Back in the '70's, Ford had a habit of using "II" when they'd launch either new versions of an existing nameplate or an accompanying model to one. For 1974 they launched their diminutive, Pinto-based "Mustang II" and for 1977 they rechristened their intermediate but still elephantine 1972 vintage Torino as the "LTD II"; which they sold alongside the still full-size and ginormous LTD which wouldn't be shrunk until 1979. For 1984, seemingly long after the Great Downsizing Epoch had subsided, Ford rolled out a compact sport utility vehicle they labeled, "Bronco II". Our blocky, stubby subject is a 1986.
Based on the then current (1982) Ford Ranger pickup truck chassis, just like the current Bronco is Ranger based, the Bronco II was dimensionally all but identical to the first Bronco Ford peddled between 1966 and 1977. If you blurred your eyes a little and went with the flow, you could say that it was a spiritual updating to the first Bronco that is now one of the hottest and most desired "vintage" vehicles out there today. If you don't blur your eyes or go with the flow, ahem, you just didn't get what the Bronco II was all about. I didn't and still don't. 1966-1977 Bronco's? Oh. Hell yeah. One of these? Err, no.
The fact I didn't get what the "II" was all about makes my appreciation of the current model all the more amazing. I'm from Long Island; I don't "get" anything truck. The new Bronco, again, I'm referring to the "Bronco" and not the fancy Ford Escape they call "Bronco Sport", is a transcendental design that is so wonderful, the masses are throwing themselves into financial harms to have one. Despite the fact that they are about as practical as a Ford Mustang II. Yeah, yeah. I know that's more than a slight exaggeration, but I say that to illustrate my point. Your opinion may vary. See dealer for details.
Any "cool" (subjective) that the '66-'77 Bronco had was lost on the 1984-1990 "II". The proportions and any semblance of balance are actually better with the II, but therein lies most of the charm of the original Bronco that the current one successfully apes. The original is a weird, clumsy, disproportional design that has a butch, industrial syncopation to it. Let's understand, however, that often times good design doesn't work aesthetically. For instance, better "design" is what made General Motors downsized 1978 intermediates so damn boring. There was no whimsy, no spirit, no elan. And any semblance of it, like what they tried to do with the 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix, came across as grossly pretensious.
What the Bronco II is best or worst remembered for, however, is not its design, folks actually loved it and bought nearly three-quarters of a million of them between 1984 and 1990, but its propensity to rollover. In short, because of the "II's" center of gravity versus its width being proportionally at odds, it's "Stability Index" was sorely off. "II's" look "tippy", and they were. Ford paid some $113 million in 334 wrongful death and injury settlements; some accounts say more than 800 people were killed in "II's" that rolled over and one in five sold between 1984-1990 was involved in a rollover. Wow. Ford apparently knew about the issue even during the "II's" design phase in the early 1980's but they went forward with it because it would have been too expensive to engineer out the problems with the suspension.
It got so bad for the "II" that Geico refused to write policies for them.
My only first-hand experience in one was as a back seat passenger in one a friend of a friend had back in the late '80's. Again, I'm no "truck" girl, bit I found the whole the utterly ridiculous. Along with it being oh-so-bouncy, especially in the back seat, I thought the whole thing felt like it was riding on giant balloons. Which in fact it was in reality. If I was going to do a "truck" back in the day, and I had to have a Ford, it would have been an "O.J. Bronco" although it would have been in black or dark red. Then again, give me a Chevy K5 Blazer.
The Ford Explorer, that replaced the Bronco II in 1991, had similar rollover propensity issues until Ford sorted it out with a wider track and an independent rear suspension. In...2002. Along with "O.J.'s Bronco", is it any wonder why Ford waited twenty-five to come with another SUV they called Bronco?
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