When I see a copy of the “aero sculpted” last generation of the F150-based Ford Bronco, especially when it is dressed in white with the XLT Package, I instantly think of the NFL star turned real-life courtroom murder case defendant OJ “The Juice” Simpson.
June 17, 1994 Chase, Image from the web
In the mid-1990s I was working at my Dad’s used car dealer and car wash. We probably had many of these big late 90s truck-sized Ford SUV’s come through the wash bay. I cannot ever recall having any on the lot for sale. Still, my memory of watching the Al Cowlings’ white Ford Bronco driven by OJ Simpson in a slow-motion police chase on the 405 near Los Angeles, CA being replayed many times on the local, national, and cable news outlets of the time is somehow indelibly tied to any somewhat well-preserved white late 90’s Ford Bronco that I witness in real life.
For the example showcased here, it is not famous for any chases that I am aware of. It has a fresh Pennsylvania inspection (11/25) at a local Ford specialist’s shop. It also seems to be used and has not seen the full-scale ravages of RUST.
In the later years of the last generation’s production, Ford changed the bolts that secure the removable roof to security-type torx head screws to thwart vehicle owners from removing the roof, rendering the shoulder belts and 3rd brake light inoperable. Ford also retracted any wording and advertisements about the roof being removable. It still was removable of course, just not legally, and no longer advertised as a vehicle with a removable roof.
This example is a 4wd model with manual locking front hubs.
The only appreciable amount of rust on this example was located behind the left front mud flap. The bottom of the tailgate looked solid, many of these in my area were Swiss cheese by 2006.
This XLT has power locks, power windows, a power rear window(which may have been standard fair by this generation), and an outside spare tire mount.
A charcoal grey interior with bucket seats and a center console reminds me of my long-gone 1977 Dodge Ramcharger Special Edition with a factory 440.
The Transfer case drive modes must be activated electronically as I cannot locate a transfer case stick coming up through the transmission tunnel as I am used to seeing on many Jeeps and Dodges of the era.
This late 90’s Ford has a Driver’s Airbag only – It seems there was no passenger airbag for the last edition of the Bronco before its initial and unbroken 30-year production run ended (1966-1996).
While the first generation borrowed many parts from the Ford Mustang, this generation shared heavily with the Ford F-150 and has done so since 1978.
Since I cannot pinpoint exactly what year this truck is, (I guess I could have thoroughly researched the VIN but did not think to take a VIN picture) it could have the 300CI Inline 6, the 302 V8, or the 351 V8.
My guess would be the 351, but of course, that is just a guess. When the OBD II integration was adopted the inline 6 was no longer offered in the Bronco. I highly doubt this truck has the 300 CI inline 6 as that would typically have been reserved for a lower-trimmed truck.
1992-1996 production totaled 162,703 units from the Wayne, Michigan Assembly plant. It is of course refreshing to see one of these capable old urban SUVs that has not been turned into a mud machine or rock crawler.
Other than the Brush Guard and the Bug-Flector, this example looks amazingly stock and well preserved. Not a museum-quality piece, but just a good, used, and appreciated American truck back from an era when the American car companies still made affordable small cars too!
Related CC reading:
CC Capsule: Ford Bronco XLT – Al Cowlins Called, He Wants His Truck Back
CC Capsule: 1982 Ford Bronco XLT Lariat – To The Manure Born
We are getting to the point that the mention of “OJ” is meaningless to a large percentage of the population anymore. Ditto the chuckles over a white second(?) generation Bronco.
Thank God. The only thing I find more repugnant than the celebrity of OJ Simpson is the mention of anybody with the last name of Kardashian.
Wishful thinking. Any millennial or gen Zer who is into cars refers to this generation as OJ Broncos, for myself I was like 5 when the low speed chase happened, everybody in eyeshot of a TV that day has memories of it and it’s notoriety has immortalized it. These Broncos will always be associated with OJ as much as 60s Continentals are associated with JFK.
I mean I roll my eyes whenever Baby Boomers talk to each other about where they were when they saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, yet because the culture echoed the cliche generational touchstone incessantly it’s become immortal. I was born a quarter century after that and I don’t even like the Beatles to care yet “ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles” is imprinted in my mind as much as anyone who actually lived it. The OJ Simpson murders will be no different, for better or worse it’s part of the culture.
The chase was also dramatized in the first season of American Crime Story.
Just an anecdote, but my teenage kids never heard of OJ or his Bronco. A few months ago, some reference to OJ came up and I explained it to them, and we watched parts of the chase, etc. on YouTube. They were amused, but honestly have probably forgotten about it by now.
It doesn’t appear to me that OJ’s chase it widely talked about among kids these days, but to Matt’s point, my daughters aren’t into cars (or sports), so maybe if they were, then the OJ story might have some more impact for them.
And as for me, I remember precisely where I was when the chase occurred – I was working in a store then, and we all watched it unfold on the little ceiling-mounted TV.
Fitting, about your kids, as OJ Passed earlier this year in April 2024. so he might have been briefly in the news cycle again for that.
I was going to make the same point as Syke, but then XR7Matt’s experience could be true as well. I guess I don’t spend much time talking to Gen Zers about 1990s pop culture, so I may be clueless (which is what they all assume anyway).
I think it’s probably more the case that kids today have zero idea that the Kardashian’s are at all connected to OJ. They all know who the Kardashians are of course, but why those things came onto our cultural radar is probably inconsequential and unnecessary knowledge (to the kids).
I always liked this generation Bronco, the first iteration of aero nose that was applied was crude and blocky, but the 92-96 front end managed to make it’s old 1980 body look remarkably fresh. This applies to the F series line as a whole not just the Bronco but apparently it was cool enough for not one but two NFL players to buy before the truly decadent days of Escalades became the norm… course we all know what happened there.
On that note it is interesting how white actually seems to be one of the rarer colors on the “OJ” Broncos, outside of its claim to fame, the primary colors I think of these in are green red blue gold et al. White I hardly ever see, even in the 90s when I was an avid car spotting kid. It’s kind of like Vanishing Point, the Challenger’s greatest claim to fame, and it’s Alpine white paint was seemingly most uncommon color and trim combination.
Oh oh and having said that there is a unicorn white one parked at a local auto shop, stopped me in my tracks to take a pic the first time I saw it
I agree, I always thought they did a good job with the 92-96 restyle. Made the almost archaic truck by that point look reasonably modern.
I remember at the time thinking how ridiculous that “chase” scene was… Multiple police cars blocking all the lanes, and a lone white Bronco going like 45mph on an expressway. That alone was probably a minimum speed violation for California.
Today, the cops would’ve simply done a pit maneuver and the whole thing would’ve been over in a couple of minutes.
Maybe, maybe not. I always took the cinematic slow “chase” (kind of like something from the Blues Brothers except with no crashes) to be indicative of the deference that the LA Police showed to a celebrity. I am not so sure it would be very different nowadays.
Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe I’ve been watching too much of that “High Speed Chase” TV show on Investigation Discovery. 😉 Those guys are big fans of the “Pit Maneuver”.
I didn’t know that Ford tried to thwart people removing the roof in the later versions. I guess it worked – I actually didn’t realize Bronco roofs were removable until relatively recently, since I never saw them with their roofs off (except for older Broncos). So this explains that it wasn’t just changing customer habits that accounted for how few people removed the roofs, but that there was an actual reason behind it.
I presume that in warmer climates like California it was still common to see these roofs off in the 1980s or 90s, but elsewhere it certainly was not.
I never did either for the longest time, but according to a friend who had one as a daily driver the hardware is the easy part, all you need is a $10 socket, but getting the actual roof off is a cumbersome heavy 4 person operation and after it’s removed where do you put it?
And let’s say you found a place to put it; maybe it’s one side of your two car garage, in the shed, laying in the yard, or in a rented storage locker while you enjoy the summer driving season… what about when it does inevitably rain? What about when it is really really hot where even the most open air loving convertible owners relent and use the AC? No can do in a Bronco with that gaping opening behind you with no way of shutting. I’m sure there was probably some aftermarket folding top solution available but I’m also sure if there was it cost a fortune too. I can see why Ford ultimately surrendered to the realities of what was a fun feature in theory and gradually made it semi-permanent to the point of mounting legally mandated items to it for road use.
Well, this “boomer” would like one of these Broncos in white, not because O.J. took his famous ride in one, but because it would make a nice SUV in 2024.
For example, my wife purchased a vintage Kenmore sewing machine enclosed in a nice maple cabinet from the Goodwill store the other day. We had a slight degree of difficulty “persuading” it to go into the trunk of her ’04 Taurus, but we made it home with no scratches on her new purchase before the predicted afternoon rain shower occurred. Now, if we had been driving this Ford Bronco, it would have easily fit into the rear cargo area.
This Bronco is a classic vehicle that is just as practical today as it was then … and it looks better than today’s version … and, that’s this “boomer’s” opinion for what it’s worth.
Interesting about the roof, i didnt know that. Ford could have been not so lazy and engineered it to be legal. Jeeps have it still after all. I guess they figured it was the last few years anyway and no one really ever took the roof off. We had a Jimmy when i was a kid and the roof came off for once in all those years only because i begged my dad and annoyed him so much.
I think of these as FSB’s – Full Size Bronco’s. There’s a clean Eddie Bauer version in my town that often has the roof removed. The 3rd brake light would of course be gone but the front seatbelts are unaffected. Here it is.
Yes and that is not an Aero facelifted generation one. – Looks like one of the flat-front-styled Broncos.
I am unsure if its original roof would have had the 3rd brake light or the rear shoulder belts. Where’s a FSB expert when you need one?
Third brake lights on trucks were required beginning with the 1994 model year, which partially narrows down the year of this one.
Yes, thank you for that information, Patrick. If I could edit posts after publishing, I would change the title to read 1994-96 Bronco.
Many Manufacturers included the 3rd brake light much earlier than 1994, So I was unaware of when the Mandate required their use.
I’ve just fixed the title for you.
One minor thing: these photos all look very cropped and kind of crunched. If you really feel like you need to crop a photo, keep the same aspect ratio (height to width) as the original. Thanks.
Some thoughts…
Folks don’t know, or don’t remember, that not only was OJ a brilliant football player, but he was one of the most beloved “celebrity” athletes of his era. He was the commercial spokesman for Hertz, as well as appearing in several feature films (although I wouldn’t really call him an actor.)
Ford kinda milked that generation of Bronco past its prime, I think. Though they didn’t spend much money, hence the (barely) removable roof. The Dodge Ramcharger went to a solid steel roof, and GM had already introduced the GMT400 Blazer, while for was basically producing the same SUV they had since 1978.
Also, for the 1991 model year only, this generation of Bronco was available with the straight six still. It was probably pretty darn slow, as it was in an F-150. I suspect it only existed for fleet sales/low-bid government contracts. I think the USFWS, NPS, and BLM probably bought most of the I-6 Broncos by this point.
Nice summary of a cool truck. I have good photos of a beautiful 96 that I haven’t gotten around to writing up. It’s maroon, not white, so maybe I still will.
The OJ situation is confusing because there were TWO white Broncos. OJ had one, and Al Cowlings also had one. I read that he always followed in OJ’s footsteps, so he had to get the same vehicle as OJ. OJ’s Bronco was involved in the case because detectives found it outside his house the morning of the muders with bloodstains visible, so it was impounded and used as evidence. Cowling’s Bronco was in the chase because he picked OJ up and drove him around when OJ was thinking of either running or killing himself, a couple days after the murders when an arrest warrant had been served. Cowling was driving and talking to the police on the phone.
I guess I’m a bit of an OJ nerd, I always found that case strangely compelling. The Mark Fuhrman book is quite good. Short, readable and tells the inside story of the police case.
I yeah the two Bronco aspect to it is one of the oddest bits of trivia I learned when I sort of nerded out on it several years ago, albeit primarily through the 30 for 30 documentary on ESPN and the FX miniseries.
Wow, I never knew about the Bronco Doppelganger. You maybe had gotten sucked into the OJ Vortex during the courtroom drama in the late 90’s. I was learning how to turn a wrench and build stuff with limited resources at the time. I did not care much about rich people drama back then,
The OJ trial trivium that always sticks with me is that the only person connected to it in any major way who hasn’t written a book on it is Judge Ito. He couldn’t, of course, while still on the bench, but he retired over a decade ago now.
For me the biggest trivium is Denise Halicki, eg the fiancé of Robert Kardashian during the trial, who during the trial called the marriage off, whose name if sounds familiar is the widow to H.B. Halicki who made the original Gone in 60 Seconds movie, and just prior was suing for HB Halicki’s properties after his untimely death making Gone in 60 Seconds 2, with Robert Kardashian as her attorney and (so I’ve heard) her second cousin!
These are really handsome, rugged looking trucks. I don’t know anything about off roading. They might be somewhat useful for hauling stuff. I would guess that most lived on pavement most of the time. I would choose an Expedition over one of these.
Fun fact: I was born in March 1994, just 3 months before the “OJ” incident, and the still-popular TV sitcom “Friends” also debuted later that year in September. I’m roughly the same age as the featured Bronco due to the 3rd brake light on the once-removable roof; 2 years difference at most. There are still many F-Series pickups of this generation on the road in my area–finding replacement parts for the related Bronco shouldn’t be too hard! This one is in fact a good-condition survivor that will likely command a bit of a premium if put up for sale. I believe all Broncos came standard with 4WD but am not 100% sure on this. Except for the gas mileage and the limitations of rear-seat access, this would still be a good, versatile SUV to live with today.