That Time Ford Made Broncos for the US Military

"Garrett Davis" (GarrettDavis) 03/24/2014 at 12:52 • Filed to: None

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I have always had something of a love affair with the Ford Bronco. I've spent many a night scouring craigslist ads in search of the perfect one, while simultaneously trying to come up with reasons why buying one would be a responsible decision (haven't found one yet). Its first and final iterations are especially dear to my heart, especially given the *ahem* growing pains they went through in the between years. Something I didn't know about the Bronco, though, is that the US military ordered and deployed somewhere near 120 of these bad boys between 1965 and 1968.

(Full disclosure: Ford wanted me to drive a military issue Bronco so bad the government destroyed most of its records that it ever existed and scrapped almost every example they had. Since there is so little known about these, much of the information given here is from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and some forum posts on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

Starting in 1961, Ford had an ear in President Kennedy's Cabinet in the form of Secretary of Defense, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Yes, former president of FoMoCo, Robert McNamara. Make of that what you will, but it seems that making friends in high places can be good for business. Who knew?

Information is extremely scarce on these, but apparently ol' Robby was able to give Ford some inside details on exactly what the military was looking for in their vehicles. This was fantastic for Ford, given they were already developing a direct Jeep CJ competitor of their own. This was a clear opportunity to follow in Jeep's footsteps and sell a military and civilian version of their new off-roader. Whereas the Jeep was the hero of WWII, Ford might have secretly been hoping for their own little hero in the coming war in Vietnam.

The first examples of these were sent around the US as well as down south of the border to military bases in Panama, Cuba, and Guantanamo bay. This might have been done to get them out into as many different terrains as possible, but most were handed out to officers or were used as fleet vehicles for air support teams. A few 1966-1967 models were sent to Vietnam as well, but seemed to stay around the military bases and likely never saw combat.

As far as how they were outfitted for military duty, well, they were pretty much the same as the standard civilian Bronco that was available to the public. The initial test models sent to the government for testing had Ford's standard 302 V8 and were fitted with either power steering/brakes or manual. The actual models that the military ended up ordering, though, had the rather anemic 170 I-6, most of which seemed to come with a manual three speed transmission. Other changes were that the rear had two seats running down the bed over the wheel wells, as opposed to the single front facing seat that the civilian model had, and corresponding paint for each branch of the military it saw service in (Army green, Navy grey, Air Force blue, etc).

Not many of these survived after they were taken out of service, some as late as the 1980's. These days they are extremely hard to find in part because they look nearly identical to every other 1967 Bronco that rolled out of the factory. After they were decommissioned, most had their data plates removed from the dash (see below), which gave information on which branch of the military they served in, and how they were equipped. Many were restored and painted a different color, thus eliminating one of its few distinguishing characteristics.

Interesting to note the 2 year, 2,400 mile warranty on the data plate.

So why didn't they last? Again, there really isn't much info out there at all, but from what I can gather, the I-6 was underpowered (hi, Jeep), the truck just didn't seem to meet the high standards of reliability the military required, and parts were not as ubiquitous as the venerable GPW. My own personal theory is that the military was already looking for a larger and more robust, custom made vehicle, much like the ones you'll find in Arnold Schwarzenegger's driveway today. The Bronco didn't offer enough advantages over the long standing Jeep, and without a significant future for the small 4x4 layout, it's not particularly surprising that these didn't make the cut.

Here are some interesting anecdotes from a few people who had the opportunity to try them out while deployed (from issue #51 of Bronco Driver magazine):

"Many of the officers that were assigned them would work out trades with officers that had real Jeeps, because they wanted to look like they were in the War. Appears these trucks weren't "Warrior" enough for a bunch of desk jockeys."

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

"We really preferred the Bronco over the standard Jeep issued at the time. They were better equipped for offroad, and they didn't beat you to death onroad. Ours were equipped with 6 cylinder engines. We griped often about wanting something with a few more ponies. Our mechanic offered to put something larger in the engine bay, but regs prohibited anything but maintenance on them."

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of these, but unfortunately its history wouldn't make for a whole lot more than a conversation piece unless it was fully original. The only example of that I could find in my research belongs to Citadel Military College in South Carolina, who use it in their parades and ceremonies. Most others probably flew right under the radar and have since rusted out in junk yards or have been converted into rock crawlers — little do the owners know that their baby sitting in the driveway once gave the mighty Jeep a run for its money. What a shame.

Welp. Off to Craigslist...

Garrett Davis > Garrett Davis 03/24/2014 at 12:52

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Here's the inspiration for the article, of course found on my local Craigslist: http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/435471…

AMC/Renauledge > Garrett Davis 03/24/2014 at 13:07

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IOW, Ford made fairly bog-standard OG Broncos and sold them as fleet vehicles to the military.

Raphael Orlove > Garrett Davis 03/24/2014 at 13:09

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MacNamera was approached by the gov't in 1960, but wasn't in office as Secretary of Defense until '61, right?

Garrett Davis > Raphael Orlove 03/24/2014 at 13:10

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Good catch, fixed.

Garrett Davis > AMC/Renauledge 03/24/2014 at 13:13

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It was more of a test run to replace the aging Jeep. It was handing out to officers for them to help decide if it was worthy of becoming the new standard for their operations. They became fleet vehicles after.

lone_liberal > Garrett Davis 03/24/2014 at 13:17

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Sorry, wrong place.

lone_liberal > Garrett Davis 03/24/2014 at 13:18

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I thought the 302 didn't show up until 68?

Garrett Davis > lone_liberal 03/24/2014 at 13:22

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They sent the military test vehicles with the 302 in 1965 before the Bronco was even released to the public. It was pre-production, and I think Ford just wanted to give them the best case package to impress them.

lone_liberal > Garrett Davis 03/24/2014 at 13:24

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Very interesting! I would have thought they'd just stuff in a 289 that they had thousands of rolling off the production line.

Garrett Davis > lone_liberal 03/24/2014 at 13:27

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That's what I would have thought. It's a terrible picture, but this is the only shot I could find of one of the original test vehicle:

ihbase > Garrett Davis 03/24/2014 at 20:17

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Nice piece, thanks for putting it together. I kinda doubt low hp killed the Bronco option for the military. (See: Anything powered by the anemic GM 6.2 diesel) I'm guessing FoMoCo could have built them to almost any hp spec. Considering the byzantine process of government contraction (Imagine that process in the 60's!) it may be impossible to determine why the Bronco was not more widely adopted by the military. Maybe price, weight and inertia of the Jeep platform? -Michael

Garrett Davis > ihbase 03/25/2014 at 00:32

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Well the listed weight for a '66 is around 3800 pounds, and with the 170 I-6 rated at just a little bit over 100 hp, I'd say it was probably a bit of a dog. I agree though, that that can't be the only reason, I'm sure it didn't match the bulletproof reliability of the Jeep. Also, I know they were wanting a larger vehicle for some time, and like you said, the momentum of the Jeep was so strong that there would be no reason to make such a slight upgrade.

Thanks for the reply!

Jedidiah > Garrett Davis 03/25/2014 at 22:36

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I would love to have one of these or a Jeep M715. These had a 230 ci OHC I6 built by Kaiser instead of the I6 made famous by AMC, but they look freaking sweet and have dana 70 axles. You can occasionally find these jeeps on Craigslist with really low miles since they were primarily converted into fire trucks after Vietnam.

Heres a picture of the M715 for your enjoyment. :)

ly2v8-Brian > Jedidiah 03/27/2014 at 13:06

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those are indeed bad ass. you can sort of drive it in GTA V.

TexasBartering.com > Garrett Davis 12/22/2014 at 21:45

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Hello I have this Military issue 1967 Bronco if anyone is interested in purchasing or trading. http://www.buyop.com/49098/index.ht…

Also have the doors and a soft top as well. Thank you.

SwaggyGaming > ihbase 09/24/2018 at 13:48

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Well Mr. ihbase if you must know, when something is low hp in any video game it is likely to die, unless you go beast mode or you dip, just trying to be clear as I am a gamer, so I know a lot more than you about this topic

Tricia Smith Matthews > Garrett Davis 11/08/2020 at 20:43

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Hi. I have a 1967 Army issued Ford Bronco that my dad bought from the army base in Fort Polk, La in the early 70's. It is fully original except my dad put a wench on it. Still the same army green, has never been painted. I was wondering if you could tell me what the value might range. Thanks