Thanks for listening to the garage sale, show on podcast one it has been through a lot this year. It's time for home improvement project, maybe update my kitchen or a new code of paint I'll need a contractor. I can trust- and I know in common. The professionals recommended by best pit reports, to give me great service, plus their work is backed by the best pig guarantee, all of them up at best pick reports dot com. Today, your complete source for top home service professionals in your neighborhood best pick reports dot com sorry, I'm late! Everyone has a right to me just getting started. Are you in your closet? Yet the quietest place The room is now getting closer with your closet. These days dinosaur, accosted, Mania Y know

containers, always custom closet Satan is here to help with up to twenty five percent of closet systems and free virtual in home, closet design, one shot on the diner, really guys the containers store where space comes from folks, if you, my voice. That means you're listening to are eight part series on the Ford Bronco. If you're into cars, I think you're gonna enjoy this. Thank you and my hollow. I was thirteen years old, so I just finished middle school, My first thought to be a good idea for me to go out and spend these summer with my uncle. That's MIKE loving here he's now.

Most sixty, but he still remembers the summer. He spent the mountains with his uncle Rima. I was really really he was the uncle that every kid wanted no parent China wanted to have. He would give you all the things and uncle should give you mean for one of my Christmas is. He gave me a durable he always gave us water guns. Balloons and everything your father, your mother, really doesn't want flying around the house. They spent this summer of ninety seven. Or criss Crossing Colorado in a brown, we would go for some of the passage mosquito pass. Remember vividly. We also went out looking for mushrooms. Quite often, it was great mushroom ear he wished to dry. Rooms there were tie and so he's decent spaghetti sauce and things like that. So we were always in the Bronx

In ninety ninety five uncle emo died. It was a heart attack, sudden and unexpected MIKE Whence Colorado the help settled the estate and that's when he saw the broncho sitting and his uncles driveway. He never got rid of it. He kept it running, even those in rough shape. I mean by that time was twenty five years old, had some thousand miles rough miles on it. There are thinking about ways to get rid of it to sell it. I told him I would take it, and so we did in June at the next year my drove it from his uncles place in aspen to his home on the east coast. The seat had collapsed, the bench she there was a boat cushion in there and get another boat cushion to get it up high enough. Where can actually see out of it actually has come.

And then started driving back all the way to Virginia this be clear officially for does not endorse the idea of modifying your vehicle with both questions but hey whatever closer rocker departed out back in this house, promising themself he'd find time to fix it up, but you know life has get in the way of banks, and now it sat outside for a while, and fortunately it took some weathering little bit arrest. Floorboards were pretty much gone anyway. I mean they didn't get any worse than what it was, but a short in getting better than anyone seventeen MIKE retire. That was always my goal was to restore the vehicle. I needed something to do once a retired to keep out of my wife's hair. It was later than planned, but he finally started the restoration and now, three years later, it's almost done probably I'd, say: ninety eight percent- it's been upgraded quite,

As far as the engine goes, it's gone up from a three four yo to two or three fifty one The original color was Cordova. I have changed it to date. A sunset orange. Despite the changes might says, this will always be aka removes Bronco. Can. If you look at the doktor, it actually says, amidst the honors removes sixty nine. So, yes, I think about in quite a bit in what he would have thought of it and how I think he would have loved it. I think you would really like beat the direction that I took it.

My story is the perfect metaphor for the rise, ball and rebirth of the brok starting late sixties. It had a rebellious and wild youth and he died in the mid nineties and now it's being brought back to life. In fact- and I don't blame you if you don't believe me- because the coincidence is really Harry, but the day that might got uncle rainbows Bronco to Virginia Park that out back that was June, twelve nineteen. Ninety six, the exact date at the last bronco rolled up the line at the way someway plant in Michigan. I'd, never understood why they decide to get rid of that and lose that Bronco name that it had developed for itself over the years. I've never understood that either. So that's where this series is going to start with that question, why did forward kill the Bronx? Was it poor sales com

fishermen from other brands. Was it its questions about rollover, accidents that plague the Broncho two or was it the damage done? when the millions of people watched a white Rocco, carry a man accused of murder running from the police on national television. Lightning, fast and bizarre developments tonight in the Oj Simpson store we're seeing live pictures right now. The football hero believed to be passenger in that for Bronco, I'm snaring Latin and this is bring back rocker the untold story. Now since my story parallels the rise, ball and rebirth of Rocco Brand, the broad story of the Bronco parallels a lot of what's happening in America, Economics, culture, politics and yes in case you were wondering we will definitely dig into the story of the slow white Bronco Chase, but we're gonna look at it from boards point of view.

How they saw it and how they react it. But as much as I love history, let's start with something Ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased Only now that we are bringing back the Ford Bronco in two thousand and twenty that's from the North American International Otto showed in Detroit Yep Bronco, back- this is no compromise mid size for by poor utility. For the thrill figures, you want freedom and off road functionality, but the space and versatility of inaction. But we ve got a long way to go before we get there a bit about me when it comes to the car business, I'm a bit of an insider and an outsider, you see my grandfather came to trade from the south in the forties, like millions of African Americans looking for a better life and he found it.

For general motors. My mother has one of the first female form in at Ford. They call them supervisors now She worked for Chicago Assembly Plant and she got me a job on the assembly line there. When I was in college but I am also a journalist- and I was in economics reporter fur in pr and planet money and I've covered the auto industry for most of my adult life. But enough about me. Let's talk Bronco Chapter One, the american dream, a first step to solving the mystery of why Ford killed. It is understanding the history of the Bronx. So let's go back to his birth and the world that was born in the late. If he's an early sixties, wipe was good in the auto industry and, as a result, the whole city of the trade was in the middle of a post war, both for car makers.

There were very few restrains willing bosses money to burn, a whole lot of Vigo. The only question was: what kind of your cold do you make? You can make almost anything? Well, let me to set the scene now we ve gone from a time when there was about a hundred and sixty small car companies spread around the country. To a time when there are only about seven are really large ones. Ford motor company has just completed construction on this glorious new headquarters. It's a thirteen story office building. What a lot of people would call bit citron modern, sleek, imposing infinitely functional. It represents America

its most powerful baby. Society more is at Detroit History expert and she standing with me and another for building or looking at it. Welcome to Detroit see you're in Dearborn just a couple of miles outside of the city in Detroit. In fact, just slightly in front of us, you got world headquarters at the Glass house. So to me, that's Peak Detroit. Nineteen fifties, America, you couldn't talk about major companies without Ford being part of that conversation, in fact, Lincoln is producing presidential limos throughout the nineteen fifties and Sixtys what's more american than using the company, that's producing.

Residents. Car we're talking about the trade because well, this is where the Bronco was born. In fact that the time the train was the auto industry and vice versa, the population of suburban Detroit is hovering around four million people and, according to a nineteen, fifty eight study, one out of every three people, worked around Lee for one of the automobile companies in Detroit, none ass, Larry, not the insular. If you're willing to go and like the tertiary like you work for a supplier, you work for the diner across the street that serves the lunches, then we're talking more than half of the population of the city of Detroit and the metro areas is employed or tertiary airily employed by the automobile companies thats a rock number. That is a number so big that if a meteor had here Detroit in nineteen. Fifty four automobile protection on a global scale would not have recovered

media is really the only thing car executives had the worry about at the time. The rest, their job was as good as it gets. An executives are making the highest pay. They ve ever made guys on the line like standard you and me guys are making more than they could ever make yeah so live with good you're, pre Vietnam WAR Motown records are going nuts, we haven't had the gas embargo. So if you did get that car, that ring. Are you could go to this brand new things? Sweeping the country Mcdonald's drive through get to cheeseburgers afraid? Coke turn on your motown radio listen The marvelous, please mister, Postman and in every way kind of live that american dream,

I cannot think of myself as a bit of a detective. You know I'm looking for clues about why forward start, making the Broncos in the nineties and lucky for me forward, has left behind a lot of them. You see as a company board. It is a bit of a border. They ve saved millions of pieces of paper. Communications records from the last one hundred years and it's all under the care of one man TED right. Where were you are in the archives of the Ford Motor Company? That's TED Forts archivist, and this is kind of for its attic. Everything from hands memo sketches adds photos artifacts miles of documents are going right here, Let's not gonna make it my t, you want your t drink it here can't get enough I may have a habit of spilling tee. I just want to do it in this continent control over. We have sixteen thousand q

We need a material that are stored on miles shelving. So if you took every shelf and lay them in the end, it will stretch from here to downtown just about. We have three specialised freezer vaults, for negatives, for film and for video tapes Orange and preservation, the stuff that I'm looking is mostly midcentury century paperwork and photo beginning is actually doing homework to do or to Ford Motor Company more than two hundred and seventy thousand jeeps after the war Ford began to build what we call them. But- and here we have a couple of pictures, one is jobs and the others of the money which looks very similar Georgie. They look identical. It's obvious that might was built to appeal to veterans looking for something familiar. There was a piece, a home, a piece of the war, so as the generation that forward as they grew older. They went back and I bought these jeeps. So Ford realises there is a gap

the market that we know that we can fill. That is unique and nobody else is doing it with what you wanted. Gathered international harvester scout Bumpy off road vehicle. The Willis Jeep once again the directive. The original jeep. They are off road vehicles, but they're not honourably. Calls- and they don't have any creature comforts essentially same jeep, the patent was an that's. What Willis is making a nineteen sixty and if you wanna go operating your bumping around and you have zero creature comforts. Every great product starts with the problem that need solving, and this was the problem we wanted to build a car a vehicle that you could take on the highway and go down the malibu, but you could also then going go operating and go up wherever he wanted to go said had to do both. The automobile industry is different from many other industries and you have to anticipate trends three years

so we don't really. Three years out, man come on you guys that market research report, that is, the market research that identified the gap in the market. Although this is this is this is what tells you why. This is what tells us the utility vehicles buying public like utility vehicles, but they make their comfort to. What can we do to Fill this gap. Can we also be a leader in this new market? The thing that jobs after me from all of this paper work is the name are early document. They called it. The goat goes over altering vehicle yep. You have that right, ladies and gentlemen, introducing they all knew Let go my favorite documents that are found are too from October, sixty three, where they very specifically called out. The goat goes over all terrain. And that was the guiding principles of every project. Tests have enough Norstar, so in this petition

Casement Norstar was a goat now that the figure out what it would look like under the drawings we have here. This is the very first one and has done by an Thomson Mw Thompson. MAC Thompson. He was the first african American automobile designer and Detroit, they came to work at Ford and he was the wondered sketched out- the original sketches like this is this is blind. I might have always caution.

We're gonna, he happened to sketch, but that that a brother was there. The beginning makes me proud- and likely. This is is honest to God that go as drawn by MAC. Thompson was pretty Fairbanks. If Fort was looking for the sweet spot between rugged and comfortable, this definitely lean more to the russian side. I guess the best way to put it is: it definitely lived up to the name. Ok, about that night, the overriding sentiment was well. If you build it, people buy what people really buy go internally for it started. Considering a few other options, there was the brow of the rough fleur Caballero, my favorite, trailblazer. Eventually,

They settled on the Bronx up and it was just one decision in a process that has thousands of them, but just imagine if they got that one wrong: At the top of the show, I mentioned how I see a lot of parallels between the rise and fall, the broncho and that of the whole country. Well, you can also connect the dots between the truck and the city of detail in the south nineteen sixty three on a blister. In hot Sunday afternoon, the Reverend Martin Luther king stood at a protein and addressed the crowd before saw this afternoon. I had a dream. It was a very big moment or all of America a turning point in our collective history,

It should not come up in the same young. Bans that I came up within a day will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not the product of their skin. You ve probably studied that speech in school. It is a dream, deeply rooted in the american dream. I have a dream, but here's some You may not know that audio that you just heard those famous words that changed our country. That's not from August twenty, eight nineteen, six three that he's not at the Lincoln Memorial. In fact, he's not even in Washington DC know that speech it's from June.

Sixty three any standing on stage a cobra hall, yeah, the I have a dream speech that changed America was first delivered in Detroit Free, add three: now what does all of that have to do with the Ford Bronco? Well too, thanks for one, even if you think you know a lot about something, you probably don't know everything in this gas is about to tell you a whole bunch of things. You definitely don't know about the Branca and to its a reminder that in the middle of the last century, the fifties in the sixties, Detroit is where everything is happening. It was decided

successful open heart surgery. It was a home of the Northland Centre, one of the first and largest malls and the world no matter what measuring sticky choose medical, commercial, industrial, musical Detroit came out on top and that my friends is, the word that gave us the Bronco. In January, nineteen sixty five three prototypes were built for testing when you take a prototype like the Bronco out, you're you're gonna, take it out and tested in conditions that really mimic where you think it's going to be used. That's Todd searcher. If anyone can shed light on why the Bronco was shelved, it's him he's the guy who literally wrote the book on the broker. His

One hundred ninety one page full color hardcover book is on the shelf of every serious bronco collector. They call the Arizona proving grounds the birthplace, the broncho, because they did so much development and testing of the Broncos their stuff. You kid As you know, you can do so much driving around a test track and in Dearborn Michigan saw this trip. Of course they had brought goes and they brought an international scout and they bought us brought a sea J five which were the two prank competitors. They were driving out the wild country out there and in North West Arizona A lot of stick climbs, there's a lot of steep descents and then the other thing that can be tricky A lot of the roads are on side hills, and so your ear vehicles leaning over to the side. It might be a twenty five, thirty or grated slope and they're. Your checking, you know, okay, as it is

Hang on a roll over, it's gonna get tipping one by one. They drove across the face of the hill. At some point, the scout rolled over and rolled down this hill. Paul Axelrod? The chief engineer in the project was one of the drivers. One guy broke his collar bone. Another person fractured their hip and broke his right arm. Axel rat was in the vehicle that rolled over. He was the passenger and the driver. Who was an engineer from Germany at some point, looked over Axelrod, it may be been knocked unconscious, or something and can't this german guy said in his very thick german accent. They said Paul. Are you still with us? Like? Are you still alive kind of a thing? I've kind of chuckle about that over the years. I just find it ironic that the chief engineer was the one that was injured in this slight. You know taken the ceo of the company out to test something and how great the presidents

the one that breaks his arm when you're on the trip, a unites, you know I mean come on, I live and let live must be really gonna wish that our car executive had to do it you go. Do for you do the right there you wanted at you go check you you do it yourself if the other reason this one of tat. Favoured stories is a little detail that every Bronco driver already knows and appreciates by providing extra ability on roads and steep grades and good in the Broncos advertising over the years day they always made a big deal about the Bronco is a little bit wider than the scout and the siege a five So, if you think about, if your traversing a side he'll like that, you and you dont- want to Tipp over you want as wide a vehicle and you can and served the Bronco is alive that wider. Hence it's a little more safe on those slopes than its competition, and so they kind of proof that until Now-

the couple inches on the frame, but hey details matter, listening, better building, better but they would look at all the different elements now bragging about its horizontal stability, appeals to the hard core operators, but most of the marking material and TED's archives. Speaks for the culture of rock or I'll. Oh, my God isn't so amazing. This is what the market of an advertisement would be. Yes and it's going and automotive nears August. Sixteen nineteen sixty five- this is the ad that's gone and automotive, nourishes five days after the launch, this is for essential. This is your launch, add and I guess, details on the car. So when. Look in the archives. Have you seen how they're trying to brand that this vehicle have, whether they thinking about who the folks are definitely editor? Interesting? No, that's a really good question because an interesting story, the Mustang

in April, nineteen sixty four and the Mustang creates the pony class of sports car small sporty stylish. We saw a million of them in the first two years, most popular Carlos about time that you can not overstated Mustang, was a monster him in terms fails and as a cultural icon and Ford wanted to build on that very hot success. Bored Bronco one. Nineteen sixty a rock tat. No one Where time anything sport gone, there was an air of developing the Bronco, the the Mustang is this pony and Bronco is going to be the sport utility pony that phrase. Sport utility pony often got replace with sport utility vehicles, and that was the founding of an acronym suv that now described more than half well more

half of the vehicles being produced in America and term Suv as marked over time now we think of it as suburban utility vehicle but being a win Ford coin that term, nineteen sixty five sports. It was go anywhere. Do anything that original adds. I'm sure it will say in here. Goes excitingly different, a new breed, a car or those who seek adventure as well as practical transportation. You know how you have that little black dress and depending on what neck, with add what shoes you, where you can change from Thursday afternoon staff meeting to Friday night dinner date, while the same thing for the first. Integration. Branca accessories were everything it. Basically, it came as a clean vehicle, but you get add a went. You get added snowplow, you could add anything that you needed to make it to turn into a word vehicle or

operator. You can add a kayak rack and you can do this, and then you get all the its economic up here, of all we ve got. You can get a brake on always colors, yet lingered, color powers, Bronco Deep Blue, met, green fire wall, not fire, grabber, yellow naming colors sport kings, one of the market stormy sea found dreams, Rangoon red he cuckoo where there s a goddamn, but the colors again. They express your personality the first Broncos I've done dealership lots August. Eleven nineteen sixty five sticker price for based model was twenty three hundred dollars and after three years of testing, designing and marketing the question was what any one by one

so they introduce the Morocco and the broncho in its first year, sold over twenty thousand units. Twenty three in seven hundred seventy six to be exact year compared to a lot of other cars, the Bronco You know you look in its sheer sales numbers. It's it's not huge up. More than not huge is barely a blip, especially when you compare it to fourth other pony car. They saw the same number of. Staying on the first day was introduced as the whole first year they did have brought up the sales numbers word disappointing, but the Bronco was a new type of vehicle. They knew it was gonna have to climb up hill now what need. It were some real drivers to showcase it in extreme conditions, and one of those drivers was James Duff. Today, James Duff is eighty and listened, not feel Tennessee. Fifty three years,

He was just down the road from where I am right. Now, sixty survivors, liver, worst l, I work in a body shop. It afore dealership whether Bronco came out. There are pretty anemic with their little five inches wide wheels, anemic looking or not. He bought one. I decided merely driver from California, Nova, Scotia, crushed country trip. That's why I learn all the shortcomings of a brothel and then decided journal apart, make it into a Baja razor. The Baha one thousand was the hot new thing and authorised by it

the Bob Vanessa South of Southern California Wages Party, the roughest terrain, you'll, find anywhere it said, gruelling one thousand mile race nonstop through the mexican desert. I believe in sixty nine. I think your wish Povey three hundred Kurd entered into at me. You might get ten courage per clash. The rage changes. First, you She was one of the ones who didn't finish. There was a hate, come on down the middle, or I will I ah then I closed the roads for this race. School buses, motorcycles and farm equipment are all a part of the ash, so yeah dashing it around a hate trackers. We went over and polio about a hundred twenty miles, an hour which is a hard tumble. We split on the robot top for possibly Hunter to show leadership and a growl Rachel.

Roll J soul. Swedish parks and burdens, everything flam and the driver got hauled off to the hospital. Was to broker ribs and broken collarbone the race that year was won by another brought one driven by the legendary ROD Hall, a guy that holds pretty much every record there isn't for by for racing he's one of the giants of the sport along with bill, strap and former Indy five hundred champion Partiality Jounce member one time part Allianz drop were head of us. This was the nineteen seventy one writs thereof on the road which was like a high speed, build up highway with no our soldiers, dirt and water came through their wash private out about thirty foot wide and he thought was a fly across Lando goes I waited and quite make. It is front wheels caught the age on the other side. Anyone and over ended not much less

The rock already, then, of our body, James Stuff, was a little more cautious. I went down washing up the other side and get back up the atmosphere. Okays outward were ok, we're just gathered up all breezes NED One had light left and stops us chunky. This fool the slowdown and personally, look at em I'll. Never forget that look is therefore is a racist nets. Stop and journalists, Danone, fix their trap over the next thousand miles that cod, the rest of the field and won the race Now we combine the success and offer a racing with the carefree fond of the sixties and overall free spending ways of Americans at the time

probably wondering why sales were so mount relatively speaking. Small the year before the broncho was introduced, the market segment had about forty thousand units or dance combining jeeps in international scouts. The only options in this segment of the time Bronco at its twenty three thousand to that total those sales and at first year, immediately increase the size of that segment by more than fifty percent. Combine that with the passion, enthusiasm they receive from the first donors and forward believe they had a winter. So if the broncho is a winner who gets the Gostar the marketing person that Southern eat, what about the designer that drew that first sketch for what about the guy that broke his arm chair,

in the Arizona does it will all those people put in a lot of work ringing, the first bronco to life, but somewhere some time some one has to say we need some money to make this happen, and some executive said yes well, so who was that or the find out? I went back to our friend, the archivist TED Ryan, one last read this out loud, so this and I'm gonna get us up to date, accurate over its October Neither nineteen sixty three in to the members of the product Planning Committee, the subject this for We'll drive vehicles, the purpose of communication is to review the size and composition of the four wheel. Drive vehicle market in the zero to ten thousand grows way range. I had outside outline possible product,

to improve the situation and profits request improve all of interim funds for further development of a Ford utility vehicles Code named Bronco. It's on blue paper, because any communication that was delivered to or from an executive vice president, our higher was official d limitation was always done on blue paper. What is the reason for that? To draw your attention a view? What have you got an inbox and you see there's a blue sheet and there you know to go to it immediately so too, in a state of assisted at Ford in the sixties. This blue piece of paper men: they had to jump into action, but me I'm pretty excited for a differently, and this is the official document that long the Broncho Programme. I mean it's, not the declaration of independence, but if you're Bronco Lover is like this is cool stuff. Ok, so that the names are dispersed by Kate of Eu Cunningham. J, F, Maclean Junior J J Neve in sea by

worth the and fry chase. More c s m vast. Those are the committee members who submitted it. Approval. The name I'm interested in is at the bottom of the page, size by we, I cook, or on February seven nineteen. Sixty your that's right Lee. I a coca. The man best remember for turning around Chrysler in the eighties and filling the streets with many vans and K cars at the time he was vice president at Board and it's his signature on that blue piece of paper that release the funds to launch the brain. Now you get a million hours and you can go make cars

go make cars and the exactly what they did. Eight though broncos and ship them all around the country, everything was great or while, but for the Broncho and for America, dark clouds were gathering on the horizon in chapter, two will go back to Detroit, where the twelve street uprising was ripping the city apart, more follow a hot air balloon

from California to Florida, with some unexpected stops and Mexico in Mississippi along the way. It's all in an effort to understand why the Bronco one, then the most popular vehicles ever made was killed. That's next on bring back bronco. The untold story, I'm sinner England now be sure, does subscribe on Apple podcast spot by Google Podcast and wherever you listen. I have since been through a lot this year. It's time for home improvement project, maybe update my kitchen or a new code of paint I'll need a contractor. I can trust, and I know

in common. The professionals recommended by best pit reports, to give me great service, plus their work, is backed by the best pig guarantee, all of them up at best pick reports dot com. Today, your complete source for top home service professionals in your neighborhood best pick reports, dotcom, hey. This is jail from there, in a store. O is there's something wrong. I just got a virtual designer would be a cool robot. I could do a robot voice. If that helps. Maybe I I m jail, let's design, absolutely not regular boys. Thank you here. I am not good at impressions enjoy. Virtual in home, closet design and up to twenty five years