With the grey 1979 Bronco going so well, I figured it was time to fulfill a long time dream of mine to build a matching camper for my 79’s adventures. Hold on to your seats, this is going to get interesting.
I’ve always been a fan of teardrop style camp trailers. Years ago, my wife and I had an American Teardrop brand teardrop and we enjoyed it’s set up very much. I really like the size, good sleeping area and rear kitchen in its own compartment. Camping is much more fun when everything is loaded and all you have to do is add food and water. Now for the interesting part, I’m going to build one out of this blue and white bronco to match my grey 79. Pictured below is a traditional offroad teardrop camper to get a sense of my plan.
Now I know what you’re saying, “but a Bronco isn’t a trailer”, and to that I say, yet! I’ve been building this in my head for so long, I feel like I have a blueprint ready to go. This Bronco, or actually what’s left of it, is a perfect candidate for this project. This is the 3rd Bronco I’ve brought home for this project. The first one was too nice to cut up for such project. Since they were only made for 2 years, to pluck a fixable one from the herd would likely get my burned at the stake, (this one was black one in my past blog posts). You can see my friend and I bring this one back to life to prove my point. Now on to the 2nd, it was the “porridge too cold” Bronco that was too far gone to cut up for anything other than parts and scrap, rest assured, we saved everything we could. Now for the 3rd, a strange Bronco that appears to have been on the road to the scrap yard for along time. Don’t let the picture at the top fool you, it’s pretty bad.
This Bronco is perfect for my project. The main parts I need are all here, frame, tub, doors and top. Yes, it’s missing a tailgate but luckily the last bronco I brought home happened to have a nice gate. Now for the work, it’s going to be a lot. First, I will be tearing out everything I won’t be using and preparing for the large job of cutting out the extra sheet metal, building the hitch and building in the new floor structure.
Follow along and watch this crazy idea take shape. Moving forward, this will also be on Youtube as well as being a segment on the podcast Old School Overland Podcast starting March 27 2023. Links to both will be added in her later on. Feel free to reach out and ask questions or comment. As always, please like and subscribe for updates.
Almost Overlanding with Craig Cooper and Family 