1985 Ford Bronco XLT

1985 Ford Bronco XLT Project

This 85 Full size Bronco was purchased about a year or so ago by a young man who wanted one for his first vehicle. It needed some work. It came to him from north central PA, where he thinks it was the second owner who sold it to him. The first owner had the truck through the 90's as there is some oil change history scribbled here and there in the dealer service book.

When he brought her home, he promptly ordered up new floors and rockers, as those were and still are rusty - what's left of them, is rusty ... he also did full fluid changes and filters and cap, rotor, plugs and wires.

The odometer states 45K miles, but we are pretty darn sure that is 145,000.

The 351W fires up easily and rumbles through dual exhaust that has a "thrush-cherry bomb" set up to fit them both. She idles smoothly, although she sometimes needs an extra kick to get her to idle down where she should.

He also feels that the first owner had her painted in the light gray metallic. She was Midnight Blue Metallic with Wimbledon white side panels originally. Aside from the rusty floors, there is a small line of rust on the right side front wheel well, other than that though, the body is in surprisingly solid condition. The frame is rusty, but not rotted, not chunky, just heavy surface rust.

The new, all terrain tires are an American off brand, Adventuro ATX, in 235/75/15, wrapped around the original Ford aluminum wheel and manual locking hubs.


This is an XLT so the interior has a bunch of creature comforts (for the day). Plush, comfy, blue velour captains chairs up front, and a large, folding bench in the back. Power steering, power brakes (Disc F - Drums R), power windows, power locks, wood grain dash and tilt steering wheel, (also in very good condition), AC - the compressor has been removed by a previous owner - C6 auto transmission, which sends the the power to an 8.8" 3:55 Limited slip rear diff. This is a nearly bullet proof driveline. To quiet down the rumble, there is an Alpine stereo head unit. The front carpet was trash due to the missing sections of floor, so that was tossed. The tailgate window does not go down (he has a new motor) and it seems to be missing a hinge and is slightly cocked. The electric door locks work, sort of, the actuator on the driver door is broken and you need to use a small screwdriver and the headlights currently don't come on. These worked when he bought the truck, so not sure what the issue is, all other lights do work, could be bulbs (?) wires to both are good.

I think the interior would come around with some deep cleaning/shampooing.

One could conceivably fix the floors and rockers and start driving it, while taking on the other projects a bit at a time.


As a young guy who goes to school and is working almost full time hours with his family tree business, he and his Dad simply don't have the time to delve into a project of this magnitude, so he's decided to sell her so he can get another "sort of classic car" as a regular driver.

Will you be the one to save this floundering automotive soul?

Asking price is $5500

Any questions, for many more photos and video, to schedule a time to see her in person, or to make an offer,

Please don't hesitate to contact me.