Vintage Ford Broncos Are Still All The Rage, Easily Selling For $50,000 Or More

First-generation Ford Broncos from the 1960s and 1970s might be older than many of their owners at this point, but they are still a hot commodity.

A yellow-and-white 1971 Bronco Sport in Nebraska, refurbished to be essentially original, sold at an online auction for $56,000 on Tuesday.

Prices for vintage Broncos have gotten “softer” over the past few years, but they’re still highly sought-after, Bronco fanatic Ed Schreiner of Torrington told Cowboy State Daily.

“I was watching that one too” during the online auction, he said.

Schreiner’s pride and joy is his 1973 Bronco, with the same color scheme as the Nebraska Bronco that just sold.

“I consider mine ... a regular driver. It’s far from perfect,” he said. "A couple of years ago, it would have gone for $85,000, but today? Maybe $40,000."

He was watching the online auction for the Nebraska Bronco purely for fun. He has no plans to buy another one, or to sell his Bronco, which he’s owned for 26 years and still drives all over Wyoming.  

“That Bronco, it’s my history,” Schreiner said.

He’s put countless hours of work into it, and it now has about 300,000 miles on it, he said.

‘Extremely Collectible’

First-generation Broncos are a high-demand item now because they strike a chord with the Generation X demographic, automotive writer Aaron Turpen of Cheyenne told Cowboy State Daily.

"They're extremely collectible,” he said. "Especially the Bronco Sport/II models, because they're instantly associated with the 1970s — unlike the Jeeps of the era, which were more fun, but not as practical, or reliable. 

"There's a reason the modern Bronco Sport was made to look a lot like these early gens (generations). I find it funny that you never see restorations of these early Broncos in their best-selling drab white."

Nostalgia is the name of the game when it comes to collectible vehicles, such as first-generation Broncos, Turpen said.

“Like most collectibles, it's all about generational nostalgia,” he said. "Gen. X is the new collector market, replacing Boomers, and we remember these vehicles fondly."

Alterations Don’t Affect Price

Schreiner said prices for first-edition Broncos might have dropped as of late because demand for vintage 4x4 sport vehicles might be pivoting to other vehicles.

“The market is shifting to (Chevrolet) Blazers or International Scouts,” Schreiner said.

Parts for Broncos have also gotten more expensive as many are “authorized” by Ford, he added.

While the Nebraska Bronco was refurbished to be close to stock, his has some alterations, such as a hood scoop and aftermarket rear fenders.

Aftermarket alterations on vintage Broncos don’t seem to affect the prices they can bring, Schreiner said.

“That’s one of the crazy things about those Broncos. It doesn’t matter, either stock or modified,” he said. "It really kind of depends what the person wanting to buy one wants."

Things Will Change Again

Turpen said Gen Xers are the driving force in the collectible car market right now because many of them are in their 50s.

“The collector car market is mostly driven by people aged 50-plus, because that's financially when people can afford nostalgia and have the space to store it, now that the kids are gone,” Turpen added.

“In another 10 to 15 years, we'll see more Japanese models as collectibles, as the younger of our generation shows up remembering those as the ‘cool things’ from high school,” he predicted.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.