Harkening Back to the Original

The original two-door Bronco rolled off of Ford's assembly lines in time for sale in August 1965 as an answer to Kaiser Jeep's CJ and Wagoneer, the latter of which only sold a few thousand a year, Toyota's rugged Land Cruiser FJ and the International Harvester Scout. The appeal of these early SUVs was for outdoorsmen who needed four-wheel drive for hunting and fishing excursions into the countryside and many of these early vehicles, despite their barebones styling, were bought by fairly well to do families.

The original two-door Bronco rolled off of Ford's assembly lines in time for sale in August 1965 as an answer to Kaiser Jeep's CJ, Toyota's rugged Land Cruiser FJ and the International Harvester Scout. (Photo: Ford Motor Company)

The Bronco came with a 92-inch wheelbase in three body styles:

• A four-passenger wagon with removable full-length roof;
• A pickup with a half roof and open rear;
• And, a two-door roadster with a choice of two- or four-passenger seating that proved to be unpopular and was discontinued after 1968.

The 1970 Big Oly Ford Bronco driven by Parnelli Jones that won the Baja 1000 race in 1971 and 1972 on display at SEMA 2002. (Photo: Ford Motor Company)

The original vehicle was built from 1965-1977 before it was replaced with the full-size F-series pickup based Bronco in 1978, which only lasted two years in its first draft but actually ran right up until 1996 receiving styling updates to match F-series mods over the years. Model year 1980 saw the much smaller Bronco II come to market, which in turn lasted until 1990 when it was more or less replaced with the larger Explorer.

But getting back to the original, it was a rugged no-thrills vehicle that could be equipped with winches, snowplow blades, tow hooks, an optional 11.5 gallon auxiliary gas tank, and more.