This past May, I was sitting in my cubicle at work when I got a call on my personal cell phone from a number I didn’t recognize. Usually, I am none too polite with spammers or solicitors. This time, however, it was the mail carrier, calling from the lobby of my condo building. “Mr. Dennis, I have a letter for you that you have to sign for.” “Um… I’d like to, but I’m at work right now.” It seemed like such an obvious response that I wondered if it didn’t sound like my innate sarcasm hadn’t kicked into overdrive.
“I’m going to have to leave it at the post office, and you’ll have to sign for it.” My mind immediately started thinking of every worst-case scenario my vivid imagination could conjure up. I signed for that piece of certified mail on the morning I spotted our featured Bronco. Ripping open the envelope almost immediately after it was in my hot, little hands, I was instantly relieved… and profoundly disappointed. It was yet another jury duty summons – the third I had received in something like nine years. I understand that it’s my civic duty as a United States citizen, and I do love this country, etc., but I also live in the third-largest city in the United States: Chicago, Illinois. Somehow, this just did not seem in any way like mine had been a random selection.
There was even a catch: it was a grand jury summons, which means the juror vetting process had already taken place, so I couldn’t merely pretend to be crazy or that I hate everybody to try to get out of it. Reporting to the courthouse would be mandatory. It would be, literally, a Monday-through-Friday, Nine-to-Five job for four weeks, which gave me a new appreciation for my day job.
As all of us potential jurors were sitting in the waiting area at the Cook County courthouse while the proverbial wheels were turning behind the scenes, a couple of employees made announcements intended to build up what an honor, privilege and all-around awesome experience this was going to be for twenty lucky “winners”. “Bee… ESS,” responded the voice in my head, in a loud, disgusted tone, but I kept my mouth tightly shut, lest I be chosen out of punishment.
This Bronco spotting was roughly three weeks prior to my reporting to the courthouse, and happened as I was heading to a local, classic car show being held on a Saturday at Belmont Harbor in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, off Lake Michigan. I was really hoofing it, with my extra motivation likely fueled by self-pity and slow-simmering rage. I froze when I saw this Ford’s flat tire. Isn’t it funny how the misfortunes of others can sometimes, somehow make us feel better? I’m not talking about an experience of “schadenfreude”, where the recipient might have deserved their unfortunate or unpleasant circumstances, but rather just the realization that we’re all kind of in the same boat insofar as none of us is entitled to a trouble-free life, and that summer guarantees no one a free pass.
I’ve already written previously about my own family’s experience with this two-year-only generation of Ford Bronco. I’ve always liked them for having the fewest number of model years of any generation of Bronco. Total production for this brief generation was about 182,000, with about 78,000 sold for ’78 and another 104,000 moved for ’79. There’s really nothing I can add to Paul Niedermeyer’s succinct, informative piece on these Broncos that ran earlier this year, so you should check that one out if you haven’t already.
Going back to my jury duty summons, I must have let out the biggest, involuntary sigh of relief when my name wasn’t called. I felt as though I had been called down to Contestants’ Row on “The Price is Right” for not having been selected. My summer wasn’t without some major challenges but, thankfully, sacrificing my travel plans for jury duty wasn’t one of them. In the meantime, let’s all just remember that our lives could be that much worse, regardless of whatever it is we’re facing right now.
Lakeview, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, May 12, 2018.
Great find! I never see these and I am the area. I had a ’79 and it had the square lights. Were they optional on the ’78? Mine was mostly Bondo when I had it in ’92, as they rusted fast here. I sandblasted the hood and after getting to clean steel I went a little deeper and found more rust. It was actually casted out of rusty steel! This one looks great. When I see a flat or even a low tire on a stranger’s car I always feel like I should fill it up. It just bugs me! I should carry around a compressor and be like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day…
In ’78, round headlights were only on Custom (base) models, and Ranger, Ranger XLT, and Ranger Lariat had square. (It’s possible that some Customs even had squares by accident or as part of some package, I’m not sure.) For ’79, all trim levels had square. Bronco Customs with round headlights are less common than F-Series because they were more consumer-oriented vehicles than basic work trucks.
Or maybe leave a note under the wiper in case they don’t see the flat and try to drive off.
There’s a sentiment I can get behind.
One day after another birthday, with the year coming to a close and holiday travel plans on my mind, I’m finding myself in a reflective mood, as happens annually at this time. FWIW Joseph, my own Summer, and indeed 2018 in general right up until the present, has been challenging as well. ( And “Challenging” is a term I’m using more out of a sense of decorum than by intentional choice.) But we move on, we persevere, and we overcome. Around some corner, or behind some yet unopened door there’s that breath of fresh air that re-inflates us. And yes, I’ve had too much coffee this morning, and just bought a Mega Millions ticket. Tomorrow morning could look more like that tire, but this is today.
Oh, and I really like the color of that Bronco. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Ford truck of that era in that shade of green. Maybe not a factory color?
MTN, I can appreciate all of what you wrote. To soldier on is key. I’m not wishing my life away, but I have high hopes for 2019.
Regarding the celery green color of this Bronco, I do really like it. It reminds me a lot of the color of my grandparents’ same-era LTD four-door, but I think theirs was a richer/ darker shade of green.
It’s a very nice colour.
Wow, that has to be the nicest looking Bronco north of Indianapolis! Whenever I see one of these I think of the really rusty “Free Wheeling” version (like in your brochure shot) that was one of my early writeups here.
That light green is a really unusual color on this. I am not sure that it is stock, but it really looks nice.
I feel ya on the jury summons. I went through a stretch where I got chosen about once a year and actually ended up as an alternate on a criminal trial. Which is the worst job of all – you have to be there and pay attention but you cannot take part in the deliberations.
The color looks like it might be “Light Medium Pine” (79-80), which replaced “Light Jade” (77-79). But at the same time, it looks too gray to be either of those colors. I think it might be custom.
I actually looked at that myself. The examples I found online seemed to be more vivid in color than this, which is really subdued. But then there are so many variables in trying to replicate old color formulas with modern paints. I decided to just relax and enjoy the unusual shade. 🙂
I’ve been through the trying to mix paint to match old paint several times. Going by the paint code doesn’t always seem to get a great match. Using a scanner helps to get closer, but even then some metallic paints are tough. If you get a good paint mixer he will try to tweak things until they match. My guess is this Bronco is just a non-OEM paint colour or the owner had them tweak the original colour to his/her liking.
Wow, I always get wistful looking at old paint chip cards from the days when there were actual colors to choose from, and lots of them. But wow, this selection is just for *1979 Ford Commercial Trucks*….
Yes, there was another section on the site for Ford cars. FWIW, the 2017 Ford color swatch is three pages long, but it does include not just trucks, but also the Lincoln lineup, and it does have a lot of single-model colors–for example, Tangier Orange (highway orange) on the F-650/750.
That color is a tough one. Normally, I’d say it’s OEM that’s faded over the years.
OTOH, that’s a very nice survivor or been restored, so the notion that it’s a custom paint job is quite plausible. In fact, it’s so nice, it makes it even more odd that it has a flat. You’d think someone that put that kind of effort into maintaining/restoring an old Bronco would cough up for some tires that held air.
Our 76-79 XC Falcons had a similar colour available. Not sure what it was called over here but a 1983 Ford colour chart I found online suggests its name is ‘Crystal Green’.
…
A jury summons once a year is insane. I’ll stop my complaining – thanks, JPC!
Agreed. I’ve only been called twice. First time was in the middle of my uni exams. Second time was when our first child was due; went the first day but wasn’t prepared to come back for a second. Haven’t been called in the last 31 years!
I wonder how well this would have performed versus it’s wacky competitor, the I-H Scout. I have a feeling it would be very neck-and-neck in nature. Between the two, I prefer the Scout because I have to appease the contrarian in me somehow. To change the subject, I agree with J P C with the Forest Service green. It’s very calming to look at.
Nice Scout! My Uncle had one just like it, even the same color. Although his had the matching green top. To my 11 year old eyes at the time I thought it was so cool!
Bob
My sympathies on jury duty. It’s like being drafted, except you don’t get paid, at least not around here. I have an acquaintance whose jury service on an extended trial cost him $50,000 in lost income and put his family in a financial hole that will take years to resolve. It was an expensive lesson in civics.
My gosh. To read the story of your acquaintance puts it all into perspective. I can’t even imagine. Thanks for sharing that.
I can’t imagine losing $50,000 to jury duty.
The IH Scout was smaller, about same as 1st Gen Bronco. The full size Bronco was meant to compete with Chevy Blazer and Dodge Ramcharger, [Plymouth’s version, too].
And, as noted in the post about 2 door Cherokee, eventually, the big 2 door SUV’s fell out of fashion.
The Plymouth version was called Trailduster, and lasted from 1974-81. The fact that Chrysler felt there was a big enough market for Plymouth to have a version of the Ramcharger is indicative of the first wave of the SUV/4WD truck craze that, along with customized vans and brougham-tastic cars, swept the nation at the time, sort of like the seventies version of the sixties’ musclecar.
What’s the deal with the bumperless Mazda3 touching the rear of this thing? I know people in urban areas park haphazardly, and space is a premium, but geez… If the next guy parks more than 4 feet from that car’s rear, it’s trapped.
Very enjoyable read Joe! I am not a Bronco guy, but these are my favourites by far. I never cared for the small boxy originals, and the later models do much for me either. These “dentside” ones just look right, but I am also very fond of the dentside Ford pickups.
We still have a few of these kicking around locally. There is one that still sees plow duty during the winter. The bodies on these late 70’s Fords seemed to hold up fairly well over the long term, far better than the GM’s or Dodges of this era.
Thanks, Vince! I suppose my connection to these is rooted in the fact that my family almost purchased one new, back in the day.
Two things on this Bronco that stood out to me that no ones mentioned are the 92-96 mirrors and the blue oval which never appeared on this generation. Were the swing-lock mirrors standard on Broncos? If so, they would have had to fill the holes in on the doors
It appears from the ’78 brochure that yes, the Swing-Lok mirrors were standard on the Bronco, and they never had the index card-sized mirrors like base model F-100/150s.
The brochure also shows optional fold-out trailer mirrors, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Bronco with towing mirrors in the metal. Even on long F-250 SuperCabs and F-350 crew cabs, you didn’t regularly see the fold-out mirrors until the mid-’80s, and Broncos are hardly the ideal tow vehicle.
Maybe not ideal for towing, but mine very easily pulled out a tree stump in 4-low. It had white letter Kelly Chargers and 5-slot mags (from a Jeep I believe) but it was definitely a truck. Pipe bumper and all. Wish I still had it. I sold it to someone out west because even with Indiana rust it was worth more there (in ’92).
Certainly. The powertrain was never in question; more the short wheelbase.
Good catch on the mirrors and tailgate badge. Those two little things go a long way to indicating this is, indeed, a non-OEM color respray, albeit a very good one.
“Schadenfreude” – one of my favorite terms! The first time I heard it was on a Cold Case episode like 12 years ago or something, and I’ve always remembered it ever since!
I remember a C&D review when these came out. They expected the test car to be a loaded V8 4×4 with bucket seats and 4 on the floor and the got a stripper with a 6, bench seat, 3 on the tree and “all the charm of a Post Office van”
While I like the looks of these trucks, I grew up on Giugiaro so I prefer the more angular look of the 1980-1998 style.
According to the ’78 brochure, the Bronco had 351 and 4-speed standard (400 and automatic optional). This was contrasted from offerings from Chevy/GMC and Dodge/Plymouth, which did have six-cylinders and 3OTTs standard. For 1980, the standard Bronco engine was the 300 (302 and 351 optional), but 4-speed was still the base transmission.
2-door SUVs also tended to buck the trend (no pun intended) of “standard benches, optional buckets” by making 2 buckets and no rear seat the standard on the cheapest models. The earliest Blazer/Jimmys didn’t even have a front bench option, and even the passenger seat was optional.
From what I can tell, the Bronco was the only one of the three never to have a 2WD version.