- Imogene Overhang.jpg (1.56 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
- Blackbear Shelf Road.jpg (1.49 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
- Bronco_Blazer.jpg (1.4 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
- Grizzly Lake Rockfield.jpg (1.84 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
- Meadow Lunch.jpg (1.58 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
- Overnighter.jpg (1.85 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
This handful of photographs is a snippet of the reality of my childhood, bouncing around in the back seat of a 1977 Ford Bronco in the mountains of Colorado. That's me, the tubby one standing in the middle looking at the masterpiece my old man had created for an overnight camping trip somewhere high in the Rockies circa 1980 or so
Over the years, that Bronco served as the daily driver, hunting rig, and wheeler for our family. Sometime in the late 80's, my dad decided the Bronco was getting a little rough around the edges and retired it to wheeler/hunting only status and made the grave mistake of letting my older brother drive it to high school. After two separate rollover incidents, he yanked the keys from my brother, sent the Bronco back to the body shop, and generally continued to use it for recreational purposes only. All the while, poor little me was made painfully aware that, thanks to my older brother's shennanigans, I'd never get to drive it
Fast forward a few years, still bouncing around the mountains of Colorado, but I now had my own set of wheels; my beloved 1947 Willys:- Tin Cup Flattowing Flatty.jpg (1.71 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
This picture, circa 1994, shows the dark charcoal repaint on the Bronco from it's original seafoam green, albeit aged by several years and wearing some battle scars from your average Sunday drives to church and whatnot
As the years wore on, the Bronco continued to see regular beatings, errrrr use, but started seeing less regular maintenance and repairs. I'd moved to Arizona and would only catch a glimpse of the poor Bronco here and there, and actually built a replica of my very own based on all of those romantic memories from my childhood, accurate right down to the PNW sticker in the side window:- IMAG0061.jpg (1.94 MiB) Viewed 8373 times
During the aftermath of Thanksgiving 2018, I decided it was time to do a little refresh on the ol' Bronc as a favor to my old man. I took stock of the situation, laid out some basic plans, and got the keys for the first time in my life:
- DSC00793.JPG (130.5 KiB) Viewed 8373 times
Game on
The tractor was commissioned to tug the non-running Bronco onto my trailer, and I then hauled it up to my place:
I just could not stand the look from the rear of the thing, and after some internal debate I finally made the decision to cut it out and start over: