1985 Ford Bronco XLT, 300cid 4 speed

1985 Ford Bronco

114,000 original miles

300 cid 6 cylinder

4 speed

Power steering

Power disc brakes

Dual shock front end

Air conditioning

Cruise control

Tilt wheel

Power windows

Power locks

Pioneer stereo, AM, FM, CD, w/bluetooth and USB

Good tires

Rebuilt engine

New battery

Rebuilt alternator

New regulator

New heater motor

New carburetor

New distributer

4 wheel drive works great

Towing package

New trailer brake controller and light socket

This is a rare, or at least very unusual 1985 Ford Bronco XLT. First, the basics, full size Bronco, 115,000 original miles, 300 cid 6 cylinder, 4 speed manual transmission, nearly every available option. What makes it so unusual is the XLT trim package with virtually every option, with the 300 six and the 4 speed. Most 6 cylinder, 4 speed Broncos are rather stripped models, where most of the loaded Broncos have a 351 V8 and an automatic. This is the only one like this that I have ever heard of. The result is a full size Bronco that gets about 20 mpg even around town. The equipment I can easily list are, power steering, power brakes, dual shock front axle, power windows, power locks, intermittent wipers, tilt wheel, digital clock, towing package, highest level interior trim, air conditioning, cruise control, chrome wheels, the ultra rare factory tach, as new trailer brake controller and a Pioneer aftermarket stereo with AM, FM, CD, USD and Bluetooth. The interior is all original including the carpets and is in amazing condition. In the past 9 years I have owned the vehicle, I have put on 11,000 miles on it. Since that time , have rebuilt the engine, replaced the starter, rebuilt the alternator, new Cooper white letter tires, new battery last month, new blower motor, new carburetor, new distributer, new brakes and many other parts as needed.

Now for the story, (I like a vehicle with a story), I found this for sale 9 years ago with a bad motor and some rust problems, the odd problem was that the motor was bad at 104,000 miles. The guy I got the car from had just returned from the east coast on a trip. While gone, the distributer had quit changing the timing, this made the car hard to start, so the guy had to use starting fluid to start it. When I purchased the car, it had been sitting for about 4 years, had very little oil pressure and ran really bad with lots of blow by. I pulled the motor and found 4 out the 6 upper rings broken and the crank bad. I replaced the crank, all bearings, the oil pump, timing chain, rings, carburetor, distributer and gaskets. That was 11,000 miles ago and the motor runs like new. The other problem was about 9 areas where there was some rust out. Mostly on the drivers side and the tailgate. About 4 years ago, I bought a mig welder and patch panels and that became my winter project. All the areas that were rusted out were cut out and patch panels welded in. The body work was roughed in at that time, and although everything has held up well and there is very little filler, the finish body work needs to be completed to get the vehicle ready for paint.

It has most every option, most of them work, but some don't. The air conditioning is all in place, but does not cool, a few years back, I put 3 cans of refrigerant in it and it worked for a short while, so I believe it just has a leak in the system. The cruise control also doesn't function. Everything is there, I have checked the basics, it should by a relatively easy fix. The only other item that doesn't work is the tach. It worked great unit less than 50 miles ago, I have not had the opportunity to look at it. Everything else seems to work as expected.

This vehicle runs and drives great, the 4 wheel drives works great. I do not see a problem with driving it anywhere. If you are looking for a rare and unusual Bronco project that just needs finishing, this could be the vehicle for you. I am only selling it because I recently bought a travel trailer that will require a larger truck, so I purchased an F250.