep.

AMC built just one rig, a 1976 CJ-7 but it didn't fare well with the women and girls on the test panel. 

When shown pictures of other SUVs, the unanimous choice of the panel members was the Ford Bronco, it seems women just love classic Broncos...

Ford jumped at the chance to create a Barbie Bronco. They chose a bubble gum pink for the color; they had fender flares installed to make room for the larger tires and a roll cage installed for safety and to mount a surfboard.

Mattel was to build an identical version in 1/6 scale, but the agreement was never signed. Despite all my research, I could not find out why. 

Ford had already built seventeen of the bubblegum pink Broncos, which were a mixture of leftover 1976 and new 1977 models. They had a myriad of options, but all were equipped with power steering, power disc brakes and automatic transmissions.

In order to dispose of the Broncos Ford sent out memos to select Ford dealers, offering a once in a lifetime chance at a Pink Bronco. Believe it or not, the dealers were fighting over who would get one of the 17 Pink Broncos.

Thanks to the Barbie Bronco Registry we know the whereabouts of 14 of the original 17. You can visit the Registry here.

Velocity Motorsports recently restored/restomoded one of the Barbie Broncos.

The Nylint company also produced their famous Bronco toy in Barbie pink.

The Barbie Bronco Registry made special key chains for its members.

OK If you haven't figured it out by now, this story is a fabrication. I found several nearly identical pink Broncos along with the Velocity one and decided I had to write a Cryptozoology post on this one.