I bought a 1984 Bronco II in 2013 and have driven it for 10 years. It still has the original carbureted (but severely underpowered) 2.8 Cologne (Ford of Germany) engine, which is finally in need of replacement after 39 years.That engine was commonly used in both Pintos and Mustang IIs in the mid to late 1970s. Its been upgraded with the A4LD 4 speed overdrive transmission which Bronco IIs used starting in 1985, and will be getting a 4.0 engine scavenged from a junked Exploder. All the Ford Cologne engines (including the V-4 Saab engine sourced from Ford) use the same bellhousing bolt pattern so it makes the swap relatively easy, the only difficult part is making a carburetor compatible intake manifold for the 4.0 as all of them were fuel injected. and the 2.8 manifold will not fit.
I have a 1988 Ranger with the 2.9 V6, five speed, 4x4. Love that truck!!! I recently saw a 1986 Bronco II for sale near me and... Had it not been for having my Ranger, a Comanche, a Rover, and a Grand Cherokee- I would have picked it up.
My maternal and paternal uncles were "early adopters" of the Bronco II. My dad bought one new in 1986. He finally sold it when he had 275,000 miles on it. He sold it to a mutual friend. That friend is STILL driving it. My dad would agree with you and say that it was also the most dependable vehicle he'd ever owned. It was far more reliable than his '73 Bronco.
I remember in 1983 my brothers friends mom bought one of these. My brother and his friend decided to test it's off road ability, and got stuck in a deep water crossing 2 miles from our cabin. They walked back and my dad and I took the old Willys Jeep out for the rescue. The Bronco Duece was at a drastic nose-up angle with the head lights just above water and the back window half way submerged, but it was still running!! The old Willys Jeep pulled it out and it drove home, but there was a lot of "mystery" warrantee work during the following months !!
Our ‘73 Jeep J10 rescued a F250 thst was high centered. We chained up rear to rear and I aggressively dragged that ford, about 500 feet just for the show of it. or should I say embarrassed that ford!
@@stephenschenider4007 I had 2 YJs, the 1st gen then the Chrysler and yeah both were garbage, after then I made sure to never purchase an Jeep product again.
My friend was given a new '88 Bronco II 5 speed for his birthday by his parents (very generous parents). I taught him how to drive it as he did not know how to drive a manual. It was a fun SUV, he kept it for 7 years and never had a problem with it. Thanks for the memories.
A friend of mine had a Bronco ll. I don’t know the year model but it was an Eddie Bauer model, Green over Tan with Tan interior. It was a 4WD and he took it off roading often. It was able to get into very tight spaces. After a Gazillion miles of hard driving the transmission went out so he gave it to a friend who had one with a good transmission but a blown engine. She put the transmission from hers into his Bronco and drove it another 3-4 years before the engine died.
One thing Ford got absolutely right with the Bronco II was the styling, specifically the shape of the wheel arches, which are more squared off, similar to the original. The new Bronco and its bulging round arches make it look more like an International Scout than original Bronco. The more I look at the Bronco II today, the more I think Ford really got most of it right- the dimensions, the shape of the grille, the overall packaging- it was almost a perfect homage to the original but updated and modern without trying to be retro (which wasn’t a thing till the 2000s). All it would need was an open top version. It’s too bad that they didn’t do more engineering to work out the handling issues, which really tarnished the image of the Bronco name for a long while.
The Bronco II is more of a true successor to the 1st gen than the FSB ever will pretend to be. And in a way, the new 6th gen Bronco is really a successor to the Bronco II as a result. ;)
Oh hey, Bronco II. When I was in college, my mother was nearly killed driving one of these, although to be fair, that crash wasn't the Bronco's fault. When you get run off the road by an 18-wheeler during a snowstorm, it doesn't really matter much _what_ you were driving. And amazingly, it didn't roll over in that case. The trees it hit probably helped with that...
My neighbor worked for Ford Aerospace and always had new Fords. In 1989, he had a 2.9 Eddie Bauer 5-speed! Pretty cool ride, could almost get it on 3-wheels turning hard left and punching it. Still pretty fun around town. They fixed the wheelbase issue and then had the best selling suv on the market.
Yeah they would really fry the inside tire if you did that in a parking lot 😂 You'd hear tone change in the squealing tire if you paid attention as it would sound like wheel hop,but it really wasn't,it was the loss of weight on it 😂
I rode in the back of one of these filled with 4 other guys in high school once. For some reason it was a memorable experience. I think it was because the V6 had a little roar in it, and my friend chirped the tires in 2nd gear, which back then was amazing. It was a nice ride and a nice vehicle with no problems.
You hit the nail on the head. Our industry is dying because these awful companies would rather spend billions on litigation, than thousands/millions on engineering.
It's called tombstone legislation in the aviation industry when there is a delay to adding safety features or safety laws, likely due to cost aversion, until a deadly accident happens to pound a lesson into them. Ntsb recommended smoke detectors in cargo holds for years, but the FAA didn't require them until a valujet plane went down in Florida on fire. LAX had many many close calls of planes landing on the runway and those on the ground, and their ATC wanted an upgraded ground radar system since theirs constantly broke. But upgrades kept getting delayed (with faa's approval, I think) until a fiery collision happened while the ground radar was disabled. (Working radar could've prevented it) Boeing 737 max, the company and FAA could have prevented further accidents if they mandated training on mcas, instead of a warning message to pilots which was actually not enough instructions to recover the plane. Planes for years had flammable insulation that initially passed federal standards, but over a few years was reported to be flammable. But the effort to remove this stuff wasn't existent until a Swissair flight went down on fire due to a small blaze being fueled by the insulation.
No, our industry is dying because the UAW labor costs are roughly double what competitors are spending. Corners need to be cut somewhere to make up for that, and they are. But safety hasn't been one of those areas in a couple decades now.
@@plmn93 The UAW, our politicians selling them out to foreign competition without asking them to reciprocate, EPA regulations, safety regulations, taxes, greedy conspiring dealerships, and critical media have all contributed their fair share AGAINST a free market American car manufacturer.
@@plmn93 I think safety is still bad in some non union places. Tesla is non union and a few years back they caught flak for having employees take Ubers to the hospital. Reason being, if the employee took an ambulance, they would need to report the injury to OSHA. Also, a guy had a back injury from a trunk lid falling on him, but he was forced to work. During the early deadly days of the pandemic, Tesla held some closely crowded meetings with the employees, so one employee whose wife was immunocompromised from chemotherapy had to basically treat himself like a biohazard when he got home before showering. There was a recent story where a Tesla employee put out a Tesla fire at a tradeshow. He was first honored, but after speaking out about safety issues there, his European boss fired him. Elon musk who originally congratulated him told him he can't do anything about it. For all the disadvantages of unions, they still have at least some importance in workplace safety even if safety standards are much better today than the past. Doesn't mean unions don't have issues though. One other thing, dollar general stores get fined all the time for unsafe working conditions and fire exit/regulations violation. The fines are not large enough for them to care about improving, but I'm sure that an employee union would have forced make changes. But alas, no worker influence there. Only If there was a union. One of the early union strikes was when construction workers were ordered to work dangerously, and after this strike succeeded, the company had to provide safety consultants to keep the employees safe. That is what I think the purpose of unions should be
@@HAL-dm1eh technically, aren't our American manufacturers free market? Well, fairly free market. They produce a lot of vehicles overseas or even rebrand foreign cars under American marques. Today's Buicks are generally Opels, made in Germany. American brands make stuff in Canada, too. So they have the freedom to make stuff overseas. If we force automakers to make products in America, I don't think that is free trade. Foreign automakers like Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai have a lot of factories in America. I'm guessing tariffs on foreign vehicles is one reason they make cars here, but I don't think tariffs are free market. Foreign automakers in the US are mostly non-unionized btw, but the factories provide jobs at least. Seems like with today's global economy , American automakers chose to produce some cars overseas, losing some American jobs. Is that because American workers expect too much pay, or is it because overseas workers are underpaid? Amusingly, tricks are used to avoid tariffs, called tariff engineering. Modern day Ford imported work vans from Europe, and to avoid American tariffs (the chicken tax), Ford installed extra seats and windows before shipping the vans to make them "passenger" vans. (Less tax) Once the vans were delivered in the States, Ford removed the windows and extra seats. Somebody told me they throw away the seats, not sure the truth there.
I worked at a Ford dealer from 93-2000. I was surprised by how many of the mechanics there who drove Bronco II's. I remember following some of these things thinking that they almost looked like a square driving down the road, meaning the the wheelbase seemed equal to the track width. I know they aren't, but it is close. Also, there were some cool old cars and trucks driving down that road where you filmed that Bronco!
@@tonyelliott7734 I was a trim tech, so I didn't do (or see) that kind of work. On the other hand, I thought, maybe incorrectly, that only the 4.0 engine had hydraulic lifters. ALL of the Cologne engines leaked oil from every gasket and seal, and I fixed a ton of those. By 1994, Ford had mostly fixed that problem.
@@61rampy65 I didn't know the German made 2.8/2.9 was even available up until 1994. My 94' Ranger had the 8 plug 2.3. I had 2 2.8s and 3 2.9s all in 4x4 Rangers. I guess I was lucky because I never had any problems with any of them other than one lost oil pressure and threw a rod out of the side of the block. That one was a solid lifter carbureted one but I was pretty hard on it with 150,000+ miles with 35" tires and stock gears 😆
I once owned a 1985 Bronco ll XLT in bright blue. Trans failed at 58,000 miles and it had drivability issues for every year I owned it. That said, I drove it over 200,000 miles and 2nd trans was bulletproof. Its high center gravity issues killed it off. I never had a problem with that issue.
I had a used 1984 Bronco II XLT from 1986 up until around 2010. Drover it all over, everywhere, to work, school, off road, across the country twice, in heavy snow and never had a problem with it. I liked it and I miss the wing windows. I never once had a feeling that it would tip over even under some emergency braking and lane changing. I have a relative that still has his 1990 Bronco II. I rode in it recently and back in the day it felt big. Today, it felt very tiny to sit in.
I miss my 1986 Bronco II that had the 2.9 Multiport EFI. Bought it used at Wittmeier Ford in Chico Ca with only 25K on the clock in 1988. I absolutely loved that little SUV. I had the trans (A4LD) rebuilt at about 170K. The TFI ignition module went out while in Las Vegas in 1997 (I carried a spare and the modified 5.5mm socket to replace it on the fly). It was an all around great little SUV that had awesome 4WD capabilities because of the very short wheelbase. I had to let it go in 2014 because of financial issues. I still miss it though. Thank you Adam.
I owned a Bronco II for a while. Not a bad little maneuverable vehicle, it seemed relatively stable with front and rear sway bars. I even got into a situation at a construction site and it didn't roll over. I think the Bronco II got the bad rap because people that were accustomed to driving a compact car got into a Bronco II and drove it like a car instead of treating it like a 4WD truck.
I had an '87 in the mid '90's in Northern Michigan and it got me in and out of a lot of tight places in the woods, in all conditions. First gear in Four Low and most sins were forgiven. This video brought backlogs of fun memories.
I had this in Eddie Bauer trim and a soft top samurai at the same time. Both fun small SUV’s at the time. But the Bronco was a great ride. Later had the full size Bronco too.
Thanks for another thorough, objective history lesson. All I remember about these Bronco IIs were that they were everywhere when I was a teenager- they sold very well. However....I honestly don't recall the litigation and rollover controversy....sorry. I guess by my late teens I was no longer paying as much attention to new cars every Fall. I was just a baseball-obsessed weightlifting teenager who if anything paid attention to the Grand Marquis instead?!?
I have one in the driveway as well as a Samurai as as my handle says Jeeps. Never rolled one. Auctually the Bronco gave intructions on how to drive safely. I lost brakes on a 1984 and still made a 90 degree turn. Sadly everyone blames the manufacturer for people not following directions or basic common sense. They are not sports cars so you don't drive them like one.
Buddy had a 85, you could drive nose into a 2 car garage and make a 180 degree turn and drive nose out. Just a couple of high school boys put that thru all sorts od sketchy on and off road adventures. Total legend!
In the show Arrested Development, George sr was looking for a new car and wanted a Bronco. The salesman regretfully said the bronco was no longer available, and had some flight risk implications. So the salesman says "here is our new Escape"
Well said. Don't drive a 4x4 crazy and you won't flip it. It is a note, that the early bronco 2s had a lift gate glass that opened up also which was very neat compared to the newer models.
It’s amazing what time can do for a sense of taste. As a kid when these were relatively new and everywhere on the road, I thought they had awkward proportions and I just didn’t like them much. Watching this video decades later I’m thinking - this is a handsome package!
Personally had 2 of them, first a 2.8V6/automatic, and later a 2.9V6/auto, loved them both. Never had a roll over problem with either, only problems I had was keeping transmission pump input shaft seals from puking out oil. Actually had a 6-1/2 foot plow on the later one, worked great with the short wheelbase in tight quarters. Both went over 250,000 Km (Yes I'm Canadian) with all the usual maintenance issues, thought they were great. For the record I had a Ford Pinto too that ran flawlessly for many years!
Tippy canoe and Bronco 2. These things were plain dangerous in quick maneuver situations, I think it's sad the Samurai got the worst of the roll over scare. The Bronco II was way worse. I used to have a Samurai, delivered pizzas in it back in the day. I had that thing sideways, sliding downhill, did abrupt emergency maneuvers with it, and never came close to rolling over. I will say the little Broncos were nice inside, a good friend of mine still owns one. They're not too bad if you know what you're getting into. He's had to replace just about everything on his, and it was well taken care of, so reliability is definitely a factor on them. Personally I preferred the S10 Blazers of this era, especially with the stick. They had more room, basically the same power, and were much more stable.
I feel like even the latest jeep wrangler still flips easily. I'm guessing not as easily as the bronco, and that it has a stronger roof than the old bronco, but if you watch IIHS crash test it flips over from a simple crash test, and we can find videos of it easily flipping. So it seems like an inherent weakness in super lifted off-road SUVS. The Jeep Wrangler, as of a few years ago, still didn't have side airbags, but the Ford Bronco did.
The only S-10s that were any good were the early 4.3 ones with throttle body injection. Later ones that used the "spider" injectors inside the intake manifold were seriously unreliable when..not if... the injection system either blew the fuel pressure regulator (which caused them to run extremely rich) or failed completely. The injection system was very expensive to replace.
@@donreinke5863 Actually the early ones had major issues with the 4wd system. The extra torque from the 4.3 would snap the plastic worm gear in the t case that engaged the 4x4 which would require an R&R of the case. Also the automatic equipped ones had transmission issues also. The 5 speeds were still the ones to buy.
A cousin had one a couple of these. I don’t remember them as overly impressive. However mentioning crash ratings, I remember small Fords being horrific when in major collisions compared to period GM. S10 Blazers and Explorers also flipped pretty easily. Too narrow. But yeah they did have a pretty dashboard. Lots of stripe options outside no two were alike. Interesting spot light. Always a pleasure to tune in.
Not buying the bogus crash tests. I drove past a wreck where a Bronco II had rear-ended a newer tin can sedan. The Bronco would have been good to go with a new grille, bumper and hood, while the tincan sedan was folded up almost to the rear wheels and was a total write-off. Someone had previously installed offset wheels and 235/75-15 tires on the Bronco II I have had for 10 years which widens the track and improves stability...a common modification back in the day.
A good friend of mine had one of these when he was growing up in Texas. Until one days he put bigger tires on it and rolled it *7 TIMES* going around a relatively minor turn by his house. He lived, but he got a concussion, messed his lower back up, damaged a rotator cuff, and has some scars from the glass where his buddy tried to pull him out of the truck which had come to a rest on it's side. He didn't know how he survived or how the roof didnt collapse until he met me and I remembered an old Ford coffee table book I have which makes mention of one of the engineering "fixes" for this dangerous truck: *An integrated roll bar*
Had an 1985 BRII, 4x4, in midnight blue with interior upgrade and a tow package. Had it in bumper deep snow, riverbank mud up to the punkin's and towed s 21' cuddy walk around on the Interstate. It never let me down during 23 years of ownership.
My first vehicle was a 10 year old 1987 BRONCO II..... It was purchased as having" 135K" on it I add another 340k prior to rolling it corner-over- corner (diagonally) through a field one morning.... I never managed to get it stuck no matter the weather or terrain, I even intentionally tried to 'lose' control in an iced over parking lot in college... For about 6hrs it handled it far better than I expected possible...with the right combination of engine (2.9l), transmission (A4ld), and axle ratio (3.73) it was amazing to drive. The A4LD was impressive when it worked properly but was otherwise was a horrible excuse for a transmission. Daily i got about 18 mpg and several times on trips to the coast I repeatedly got 27mpg... When I got a replacement after rolling it out through a field I found an 87 Bronco II with less than 100k mile ... it was a manual with a 3.50 axle ratio.... with than combination I regularly got 15-16 mpg and it felt significantly weaker than I would have expected.... I have tons of experiences with going places I probably shouldn't have an doing things I probably should've and that little truck generally got me out of trouble and always got me home....😊
@@DanEBoyd never really understood the logic other than those who live in the city have limited parking space and have to combine an SUV and a pickup together bc they don't have room for both. So what they get is a vehicle that does neither job well.
I had an ‘89. I loved the size of it. Drove it through Minnesota winters and never got stuck including a 30” snow storm. Kept it until 2007. The only issue was the AC went out otherwise solid. I was so glad that the new Bronco has a two door version!
We bought a new 87 Bronco II XLT 4WD with the 2.9 and a 5 speed. Having had a Jeep CJ5 previously and knew you could help the handling with a wider tire/wheel combo, I put a wider 60 series tire with the same circumference as the stock tires. Just like the Jeep you still had to avoid sudden panic swerves. We found it to be very capable and fun to drive. My wife used it as her daily driver. I think one issue that held the car back was it's lack of a 4 door version. The Jeep Cherokee was very popular and eventually Ford brought out the Explorer.
Just wear your seat belt, they roll easily but they roll well. I blew a tire on the PA turnpike doing 90, I rolled 9 times and walked away with a cut on my ear because I wasn't wearing a seat belt and my head hit the window as it broke and my face was literally against the asphalt. Wear your seat belt folks.
My grandpa carried mail in one of these on a rural route when I was a small kid. It was the vehicle I learned to use turn signals in. I always thought these things were pretty cool!
I Always wanted a Bronco 2. My step brother bought a full sized Bronco in 79. It has a 302 V8 with a 4spd stick. It’s Yellow and White with Tan interior. He still owns it and just finished a frame off restoration.
I had an 1989 xlt I was in my 20s and really liked it. When you folded down the rear seats it would hold my camping gear. Was great off road. The 2.9 injected engine was a good running. Not overly powerful problem was if it overheated the heads will crack .
I had one in the mid 90s. It wasnt mechaincally terrible, but the short wheelbase and narrow tire track made handling challenging on roads when snow was deeper.
Some early ads showed the side glass to be removable but I've never seen this anywhere else. I remember seeing a British ad for the Bronco, not sure if it was right hand drive or not. Two wheel drive Broncos had an empty transfer case and no front diff. I've seen one of these. The saving grace is that the missing parts can be added to the stock frame. The 84 / 85 had manual shift transfer case with 86+ genning an electric shift. Another reason for the roll over issues was the " Twin I Beam " front suspension. ( Think early VW air cooled bug / Corvair )
My older cousin was in an accident in the mid 80s when I was 5-7 ish and got an insurance settlement. He blew it all on a new Bronco II. I still remember it, at the time it was the first new car I'd ever seen.
The guy who rebuilt one of my Buick 430 and fixed one of my Toyota 22RE was driving a very clean '89 Bronco II which he still drove daily around 2008 when he replaced it with an Escape (he also had a Mustang and I've never seen him driving anything but Fords). When I complained to him about Buick, 350, 430 and 455 engines having some issues (I guess the main one might have been the careless driver in my case), he told me they were much better than the engine in his Bronco II. I was a bit surprised to hear that from a Ford guy! Knowing how careful he was with his, I doubt he ever had problems with his 2.9! My uncle and father had a 1977 and 1978 Bronco when I was a kid. I liked those a lot. I thought my uncle's was a much older vehicle (he and my father both sold theirs in 1980 when they were just 2 and 3 years old!). I was quite disappointed with the Rabbit L Diesel that my father bought to replace it and my uncle had bought tan Buick Century sedan to replace his Bronco.(my father had also brought me to the Pontiac Buick dealer to test drive a 4 door Century as he had bought 3 cars at that dealership before he got his Bronco. He finally bought the Rabbit, probably influenced by another uncle who had a '79 Rabbit!). Today they seem strange choices for 32 and 33 years old people! My uncle soon went back to driving 4x4 Mazda pickups and my father kept driving diesels for a long time!
Had a 88 Ranger with its 107.9 wheelbase and drove it 350 k miles before it rusted out. they used the same steering box as a F 250 and a transmission very close in design I believe. in 87 or 88 the 4 cylinder engine had roller folowers on the cam gear and mine showed 0 wear on the motor when I refreshed it at 292 k miles due to a head gasket failure. wish I could find a rust free one. big bucks now though . would get 25 mpg no matter what, later learned that a bigger exhaust would bring 30 mpg after the tail pipe fell off. lo
My first car was a 1989 2.9L 4WD 5-speed Bronco II XLT at the age of 13 or 14. It lived on our farm and had Farm Use signs so I could drive it around to fish and camp and drive trails around the area and get away with it. It sounded like a rattly, diesely, ticking sewing machine, haha! But it did REALLY well off road, still one of the better factory (it had aftermarket wheels and 29 or 30" mud tires on it, but stock otherwise as far as I know) off roaders I've ever driven. It was pretty rotten and not really fit for highway use, but it only had 120,000 miles when I traded it for a dirtbike one I was of driving age and had a 'real' vehicle (1998 S10 ZR2 5-speed regular cab), but part of me wishes I'd kept it. It was 100% reliable. The front end was even straight and true!
I had a fun 1984 Blue Bronco II back in college. It seemed very under powered and eventually stuff started breaking so I sold it. It was a fun vehicle when it worked. I never came close to rolling it but I did spin it around a few times on icy roads. The short wheel base was fun.
My first vehicle was a 89 bronco 2 with a 5 speed. As a 16 year old that was invincible, I drove that thing like a F1 car and only pitched it up on 2 wheels 3 times. Never flipped it. Cologne motor died after 175,000 miles. 100k driven by my parents responsibly. 75k of me floating the valves and doing burnouts. Loved that truck.
A RWD ‘88 Bronco II was my first car ever. I credit driving that sucker around in Missouri and Colorado winters for the vehicle-control techniques I have today. “If you can drive to work in December in a Bronco II, you can drive a car around a racetrack.” 😂
I had 2 of these. The 1st one was an 85. Only issue i had with it was the wiring that was between the cowl into the door and it rusted out bad. Traded it in for an 89 and that one was totalled when I ran into a mountainside in W.V. because the pitman arm broke and had no steering. Come to find out Ford had recall on the pitman arms because the company that made them used cheaper metal and a lot of them had small fractures in them from factory.
My girlfriend bought a brand new 1986 red Bronco II V6 with 5 speed and drove it like she stole it for 6 years and a 140000 miles,,, it was tough as nails !! All it got was abused and ZERO maintenance... What a unit it was,, and so was she !! lol
My 1984 Bronco II Eddie Bauer was beautiful. With illuminated running boards. It was black, with colored lines on the sides and V-shaped lines on the hood. The wheel was mounted on a support at the rear. Locked differential. I also had a push bar in the front. I paid $15,400 in 1984
Later on Ford had a bigger catastrophe. With follow-up Explorer model on their hands, when factory installed Firestone tires delaminated on highway speeds. Lots of finger pointing and denial.
I worked on these as a mechanic in the 80s, the feds gave ford a hassel about rollovers, but i dont recall people rolling any around my town. And people here drive like its a nascar race everyday. No lie, i did a minor toe adjustment to one, then took it out to make sure the steering wheel was straight. Before i was a block or two, a car suddenly cuts me off bigtime. I made one of my best emergency manuvers to date and avoided a crash. The bronco performed just fine and it never felt as if it would roll, and i jerked it pretty hard. Still, ford should have made it as long as a blazer in retrospect.
That specimen is such a gorgeous truck! I was always a GM guy and owned several S-10 blazers and now a trailblazer, which is the last real mid size SUV in existence. But, those little bronco II's always cried out to me. I always wanted to drop a rat nasty 5 liter in one of those and just let her eat some dirt.
The rollover problem was exacerbated with people doing sharp turns at speeds which a lot of vehicles don't really respond well to, especially that high off the ground. The best cure for it is actually getting wheel spacers and fitting the biggest tires you could fit on there (235s) and it would be way safer
I had one of these when i was married and had nothing but problems with it!! Mostly electrical problems. My ex-wife immediately got rid of it the minute we got divorced because of all the problems with it. She bought a Toyota!!
I once saw a Bronco II on the old Mother's Car Show they used to have back in the '90s when espn was still cool, and the owner had put an old Ford Flathead V8 in it!!!
I remember the 2.8 carbureted engines had solid lifters instead of hydraulic ones like the fuel injected 2.9 had. After they were a few years old without having those valves adjusted, they would be clattering like a thrashing machine. If they were adjusted properly they would still be pretty quiet. I don't know of any engine in that era having mechanical solid lifters other than the 2.8.
Correct about the valve adjustment. I recall awaiting my turn at a Ford dealership while the service advisor was explaining to an unhappy owner that because the valves hadn't been adjusted they were looking at a repair involving the removal of both cyl. heads for valve grinding or replacement. $$$
@@tonyelliott7734 I don't have any Honda vehicles....but according to Scotty, Honda is still using solid lifters in at least some of their engines. Check back on some of his videos.
I always wondered why they made it so short, being based off a ranger that had longer wheel bases available: Standard bed 107.9 in Long bed 113.9 in SuperCab 125 in The extra cargo space and leg room would have been nice and put it on par with Blazer for size still.
They made it so short because off-pavement capability was a high priority. They wanted to build a vehicle that would go everywhere a stock CJ Jeep could. That's why it has the wheelbase and track width it has.
I owned one of these for a short time as well as a Ranger. I also drove many, many of them when I worked for a Ford Dealer in the time these were hot sellers. Even the dealer's wife would drive no other vehicle at the time. I never experienced anything in the way of potential roll overs but there you go. It's how you drive the thing. I drove a few CJ5s that were a bit spooky though. Of course the truck in the photos here has the accessory Galaxie 500 hood ornament which split the wind just so to avoid un stable driving conditions.
My high school pal had a 1985 Bronco II Eddie Bauer. Nice vehicle. He managed to put it on its ear doing donuts in the mall parking lot. It was fixed but eventually traded in for a facelift Bronco II.
I had the base 4x4 in it's first year of it's introduction, mine was the manual transmission on the floor, which I had on all my 4x4 trucks that I owned, anyways though I never rolled it, it was very difficult to control on washboard dirt roads, and the reason why I finally sold it.
That is VERY interesting, Adam, that they actually made the problem twice as bad by pulling the standard 4WD. They just should've made the damn thing wider - they successfully made millions of 2WD pickups with Twin-I-Beam for decades...
Ford didn't make "the problem twice as bad by pulling the standard 4WD." Buyers of the 2WD simply didn't respect the fact that they were driving a vehicle with a narrow track, short wheel base, and a high center of gravity. Some buyers of the 4WD version had a planned use for the low range capability of the vehicle AND prior experience with other vehicles like Scouts and Early Broncos that were of similar size and they didn't try to drive them like "ordinary passenger vehicles". And no, they shouldn't have just "made the damn thing wider." My dad and 13 of my uncles owned First-Generation Broncos. Most of my uncles owned CJ Jeeps before the Bronco came out in 1966 and all but my dad had switched to Bronco by 1972, My dad finally got his in 1973. That was the first year you could get power steering and an automatic transmission as factory options on the Bronco but you still had four-wheel drum brakes with no power assist. During the Early Bronco's 1966 to 1977 production run, Ford sold about 12,500 Broncos per year. They didn't sell many to people having no planned use for low range four-wheel drive capability. The people who bought them respected the fact that four-wheel drive utility vehicles of that era did not handle like ordinary two wheel drive passenger cars and didn't drive them like they did. The full-size 1978 Bronco was a smashing sales success for Ford. My dad and my uncles had zero interest in it. Their universal cry was "If I'd have wanted a friggin' Blazer, I know where the Chevy store is." It was deemed too big to be of any use to them. For my uncles who bought First Generation Broncos, the appeal to the vehicle was that it had more useful interior room of a CJ but would go everywhere a CJ would off pavement and it offered a more comfortable ride on pavement and off. When the Bronco II came out mid-year of 1983, my oldest uncle, who bought a '66 Bronco new, HAD to have one, and once the rest of my uncles saw what it could do off-road, they had to have one, too. My dad followed suit, buying a new Eddie Bauer Edition, fully optioned, in 1986, You need to look at the design of the Bronco II in light of the time it was designed in. In 1972, the U.S. Congress passed legislation mandating the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management adopt Travel Management Plans. Those TMPs were not fully implemented when the Bronco II hit that market. That's significant. To illustrate why, there were at least 15 open, legal routes on the ground covered by the Butler Peak, CA map that were open, legal routes in 1983 but were closed forever by 1994. Those that were closed were a fire break later co-opted by CJ Jeep drivers and fourteen others that were blazed by following the same path over and over and over again in a CJ Jeep. That's just one little patch of U.S. wild country. You had the same situation in other areas of California and in other states. Ford engineers developed the Bronco II to be able to go anywhere a stock CJ could, while offering better ride comfort, superior suspension articulation, superior fuel economy, and more useful interior room. Back when Bronco II's were new, there were a whole lot more open, legal routes that a Full-Size Bronco, Blazer, Jimmy, Ramcharger, or TrailDuster was simply to large to fit on. It's a different world today. In one sense, though, it isn't. Consider a trail like the Rubicon Trail. That started life as a maintained road for horse-drawn vehicles. Jeep owners co-opted it about the time that El Dorado County stopped spending money to maintain it. It is a wide trail compared to many I've run. People take full-size pickups across it. They couldn't have done so on some of the trails I used to run in 70s and 80s. But even through the Rubicon Trail is wide by traditional "Jeep Trail" standards, one advantage of running something small on it, like my CJ 2A, is that because my vehicle is small relative to the trail, I have more options for line choice than I would have otherwise. That's how I can get an old CJ 2A over that trail without lift, lockers, or large tires. I'm not stuck with one line and only one as modern JL pilots are in places. Ford engineers didn't give the Bronco II the form factor it has because they're idiots who didn't know what in the hell they were doing. They wanted a vehicle with stock CJ Jeep capability and they designed one. Give it a longer wheelbase and a wider track, and a lot of that capability vanishes. A stock Bronco II running 235 / 75 15 BFG All Terrains of the period had as much ground clearance under the differential pumpkins as my '73 Bronco with a D-44 front and 9" rear did when running 31" x 10.50" x 15" BFG AT's. That was also by design. Some Bronco II's, when new, could take a 30" x 9.50" tire. My uncle's '84 could, and that gave him a little more clearance under the differentials of his Bronco II than I had with my 1973. Today, in the here and now in 2024, "just make the damn thing wider" is exactly what Ford did with the current resurrected Bronco. With all of the route closures that have taken place on U.S. public wild land since 1972 TMP mandates, they're not pissing many of the faithful off by doing that. Short wheelbase and narrow track aren't the advantages they were decades ago when there were more open legal routes to run on. That's the world the Bronco II was designed to live in four decades ago.
@@jerroldshelton9367All those points are true for serious off-roaders, just look what they're getting for the original broncos now! But the B2 was introduced at the beginning of everyone buying SUVs as lifestyle vehicles, not actually taking them off road. Back in '79 my father noticed that women really liked sitting up high in the Cherokees and Wagoneers of the era, and now everybody's driving huge four-wheel drive, 4-door sedans with beds on the back... And again, we're talking about a two-wheel drive model here, so they certainly weren't thinking of it like a Jeep. I also stand by my statement: the 2wd model killed more than twice as many people as the 4wd...
Was my high school car in the 2000s. I played in a band and had a bass amp fly out the rear curved glass from taking a turn too fast. My sax player was covered in glass. Haha. He was ok. Ran into him a while back and we laughed about that memory.
Interesting video i never knew about the issues with these bronco ii's. Bringing back the name for the bronco made sense, though some others makes none. Such as the maverick, which was a car and the Monterey also a car . Having the names coming back as a suv (actually station wagon) and mini van. respectively.
I think the name changes had more to do with the addition of two doors than with OJ's "car chase" on the L.A. freeway. Customers that were driving Suburbans were begging for a 4-door full sized Bronco as were the Bronco II customers. The Explorer and the Expedition answered both of those desires.
I had a 1987 that was rear wheel drive only. I wish I still had it but my dad sold it while I was away for a few years back in the late 1990's. Back in college, late at night, some friends and I placed a CPR dummy on the road right after a high bump/small hill in the road, we wanted to see if I could jump it. It did and amazed everyone that watch me do it. It was also only a few blocks from the sheriffs dept
Was this recorded during the Woodward Dream Cruise? You can thank sef-service gas stations and the Ford Bronco II with bringing us tire inflation pressure monitor systems. Drivers weren't keeping up with the tire pressure monitoring and maintenance that "Pump Jockeys" formerly provided and when combined with the relatively low front tire pressure specification for the Bronco II led to grossely underinflated front tires which were responsible for the dangerous emergency handling characteristics.
Owned a 1989 with the 2.9L - 5 speed. Excellent vehicle getting fantastic mpg's. Sold it after 14 years having no issues with anything. Should have kept it.
A buddy of mine had an '88 Bronco II that he and his Dad built from the frame up upgrading everything....from the posi rearend to the K-Code 289 he got out of a wrecked ''66 Mustang GT, that thing was a beast...until he got stoned and messes with something under the hood that required him to move the fuel line out of his way...a fuel line he failed to tighten back up and as a result we watched that rig catch fire and burn to the ground...it was a total loss...yeah that sucked...
A coworker had an 87 Bronco 2 Eddie Bauer edition. Dark Green & tan, tan interior. It got stolen from the local mall and the car thief wrecked it. My coworker bought a white 89 Mustang GT coupe to replace it.....
I owned the '86 Eddie Bauer Edition with the 4 speed manuel red and tan color. It was a nimble truck. I actually had a sunroof installed because I liked the truck so much.
That interior reminds me of my buddy’s 86 4cyl Mustang, same auto shifter and very similar dashboard. As dumb high school kids we’d race all of the time. He in his 4 banger Stang and I had an 86 Chevy Celebrity with the Iron Duke. Those two cars were identically slow 😅
I had a 1986 with the fuel injected 2.9 and 5 speed with 4x4. I loved it. I took it to Jalisco, Mexico, and I eventually sold it to a doctor who would use it in 4x4 mode to make house calls in small villages. I would like to buy another one to once again have as my car in Mexico.
![ว้าว!ลุงบีมแบกทองมารับขวัญหลานกันยกบ้าน [cc] แดนแพทตี้ SS2 | EP.49 |](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Osihq1OAs-4/mqdefault.jpg)
I bought one new in 1985 and put over 300,000 miles on it. It was still running when I sold it. Most dependable car I ever owned.
I bought a 1984 Bronco II in 2013 and have driven it for 10 years. It still has the original carbureted (but severely underpowered) 2.8 Cologne (Ford of Germany) engine, which is finally in need of replacement after 39 years.That engine was commonly used in both Pintos and Mustang IIs in the mid to late 1970s.
Its been upgraded with the A4LD 4 speed overdrive transmission which Bronco IIs used starting in 1985, and will be getting a 4.0 engine scavenged from a junked Exploder. All the Ford Cologne engines (including the V-4 Saab engine sourced from Ford) use the same bellhousing bolt pattern so it makes the swap relatively easy, the only difficult part is making a carburetor compatible intake manifold for the 4.0 as all of them were fuel injected. and the 2.8 manifold will not fit.
I have a 1988 Ranger with the 2.9 V6, five speed, 4x4. Love that truck!!! I recently saw a 1986 Bronco II for sale near me and... Had it not been for having my Ranger, a Comanche, a Rover, and a Grand Cherokee- I would have picked it up.
I had an 89. Best gas mileage of any vehicle I have ever owned.
My maternal and paternal uncles were "early adopters" of the Bronco II.
My dad bought one new in 1986. He finally sold it when he had 275,000 miles on it.
He sold it to a mutual friend.
That friend is STILL driving it.
My dad would agree with you and say that it was also the most dependable vehicle he'd ever owned. It was far more reliable than his '73 Bronco.
I got an 87 new and put 540,000 miles on it before giving it to a buddy. Still had the original clutch.
With an overall length of 158 inches, a Bronco II is only 2.5 inches longer than a first-generation Mazda Miata.
That’s crazy to think about.😜
Does that mean it's better at extreme off roading? :P
That's incredible!
Cool Google name.
And 1 inch shorter than my BMW Z4
I remember in 1983 my brothers friends mom bought one of these. My brother and his friend decided to test it's off road ability, and got stuck in a deep water crossing 2 miles from our cabin. They walked back and my dad and I took the old Willys Jeep out for the rescue. The Bronco Duece was at a drastic nose-up angle with the head lights just above water and the back window half way submerged, but it was still running!! The old Willys Jeep pulled it out and it drove home, but there was a lot of "mystery" warrantee work during the following months !!
Had a YJ Jeep Wrangler and it was the biggest pos ever.
@@stephenschenider4007 CJ TJ or no J
Our ‘73 Jeep J10 rescued a F250 thst was high centered. We chained up rear to rear and I aggressively dragged that ford, about 500 feet just for the show of it. or should I say embarrassed that ford!
@@stephenschenider4007 I had 2 YJs, the 1st gen then the Chrysler and yeah both were garbage, after then I made sure to never purchase an Jeep product again.
My friend was given a new '88 Bronco II 5 speed for his birthday by his parents (very generous parents). I taught him how to drive it as he did not know how to drive a manual. It was a fun SUV, he kept it for 7 years and never had a problem with it. Thanks for the memories.
A friend of mine had a Bronco ll. I don’t know the year model but it was an Eddie Bauer model, Green over Tan with Tan interior.
It was a 4WD and he took it off roading often.
It was able to get into very tight spaces.
After a Gazillion miles of hard driving the transmission went out so he gave it to a friend who had one with a good transmission but a blown engine.
She put the transmission from hers into his Bronco and drove it another 3-4 years before the engine died.
Cool!
That’s what I had for a Bronco II, mine was an 84. I would probably drive that thing now, if I still had it.
One thing Ford got absolutely right with the Bronco II was the styling, specifically the shape of the wheel arches, which are more squared off, similar to the original. The new Bronco and its bulging round arches make it look more like an International Scout than original Bronco. The more I look at the Bronco II today, the more I think Ford really got most of it right- the dimensions, the shape of the grille, the overall packaging- it was almost a perfect homage to the original but updated and modern without trying to be retro (which wasn’t a thing till the 2000s). All it would need was an open top version. It’s too bad that they didn’t do more engineering to work out the handling issues, which really tarnished the image of the Bronco name for a long while.
The Bronco II is more of a true successor to the 1st gen than the FSB ever will pretend to be. And in a way, the new 6th gen Bronco is really a successor to the Bronco II as a result. ;)
Oh hey, Bronco II. When I was in college, my mother was nearly killed driving one of these, although to be fair, that crash wasn't the Bronco's fault. When you get run off the road by an 18-wheeler during a snowstorm, it doesn't really matter much _what_ you were driving. And amazingly, it didn't roll over in that case. The trees it hit probably helped with that...
Thank you Adam. I remember these SUVs growing up, but I never realized that they were so short in length and in wheelbase.
My neighbor worked for Ford Aerospace and always had new Fords. In 1989, he had a 2.9 Eddie Bauer 5-speed! Pretty cool ride, could almost get it on 3-wheels turning hard left and punching it. Still pretty fun around town. They fixed the wheelbase issue and then had the best selling suv on the market.
Ford...aerospace? I didn't know they were still selling the trimotor, LOL!
Yeah they would really fry the inside tire if you did that in a parking lot
😂
You'd hear tone change in the squealing tire if you paid attention as it would sound like wheel hop,but it really wasn't,it was the loss of weight on it 😂
I rode in the back of one of these filled with 4 other guys in high school once. For some reason it was a memorable experience. I think it was because the V6 had a little roar in it, and my friend chirped the tires in 2nd gear, which back then was amazing.
It was a nice ride and a nice vehicle with no problems.
You hit the nail on the head. Our industry is dying because these awful companies would rather spend billions on litigation, than thousands/millions on engineering.
It's called tombstone legislation in the aviation industry when there is a delay to adding safety features or safety laws, likely due to cost aversion, until a deadly accident happens to pound a lesson into them.
Ntsb recommended smoke detectors in cargo holds for years, but the FAA didn't require them until a valujet plane went down in Florida on fire.
LAX had many many close calls of planes landing on the runway and those on the ground, and their ATC wanted an upgraded ground radar system since theirs constantly broke. But upgrades kept getting delayed (with faa's approval, I think) until a fiery collision happened while the ground radar was disabled. (Working radar could've prevented it)
Boeing 737 max, the company and FAA could have prevented further accidents if they mandated training on mcas, instead of a warning message to pilots which was actually not enough instructions to recover the plane.
Planes for years had flammable insulation that initially passed federal standards, but over a few years was reported to be flammable. But the effort to remove this stuff wasn't existent until a Swissair flight went down on fire due to a small blaze being fueled by the insulation.
No, our industry is dying because the UAW labor costs are roughly double what competitors are spending. Corners need to be cut somewhere to make up for that, and they are. But safety hasn't been one of those areas in a couple decades now.
@@plmn93 The UAW, our politicians selling them out to foreign competition without asking them to reciprocate, EPA regulations, safety regulations, taxes, greedy conspiring dealerships, and critical media have all contributed their fair share AGAINST a free market American car manufacturer.
@@plmn93 I think safety is still bad in some non union places. Tesla is non union and a few years back they caught flak for having employees take Ubers to the hospital. Reason being, if the employee took an ambulance, they would need to report the injury to OSHA.
Also, a guy had a back injury from a trunk lid falling on him, but he was forced to work.
During the early deadly days of the pandemic, Tesla held some closely crowded meetings with the employees, so one employee whose wife was immunocompromised from chemotherapy had to basically treat himself like a biohazard when he got home before showering.
There was a recent story where a Tesla employee put out a Tesla fire at a tradeshow. He was first honored, but after speaking out about safety issues there, his European boss fired him. Elon musk who originally congratulated him told him he can't do anything about it.
For all the disadvantages of unions, they still have at least some importance in workplace safety even if safety standards are much better today than the past. Doesn't mean unions don't have issues though.
One other thing, dollar general stores get fined all the time for unsafe working conditions and fire exit/regulations violation. The fines are not large enough for them to care about improving, but I'm sure that an employee union would have forced make changes. But alas, no worker influence there. Only If there was a union.
One of the early union strikes was when construction workers were ordered to work dangerously, and after this strike succeeded, the company had to provide safety consultants to keep the employees safe. That is what I think the purpose of unions should be
@@HAL-dm1eh technically, aren't our American manufacturers free market? Well, fairly free market.
They produce a lot of vehicles overseas or even rebrand foreign cars under American marques. Today's Buicks are generally Opels, made in Germany. American brands make stuff in Canada, too. So they have the freedom to make stuff overseas.
If we force automakers to make products in America, I don't think that is free trade.
Foreign automakers like Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai have a lot of factories in America. I'm guessing tariffs on foreign vehicles is one reason they make cars here, but I don't think tariffs are free market. Foreign automakers in the US are mostly non-unionized btw, but the factories provide jobs at least.
Seems like with today's global economy , American automakers chose to produce some cars overseas, losing some American jobs. Is that because American workers expect too much pay, or is it because overseas workers are underpaid?
Amusingly, tricks are used to avoid tariffs, called tariff engineering. Modern day Ford imported work vans from Europe, and to avoid American tariffs (the chicken tax), Ford installed extra seats and windows before shipping the vans to make them "passenger" vans. (Less tax) Once the vans were delivered in the States, Ford removed the windows and extra seats. Somebody told me they throw away the seats, not sure the truth there.
I worked at a Ford dealer from 93-2000. I was surprised by how many of the mechanics there who drove Bronco II's. I remember following some of these things thinking that they almost looked like a square driving down the road, meaning the the wheelbase seemed equal to the track width. I know they aren't, but it is close. Also, there were some cool old cars and trucks driving down that road where you filmed that Bronco!
Do you remember the carbureted 2.8s needing valve adjustments on their solid mechanical lifters?
@@tonyelliott7734 I was a trim tech, so I didn't do (or see) that kind of work. On the other hand, I thought, maybe incorrectly, that only the 4.0 engine had hydraulic lifters. ALL of the Cologne engines leaked oil from every gasket and seal, and I fixed a ton of those. By 1994, Ford had mostly fixed that problem.
@@61rampy65
I didn't know the German made 2.8/2.9 was even available up until 1994. My 94' Ranger had the 8 plug 2.3. I had 2 2.8s and 3 2.9s all in 4x4 Rangers. I guess I was lucky because I never had any problems with any of them other than one lost oil pressure and threw a rod out of the side of the block. That one was a solid lifter carbureted one but I was pretty hard on it with 150,000+ miles with 35" tires and stock gears 😆
Yes@@tonyelliott7734
I once owned a 1985 Bronco ll XLT in bright blue. Trans failed at 58,000 miles and it had drivability issues for every year I owned it. That said, I drove it over 200,000 miles and 2nd trans was bulletproof. Its high center gravity issues killed it off. I never had a problem with that issue.
I had a used 1984 Bronco II XLT from 1986 up until around 2010. Drover it all over, everywhere, to work, school, off road, across the country twice, in heavy snow and never had a problem with it. I liked it and I miss the wing windows. I never once had a feeling that it would tip over even under some emergency braking and lane changing. I have a relative that still has his 1990 Bronco II. I rode in it recently and back in the day it felt big. Today, it felt very tiny to sit in.
I miss my 1986 Bronco II that had the 2.9 Multiport EFI. Bought it used at Wittmeier Ford in Chico Ca with only 25K on the clock in 1988. I absolutely loved that little SUV. I had the trans (A4LD) rebuilt at about 170K. The TFI ignition module went out while in Las Vegas in 1997 (I carried a spare and the modified 5.5mm socket to replace it on the fly). It was an all around great little SUV that had awesome 4WD capabilities because of the very short wheelbase. I had to let it go in 2014 because of financial issues. I still miss it though. Thank you Adam.
I owned a Bronco II for a while. Not a bad little maneuverable vehicle, it seemed relatively stable with front and rear sway bars. I even got into a situation at a construction site and it didn't roll over. I think the Bronco II got the bad rap because people that were accustomed to driving a compact car got into a Bronco II and drove it like a car instead of treating it like a 4WD truck.
I had an '87 in the mid '90's in Northern Michigan and it got me in and out of a lot of tight places in the woods, in all conditions. First gear in Four Low and most sins were forgiven. This video brought backlogs of fun memories.
I had a first generation Ford Ranger as my first vehicle when I was in high school so this video brings back some fond memories. Thanks Adam.
I had this in Eddie Bauer trim and a soft top samurai at the same time. Both fun small SUV’s at the time. But the Bronco was a great ride. Later had the full size Bronco too.
Thanks for another thorough, objective history lesson.
All I remember about these Bronco IIs were that they were everywhere when I was a teenager- they sold very well.
However....I honestly don't recall the litigation and rollover controversy....sorry. I guess by my late teens I was no longer paying as much attention to new cars every Fall.
I was just a baseball-obsessed weightlifting teenager who if anything paid attention to the Grand Marquis instead?!?
I have one in the driveway as well as a Samurai as as my handle says Jeeps. Never rolled one. Auctually the Bronco gave intructions on how to drive safely. I lost brakes on a 1984 and still made a 90 degree turn. Sadly everyone blames the manufacturer for people not following directions or basic common sense. They are not sports cars so you don't drive them like one.
Healthy respect for center of gravity and critical angles and you’re fine, idiocy gets punished that’s about all
Buddy had a 85, you could drive nose into a 2 car garage and make a 180 degree turn and drive nose out. Just a couple of high school boys put that thru all sorts od sketchy on and off road adventures. Total legend!
I still have an 84 and it's fun to drive...at slow speed. Definitely not a high speed cruiser.
In the show Arrested Development, George sr was looking for a new car and wanted a Bronco. The salesman regretfully said the bronco was no longer available, and had some flight risk implications. So the salesman says "here is our new Escape"
Well said. Don't drive a 4x4 crazy and you won't flip it. It is a note, that the early bronco 2s had a lift gate glass that opened up also which was very neat compared to the newer models.
You're right it is amazing how tiny it is compared to modern vehicles, smaller than an EcoSport.
Fact: The original US model Volkswagen Rabbit, which debuted in 1974, was riding on a 94.5 inch wheelbase and was 150 inches long....
Great video!
It’s amazing what time can do for a sense of taste. As a kid when these were relatively new and everywhere on the road, I thought they had awkward proportions and I just didn’t like them much. Watching this video decades later I’m thinking - this is a handsome package!
Personally had 2 of them, first a 2.8V6/automatic, and later a 2.9V6/auto, loved them both. Never had a roll over problem with either, only problems I had was keeping transmission pump input shaft seals from puking out oil. Actually had a 6-1/2 foot plow on the later one, worked great with the short wheelbase in tight quarters. Both went over 250,000 Km (Yes I'm Canadian) with all the usual maintenance issues, thought they were great. For the record I had a Ford Pinto too that ran flawlessly for many years!
Tippy canoe and Bronco 2. These things were plain dangerous in quick maneuver situations, I think it's sad the Samurai got the worst of the roll over scare. The Bronco II was way worse. I used to have a Samurai, delivered pizzas in it back in the day. I had that thing sideways, sliding downhill, did abrupt emergency maneuvers with it, and never came close to rolling over. I will say the little Broncos were nice inside, a good friend of mine still owns one. They're not too bad if you know what you're getting into. He's had to replace just about everything on his, and it was well taken care of, so reliability is definitely a factor on them. Personally I preferred the S10 Blazers of this era, especially with the stick. They had more room, basically the same power, and were much more stable.
I feel like even the latest jeep wrangler still flips easily. I'm guessing not as easily as the bronco, and that it has a stronger roof than the old bronco, but if you watch IIHS crash test it flips over from a simple crash test, and we can find videos of it easily flipping. So it seems like an inherent weakness in super lifted off-road SUVS.
The Jeep Wrangler, as of a few years ago, still didn't have side airbags, but the Ford Bronco did.
The only S-10s that were any good were the early 4.3 ones with throttle body injection. Later ones that used the "spider" injectors inside the intake manifold were seriously unreliable when..not if... the injection system either blew the fuel pressure regulator (which caused them to run extremely rich) or failed completely.
The injection system was very expensive to replace.
@@donreinke5863 Actually the early ones had major issues with the 4wd system. The extra torque from the 4.3 would snap the plastic worm gear in the t case that engaged the 4x4 which would require an R&R of the case. Also the automatic equipped ones had transmission issues also. The 5 speeds were still the ones to buy.
I daily drive an 89. Great little truck!
I still have an 84 but it isn't my daily driver.
A cousin had one a couple of these. I don’t remember them as overly impressive. However mentioning crash ratings, I remember small Fords being horrific when in major collisions compared to period GM. S10 Blazers and Explorers also flipped pretty easily. Too narrow. But yeah they did have a pretty dashboard. Lots of stripe options outside no two were alike. Interesting spot light. Always a pleasure to tune in.
Not buying the bogus crash tests. I drove past a wreck where a Bronco II had rear-ended a newer tin can sedan.
The Bronco would have been good to go with a new grille, bumper and hood, while the tincan sedan was folded up almost to the rear wheels and was a total write-off.
Someone had previously installed offset wheels and 235/75-15 tires on the Bronco II I have had for 10 years which widens the track and improves stability...a common modification back in the day.
A good friend of mine had one of these when he was growing up in Texas. Until one days he put bigger tires on it and rolled it *7 TIMES* going around a relatively minor turn by his house. He lived, but he got a concussion, messed his lower back up, damaged a rotator cuff, and has some scars from the glass where his buddy tried to pull him out of the truck which had come to a rest on it's side.
He didn't know how he survived or how the roof didnt collapse until he met me and I remembered an old Ford coffee table book I have which makes mention of one of the engineering "fixes" for this dangerous truck: *An integrated roll bar*
I never realized that the Bronco was so small back then. I knew someone who owned one. This here is a great example and even more so in Michigan.
Had an 1985 BRII, 4x4, in midnight blue with interior upgrade and a tow package. Had it in bumper deep snow, riverbank mud up to the punkin's and towed s 21' cuddy walk around on the Interstate. It never let me down during 23 years of ownership.
My first vehicle was a 10 year old 1987 BRONCO II..... It was purchased as having" 135K" on it I add another 340k prior to rolling it corner-over- corner (diagonally) through a field one morning.... I never managed to get it stuck no matter the weather or terrain, I even intentionally tried to 'lose' control in an iced over parking lot in college...
For about 6hrs it handled it far better than I expected possible...with the right combination of engine (2.9l), transmission (A4ld), and axle ratio (3.73) it was amazing to drive. The A4LD was impressive when it worked properly but was otherwise was a horrible excuse for a transmission. Daily i got about 18 mpg and several times on trips to the coast I repeatedly got 27mpg... When I got a replacement after rolling it out through a field I found an 87 Bronco II with less than 100k mile ... it was a manual with a 3.50 axle ratio.... with than combination I regularly got 15-16 mpg and it felt significantly weaker than I would have expected.... I have tons of experiences with going places I probably shouldn't have an doing things I probably should've and that little truck generally got me out of trouble and always got me home....😊
I sure do miss 2 door trucks , 4 doors look awful
👏👏👏👏
You and me both! I use trucks to haul materials, not people.
If the cab is longer than the bed, it's not a real truck...
@@DanEBoyd never really understood the logic other than those who live in the city have limited parking space and have to combine an SUV and a pickup together bc they don't have room for both. So what they get is a vehicle that does neither job well.
@@DanEBoyd I am waiting for someone to come out with a 3 row pickup that weighs over 3 tons and has a 2 foot bed.
I had an ‘89. I loved the size of it. Drove it through Minnesota winters and never got stuck including a 30” snow storm. Kept it until 2007. The only issue was the AC went out otherwise solid. I was so glad that the new Bronco has a two door version!
We bought a new 87 Bronco II XLT 4WD with the 2.9 and a 5 speed. Having had a Jeep CJ5 previously and knew you could help the handling with a wider tire/wheel combo, I put a wider 60 series tire with the same circumference as the stock tires. Just like the Jeep you still had to avoid sudden panic swerves. We found it to be very capable and fun to drive. My wife used it as her daily driver. I think one issue that held the car back was it's lack of a 4 door version. The Jeep Cherokee was very popular and eventually Ford brought out the Explorer.
Just wear your seat belt, they roll easily but they roll well. I blew a tire on the PA turnpike doing 90, I rolled 9 times and walked away with a cut on my ear because I wasn't wearing a seat belt and my head hit the window as it broke and my face was literally against the asphalt. Wear your seat belt folks.
My wife’s car when we met. She loved it!
My grandpa carried mail in one of these on a rural route when I was a small kid. It was the vehicle I learned to use turn signals in. I always thought these things were pretty cool!
I Always wanted a Bronco 2.
My step brother bought a full sized Bronco in 79. It has a 302 V8 with a 4spd stick. It’s Yellow and White with Tan interior.
He still owns it and just finished a frame off restoration.
I kind of miss mine. It rotted away in the Chicago winter but it seemed less frightening than a CJ 5 my buddy had.
I had an 1989 xlt I was in my 20s and really liked it. When you folded down the rear seats it would hold my camping gear. Was great off road. The 2.9 injected engine was a good running. Not overly powerful problem was if it overheated the heads will crack .
Had an ‘85. Motorcraft carbed Cologne 2.8, with the A4LD auto. Some may say, a powertrain match made in hell. And, they may be right..
I had one in the mid 90s. It wasnt mechaincally terrible, but the short wheelbase and narrow tire track made handling challenging on roads when snow was deeper.
Some early ads showed the side glass to be removable but I've never seen this anywhere else.
I remember seeing a British ad for the Bronco, not sure if it was right hand drive or not.
Two wheel drive Broncos had an empty transfer case and no front diff. I've seen one of these. The saving grace is that the missing parts can be added to the stock frame.
The 84 / 85 had manual shift transfer case with 86+ genning an electric shift.
Another reason for the roll over issues was the " Twin I Beam " front suspension. ( Think early VW air cooled bug / Corvair )
One of my uncles had one with the removable rear side glass. It is the only Bronco II I ever saw outside of sales brochures to have that feature.
My older cousin was in an accident in the mid 80s when I was 5-7 ish and got an insurance settlement. He blew it all on a new Bronco II. I still remember it, at the time it was the first new car I'd ever seen.
The guy who rebuilt one of my Buick 430 and fixed one of my Toyota 22RE was driving a very clean '89 Bronco II which he still drove daily around 2008 when he replaced it with an Escape (he also had a Mustang and I've never seen him driving anything but Fords). When I complained to him about Buick, 350, 430 and 455 engines having some issues (I guess the main one might have been the careless driver in my case), he told me they were much better than the engine in his Bronco II. I was a bit surprised to hear that from a Ford guy! Knowing how careful he was with his, I doubt he ever had problems with his 2.9!
My uncle and father had a 1977 and 1978 Bronco when I was a kid. I liked those a lot. I thought my uncle's was a much older vehicle (he and my father both sold theirs in 1980 when they were just 2 and 3 years old!). I was quite disappointed with the Rabbit L Diesel that my father bought to replace it and my uncle had bought tan Buick Century sedan to replace his Bronco.(my father had also brought me to the Pontiac Buick dealer to test drive a 4 door Century as he had bought 3 cars at that dealership before he got his Bronco. He finally bought the Rabbit, probably influenced by another uncle who had a '79 Rabbit!). Today they seem strange choices for 32 and 33 years old people! My uncle soon went back to driving 4x4 Mazda pickups and my father kept driving diesels for a long time!
Had a 88 Ranger with its 107.9 wheelbase and drove it 350 k miles before it rusted out. they used the same steering box as a F 250 and a transmission very close in design I believe. in 87 or 88 the 4 cylinder engine had roller folowers on the cam gear and mine showed 0 wear on the motor when I refreshed it at 292 k miles due to a head gasket failure. wish I could find a rust free one. big bucks now though . would get 25 mpg no matter what, later learned that a bigger exhaust would bring 30 mpg after the tail pipe fell off. lo
Still far cheaper and likely more reliable than a semi-comparable new vehicle.
My first car was a 1989 2.9L 4WD 5-speed Bronco II XLT at the age of 13 or 14. It lived on our farm and had Farm Use signs so I could drive it around to fish and camp and drive trails around the area and get away with it. It sounded like a rattly, diesely, ticking sewing machine, haha! But it did REALLY well off road, still one of the better factory (it had aftermarket wheels and 29 or 30" mud tires on it, but stock otherwise as far as I know) off roaders I've ever driven. It was pretty rotten and not really fit for highway use, but it only had 120,000 miles when I traded it for a dirtbike one I was of driving age and had a 'real' vehicle (1998 S10 ZR2 5-speed regular cab), but part of me wishes I'd kept it. It was 100% reliable. The front end was even straight and true!
I owned a 1988 Bronco II XLS loved that little thing.
I had a fun 1984 Blue Bronco II back in college. It seemed very under powered and eventually stuff started breaking so I sold it. It was a fun vehicle when it worked. I never came close to rolling it but I did spin it around a few times on icy roads. The short wheel base was fun.
My first vehicle was a 89 bronco 2 with a 5 speed. As a 16 year old that was invincible, I drove that thing like a F1 car and only pitched it up on 2 wheels 3 times. Never flipped it. Cologne motor died after 175,000 miles. 100k driven by my parents responsibly. 75k of me floating the valves and doing burnouts. Loved that truck.
A RWD ‘88 Bronco II was my first car ever. I credit driving that sucker around in Missouri and Colorado winters for the vehicle-control techniques I have today. “If you can drive to work in December in a Bronco II, you can drive a car around a racetrack.” 😂
My brother had an Eddie Bauer Edition.
Something as simple as widening the wheelbase could have avoided many deaths
and limited the litigation losses. They had to know this.....Idiots!
I had 2 of these. The 1st one was an 85. Only issue i had with it was the wiring that was between the cowl into the door and it rusted out bad. Traded it in for an 89 and that one was totalled when I ran into a mountainside in W.V. because the pitman arm broke and had no steering. Come to find out Ford had recall on the pitman arms because the company that made them used cheaper metal and a lot of them had small fractures in them from factory.
Drive responsibility and you will be fine.
My girlfriend bought a brand new 1986 red Bronco II V6 with 5 speed and drove it like she stole it for 6 years and a 140000 miles,,, it was tough as nails !!
All it got was abused and ZERO maintenance...
What a unit it was,, and so was she !! lol
My 1984 Bronco II Eddie Bauer was beautiful. With illuminated running boards.
It was black, with colored lines on the sides and V-shaped lines on the hood. The wheel was mounted on a support at the rear. Locked differential. I also had a push bar in the front.
I paid $15,400 in 1984
Used to love how some of the Bronco's looked when the top was off..
Later on Ford had a bigger catastrophe. With follow-up Explorer model on their hands, when factory installed Firestone tires delaminated on highway speeds. Lots of finger pointing and denial.
Right on time at around 6:29 you can see 2 Broncos drive by
We had a used 85 xlt and we loved it. Such fun to drive. I'd love another one day.
I worked on these as a mechanic in the 80s, the feds gave ford a hassel about rollovers, but i dont recall people rolling any around my town. And people here drive like its a nascar race everyday. No lie, i did a minor toe adjustment to one, then took it out to make sure the steering wheel was straight. Before i was a block or two, a car suddenly cuts me off bigtime. I made one of my best emergency manuvers to date and avoided a crash. The bronco performed just fine and it never felt as if it would roll, and i jerked it pretty hard. Still, ford should have made it as long as a blazer in retrospect.
you are so right about todays drivers.
That specimen is such a gorgeous truck! I was always a GM guy and owned several S-10 blazers and now a trailblazer, which is the last real mid size SUV in existence. But, those little bronco II's always cried out to me. I always wanted to drop a rat nasty 5 liter in one of those and just let her eat some dirt.
The rollover problem was exacerbated with people doing sharp turns at speeds which a lot of vehicles don't really respond well to, especially that high off the ground.
The best cure for it is actually getting wheel spacers and fitting the biggest tires you could fit on there (235s) and it would be way safer
I had one of these when i was married and had nothing but problems with it!! Mostly electrical problems. My ex-wife immediately got rid of it the minute we got divorced because of all the problems with it. She bought a Toyota!!
I love the 80s and 90s content. Great video!
I love these Bronco II’s. Wish I could find one that’s not rusted out, I’d chuck a 302 and a T-5 in it and have all kinds of fun.
I once saw a Bronco II on the old Mother's Car Show they used to have back in the '90s when espn was still cool, and the owner had put an old Ford Flathead V8 in it!!!
I remember the 2.8 carbureted engines had solid lifters instead of hydraulic ones like the fuel injected 2.9 had. After they were a few years old without having those valves adjusted, they would be clattering like a thrashing machine. If they were adjusted properly they would still be pretty quiet. I don't know of any engine in that era having mechanical solid lifters other than the 2.8.
Correct about the valve adjustment. I recall awaiting my turn at a Ford dealership while the service advisor was explaining to an unhappy owner that because the valves hadn't been adjusted they were looking at a repair involving the removal of both cyl. heads for valve grinding or replacement. $$$
Honda still uses solid lifters.
@@w.peterroberts9624the V6 engines had problems with cylinder heads cracking.
@@northdakotaham1752
Which engines?
@@tonyelliott7734 I don't have any Honda vehicles....but according to Scotty, Honda is still using solid lifters in at least some of their engines. Check back on some of his videos.
My dad just gave me his old 84’ bronco to restore and I’m hyped cause it’s my first project car
I always wondered why they made it so short, being based off a ranger that had longer wheel bases available: Standard bed 107.9 in Long bed 113.9 in SuperCab 125 in The extra cargo space and leg room would have been nice and put it on par with Blazer for size still.
They made it so short because off-pavement capability was a high priority. They wanted to build a vehicle that would go everywhere a stock CJ Jeep could. That's why it has the wheelbase and track width it has.
7:46 I'm surprise those low seatbacks were legal in 1987; were SUV's still exempt from the usual whiplash protection requirements at that point?
I owned one of these for a short time as well as a Ranger. I also drove many, many of them when I worked for a Ford Dealer in the time these were hot sellers. Even the dealer's wife would drive no other vehicle at the time. I never experienced anything in the way of potential roll overs but there you go. It's how you drive the thing. I drove a few CJ5s that were a bit spooky though. Of course the truck in the photos here has the accessory Galaxie 500 hood ornament which split the wind just so to avoid un stable driving conditions.
My high school pal had a 1985 Bronco II Eddie Bauer. Nice vehicle. He managed to put it on its ear doing donuts in the mall parking lot.
It was fixed but eventually traded in for a facelift Bronco II.
I still have my 86, never been stuck in the mud or snow.
I had the base 4x4 in it's first year of it's introduction, mine was the manual transmission on the floor, which I had on all my 4x4 trucks that I owned, anyways though I never rolled it, it was very difficult to control on washboard dirt roads, and the reason why I finally sold it.
That is VERY interesting, Adam, that they actually made the problem twice as bad by pulling the standard 4WD. They just should've made the damn thing wider - they successfully made millions of 2WD pickups with Twin-I-Beam for decades...
Ford didn't make "the problem twice as bad by pulling the standard 4WD." Buyers of the 2WD simply didn't respect the fact that they were driving a vehicle with a narrow track, short wheel base, and a high center of gravity. Some buyers of the 4WD version had a planned use for the low range capability of the vehicle AND prior experience with other vehicles like Scouts and Early Broncos that were of similar size and they didn't try to drive them like "ordinary passenger vehicles".
And no, they shouldn't have just "made the damn thing wider."
My dad and 13 of my uncles owned First-Generation Broncos. Most of my uncles owned CJ Jeeps before the Bronco came out in 1966 and all but my dad had switched to Bronco by 1972, My dad finally got his in 1973. That was the first year you could get power steering and an automatic transmission as factory options on the Bronco but you still had four-wheel drum brakes with no power assist. During the Early Bronco's 1966 to 1977 production run, Ford sold about 12,500 Broncos per year. They didn't sell many to people having no planned use for low range four-wheel drive capability. The people who bought them respected the fact that four-wheel drive utility vehicles of that era did not handle like ordinary two wheel drive passenger cars and didn't drive them like they did.
The full-size 1978 Bronco was a smashing sales success for Ford. My dad and my uncles had zero interest in it. Their universal cry was "If I'd have wanted a friggin' Blazer, I know where the Chevy store is." It was deemed too big to be of any use to them.
For my uncles who bought First Generation Broncos, the appeal to the vehicle was that it had more useful interior room of a CJ but would go everywhere a CJ would off pavement and it offered a more comfortable ride on pavement and off.
When the Bronco II came out mid-year of 1983, my oldest uncle, who bought a '66 Bronco new, HAD to have one, and once the rest of my uncles saw what it could do off-road, they had to have one, too. My dad followed suit, buying a new Eddie Bauer Edition, fully optioned, in 1986,
You need to look at the design of the Bronco II in light of the time it was designed in.
In 1972, the U.S. Congress passed legislation mandating the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management adopt Travel Management Plans. Those TMPs were not fully implemented when the Bronco II hit that market.
That's significant. To illustrate why, there were at least 15 open, legal routes on the ground covered by the Butler Peak, CA map that were open, legal routes in 1983 but were closed forever by 1994. Those that were closed were a fire break later co-opted by CJ Jeep drivers and fourteen others that were blazed by following the same path over and over and over again in a CJ Jeep.
That's just one little patch of U.S. wild country. You had the same situation in other areas of California and in other states.
Ford engineers developed the Bronco II to be able to go anywhere a stock CJ could, while offering better ride comfort, superior suspension articulation, superior fuel economy, and more useful interior room. Back when Bronco II's were new, there were a whole lot more open, legal routes that a Full-Size Bronco, Blazer, Jimmy, Ramcharger, or TrailDuster was simply to large to fit on. It's a different world today.
In one sense, though, it isn't.
Consider a trail like the Rubicon Trail. That started life as a maintained road for horse-drawn vehicles. Jeep owners co-opted it about the time that El Dorado County stopped spending money to maintain it. It is a wide trail compared to many I've run. People take full-size pickups across it. They couldn't have done so on some of the trails I used to run in 70s and 80s.
But even through the Rubicon Trail is wide by traditional "Jeep Trail" standards, one advantage of running something small on it, like my CJ 2A, is that because my vehicle is small relative to the trail, I have more options for line choice than I would have otherwise.
That's how I can get an old CJ 2A over that trail without lift, lockers, or large tires. I'm not stuck with one line and only one as modern JL pilots are in places.
Ford engineers didn't give the Bronco II the form factor it has because they're idiots who didn't know what in the hell they were doing. They wanted a vehicle with stock CJ Jeep capability and they designed one. Give it a longer wheelbase and a wider track, and a lot of that capability vanishes.
A stock Bronco II running 235 / 75 15 BFG All Terrains of the period had as much ground clearance under the differential pumpkins as my '73 Bronco with a D-44 front and 9" rear did when running 31" x 10.50" x 15" BFG AT's. That was also by design. Some Bronco II's, when new, could take a 30" x 9.50" tire. My uncle's '84 could, and that gave him a little more clearance under the differentials of his Bronco II than I had with my 1973.
Today, in the here and now in 2024, "just make the damn thing wider" is exactly what Ford did with the current resurrected Bronco. With all of the route closures that have taken place on U.S. public wild land since 1972 TMP mandates, they're not pissing many of the faithful off by doing that. Short wheelbase and narrow track aren't the advantages they were decades ago when there were more open legal routes to run on. That's the world the Bronco II was designed to live in four decades ago.
@@jerroldshelton9367All those points are true for serious off-roaders, just look what they're getting for the original broncos now! But the B2 was introduced at the beginning of everyone buying SUVs as lifestyle vehicles, not actually taking them off road. Back in '79 my father noticed that women really liked sitting up high in the Cherokees and Wagoneers of the era, and now everybody's driving huge four-wheel drive, 4-door sedans with beds on the back... And again, we're talking about a two-wheel drive model here, so they certainly weren't thinking of it like a Jeep. I also stand by my statement: the 2wd model killed more than twice as many people as the 4wd...
I an 88 XLT. Two tone brown. V6. Looked great. Standard. Comfortable.
Loved it.
Was my high school car in the 2000s. I played in a band and had a bass amp fly out the rear curved glass from taking a turn too fast. My sax player was covered in glass. Haha. He was ok. Ran into him a while back and we laughed about that memory.
They were easy to swap a 302 v8 into them. That made them fun to drive
Interesting video i never knew about the issues with these bronco ii's. Bringing back the name for the bronco made sense, though some others makes none. Such as the maverick, which was a car and the Monterey also a car . Having the names coming back as a suv (actually station wagon) and mini van. respectively.
I think the name changes had more to do with the addition of two doors than with OJ's "car chase" on the L.A. freeway. Customers that were driving Suburbans were begging for a 4-door full sized Bronco as were the Bronco II customers. The Explorer and the Expedition answered both of those desires.
Which is hilarious, because I had no desire to upgrade my Bronco II until Ford released the Explorer Sport… which only had two doors.
I had a 1987 that was rear wheel drive only. I wish I still had it but my dad sold it while I was away for a few years back in the late 1990's. Back in college, late at night, some friends and I placed a CPR dummy on the road right after a high bump/small hill in the road, we wanted to see if I could jump it. It did and amazed everyone that watch me do it. It was also only a few blocks from the sheriffs dept
Was this recorded during the Woodward Dream Cruise? You can thank sef-service gas stations and the Ford Bronco II with bringing us tire inflation pressure monitor systems. Drivers weren't keeping up with the tire pressure monitoring and maintenance that "Pump Jockeys" formerly provided and when combined with the relatively low front tire pressure specification for the Bronco II led to grossely underinflated front tires which were responsible for the dangerous emergency handling characteristics.
I had one and it was an amazing.
Owned a 1989 with the 2.9L - 5 speed. Excellent vehicle getting fantastic mpg's. Sold it after 14 years having no issues with anything. Should have kept it.
A buddy of mine had an '88 Bronco II that he and his Dad built from the frame up upgrading everything....from the posi rearend to the K-Code 289 he got out of a wrecked ''66 Mustang GT, that thing was a beast...until he got stoned and messes with something under the hood that required him to move the fuel line out of his way...a fuel line he failed to tighten back up and as a result we watched that rig catch fire and burn to the ground...it was a total loss...yeah that sucked...
A coworker had an 87 Bronco 2 Eddie Bauer edition. Dark Green & tan, tan interior. It got stolen from the local mall and the car thief wrecked it. My coworker bought a white 89 Mustang GT coupe to replace it.....
I owned the '86 Eddie Bauer Edition with the 4 speed manuel red and tan color. It was a nimble truck. I actually had a sunroof installed because I liked the truck so much.
That interior reminds me of my buddy’s 86 4cyl Mustang, same auto shifter and very similar dashboard. As dumb high school kids we’d race all of the time. He in his 4 banger Stang and I had an 86 Chevy Celebrity with the Iron Duke. Those two cars were identically slow 😅
Really like tje styling and long list of options available on the bronco II
I had a 1986 with the fuel injected 2.9 and 5 speed with 4x4. I loved it. I took it to Jalisco, Mexico, and I eventually sold it to a doctor who would use it in 4x4 mode to make house calls in small villages. I would like to buy another one to once again have as my car in Mexico.
I like these. Owned an 89 XL with the bench seat. ❤
I had an 88 in the 90’s. First vehicle i bought that was too expensive for me to pay cash for. It was in awesome shape. Should of kept it.
Nice Eldo Convertible at 2:40 - repeats at 5:12.
Was that hood ornament a factory deal? Looks a little out of place on an off-road type of vehicle.
Muddy had a XLS exactly like the one in the picture. It lasted about a week before rolling. This was 1995.
They were gorgeous and I wish I had one !!!!
What set the XLS trim apart was brushed aluminum (everywhere)