Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are now ubiquitous, but their origin story is disputed. Some regard the rugged Willys Jeep Station Wagon, which arrived in 1946, as the genesis. Others pinpoint the Range Rover’s arrival in 1970 – the moment a four-wheel-drive first combined on- and off-road performance with luxury. But for many, especially in the US, the 1966 Ford Bronco was the starting point.
Sixty years after its launch, the Bronco remains an American automotive hero. “It’s an iconic piece of industrial design, and a model that has real cultural resonance for people,” says Randy Nonnenberg, co-founder of Bring a Trailer, an online vehicle- auction platform and enthusiast community. “It also happens to be tough and genuinely usable, so it ticks a lot of boxes.”
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in her Bronco in 2016 © Lazic/Borisio/INFphoto.com
The list of famous Bronco owners is long: Lady Gaga, Jay Leno, Sir Paul McCartney and Simon Cowell. “Anyone can go buy a brand-new car, but not everyone can have something rare that has history,” the actor Sydney Sweeney, who documented the restoration of her 1969 Bronco on TikTok, told Cosmopolitan. “I wanted a Bronco so badly. But I wanted to build one so that when I drove it and people said, ‘Cool car’, I could be like, “Yeah, thanks”, and know I made it.”
