My '74 Bronco

[darkmagus]

Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself and share a bit about my Bronco. My name is Shane and I have a 1974 Bronco that I inherited from my Grandpa several years ago. He bought the Bronco in 1975 from a good friend of his. I grew up in it and it was probably the first vehicle I ever drove...well steered anyways. My Dad used it as his daily driver in the early to mid '80s and ended up rolling it. Surprisingly it didn't do a whole lot of damage to him or the Bronco. Because of that it now has a fiberglass half cab, hood, front fenders, and grill. Right now it's in Arkansas at my parent's house. They are going to bring it up to Denver in September. Then the project will begin. :) Oh and surprisingly the only rust on it is in the floorpans. They are pretty bad and I'll have to replace them.

My plans for it:
Paint it back to a green color that is similar to the stock color
Eventually a Cummins 4BT - undecided on trans - NP205
Full width Dana 60's
Battlement Fab suspension front and rear
Coilovers
Full family cage
Full top and also a bikini top with door inserts for summer
H1 take off wheels
Plate bumpers front and rear - maybe Bailie Bilt or Protofab
Corbeau Baja SS seats front and rear

Here's a pic of my Grandpa, me, and the Bronco from the late 70's.



This is the state of deterioration it fell into after my Grandpa passed away.





This is after a bit of elbow grease and pretty much how it sits today.





I found these on CL a couple weeks ago and will be going on it until I can afford H1 takeoffs. 35's on 15x8's with a little over half tread left for only $250.

[Rox Crusher]

Great story.............get that bad boy going so you can join us on a trail or at least a breakfast.

[Entourage]

Welcome to the club, Shane. Excited to have ya and happy you shared that story. Crazy to think of having anything for 35 years look that good. That project will be 10 times more rewarding given the history of the Bronco in your family. Very nice truck and excited to see it in person.

[Booger]

Welcome to the group Shane. Glad to see another rescued Bronco. Great pic of you and grandpa.
As a side note, what is it about the old green color that everybody had to repaint them a different color? I think it would look great back to the original color.

[totalchaos]

Sounds like u got some great plans for ur bronco I think its awesome that its been in ur family as long as it has and now u have a chance to reserect it.. my family had a early bronco that got passed around as well went from my grand parents to my parents then to 3 sets of aunts and uncles and my last uncle that had it sold it to some random guy for 2500 a couple years back lets just say i was a little mad would have been nice to have gotten it and built it back up but anyway welcome to the club and good luck on ur build

[66and70Broncos]

Your story is hard to beat...very cool to be in the family that long...great history!

Look forward to seeing what you do to it, but I like it as is though...is it running as of now?

Like the 4BT plans too...

[Moab Mike]

That is an awesome story! I can't wait to see it in its original color. Welcome to the club and keep the updates coming.

[Jesus_man]

Welcome and thanks for the story. Always awesome when a bronco comes with a story.

J.D.

[Shawns Fords]

Welcome and thats a neat Bronco with some background!

[Justin]

Very cool truck. The Buckshot mudders are perfect on it-gives it a really old school look. I'd be tempted to leave it as is, but you've got some great plans for it. Welcome!

[darkmagus]

Yeah those buckshot mudders are probably close to 15 years old. They are really dry rotted and I'm just hoping they hold air long enough to winch it up on a trailer. Right now the Bronco is not running because it's in the middle of a disc brake conversion. We got everything bolted up but when we went to put the locking hub on it wouldn't slide all the way in. I've researched it and found that there's a clip that you can't reuse and instead you have to use a bolt and washer bolted into the end of the axle. I'm hoping this works. The Bronco was running when we parked it to do the brakes, however it had started having overheating issues. We had the radiator cleaned out so I'm hoping it was just an air bubble in the system or maybe the thermostat. I'll have to sort that out when it gets to Denver. Oh I forgot to mention that it's been a few years since it was parked to do the brakes. I'm too far away to work on it, and my dad isn't really motivated to work on it. He has a '68 VW that takes up his car tinkering time.

The fiberglass half cab and bulkhead will be for sale when I get it here in September if anyone is interested.

I also found another photo...probably from the day my dad brought it home from the painter. I think this was in '84. He doesn't look too thrilled with it. :)



Oh and here's his VW

[Zenzone]

Cool story.

[darkmagus]

It took a bit longer than expected but I finally got my Bronco to Colorado. Going to immediately start working on it to get it back on the road. Oh, and the fiberglass half cab and bulkhead are for sale.

Washed up and ready for the trailer


Loaded down the truck pretty good but pulled just fine


Had to throw the 35s on it just to see if they would even fit with no lift

[D&D72]

Thats going to be a cool project and, I really like the personal history that goes with it!

[darkmagus]

Finally got the top off of it. I think my dad had 10lbs of RTV sealing it up.



Possibly the first time the windshield has ever been laid down. Doesn't appear to have any rust underneath.



Doors off and ready for cage install and new Corbeaus.

[darkmagus]

While taking out the rear tank I found that my dad must've gotten some air at some point. Shackle hanger is splitting the the frame at the seam. Will have to get that welded up next week when I'm building my cage.