Bronco
“Ford's first SUV started as a 92-inch tin box with flat glass and a Dana 20, grew into an F-Series with a lift-off roof, vanished for 25 years and came back to fight the Jeep again. The first one is still the one everybody wants.”
Ford announced the Bronco in August 1965 as a 1966 model, its first SUV and its answer to the Jeep CJ-5 and the International Scout. The idea came from product manager Donald Frey, who had also conceived the Mustang. The early Bronco rode on its own short frame with coil springs up front and four-wheel drive as standard, and Ford offered it as a roadster, a half-cab pickup and a wagon before building the last one for 1977.
For 1978 the Bronco became the full-size Bronco, a short-wheelbase F-Series with a lift-off fiberglass rear top that outsold the Chevrolet K5 Blazer and Dodge Ramcharger. It stayed on F-Series underpinnings through five generations, switching to Twin Traction Beam front suspension in 1980, until the last one left Michigan Truck in Wayne on June 12, 1996, and the four-door Expedition took its place. Along the way Ford used the name on the smaller, Ranger-based Bronco II (1984–1990), which is a different truck altogether.
After a 25-year gap the sixth-generation Bronco arrived for 2021, built in Wayne again and aimed squarely at the Wrangler: body-on-frame, two or four doors, removable doors and roof, and locking front and rear differentials. Its styling borrows from the first truck, and the designers scanned their design chief's 1976 Bronco for reference. The Bronco Sport crossover and a China-only Bronco New Energy share the name but not the hardware.