Read an article the other day about crazy prices for jeep cherokees, Well about the only things with a tow hitch these days are Jeeps suburbans and trucks, Soccer mom SUV seems to be the market. Tow something buy a truck!
Barkydog,
We probably read the same article.
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I don’t know which one it was that I rode in but that sucker seemed to sway quite a bit on the highway. I was happy to get out of it again. Again I don’t know which one it was but on a frosty morning on the freeway, I had slowed down, but a Bronco passed me and a little later spinning like a top. When he hit the ditch, he bounced once and over he went.
My wife was following a Bronco II that was towing a small trailer. It started to weave back and forth on the highway, then WHOOPS, the Bronco II flipped over onto its roof.
The 2dr full-size SUVs are selling for much more than any one would have guessed. At least for nice stock examples.
There is a nice Eddie Bauer edition here in town but they’re not as common as they used to be. $20,000 is the most expensive one in the print edition of hemmings but at auction buyers will pay up for the right truck.
I’ve come close to doing the same in an old CJ5 I owned towing a 16’ trailer with a motorcycle on it. Obviously wasn’t a huge amount of weight. Going over expansion joints on a bridge, the trailer started to bounce the rear suspension. The repeated bouncing turned into the trailer swaying side to side, which made the Jeep want to sway. I just slowed down gradually and was OK. But yeah, I wouldn’t tow anything with a CJ5 again! Probably a similar wheelbase to a Bronco II or a first gen Bronco. The second generation Bronco was the big Bronco that had the same front quarter as an F150. I imagine those were a little more stable.
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Happy with the trailblazer, but towing a boat on the highway with my 2wd ford ranger 4 cyl, boat started the tail wag, moved weight and gas tanks to the front and all was fine, not necessarily a vehicle problem as much as tongue weight problem. imhop
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We learn best from our errors.
When we were building a cabin, I was hauling 16’ pine 200 miles back home to be routed for trim. It overhung the back of the trailer so bad that the tongue was about weightless and the thing would fish tale all over. Best I could do was 30-45 mph. First town I bought a couple bags of 40# salt to weight the front down and all was well after that. A little scary but no traffic and you can always use salt for the softener. I learned the value of weight on the front though.
I think it may be just a manifestation of the perceived desirability of that type of vehicle. Many people want something with high ground clearance and four wheel drive for family camping & skiing trips and the like. They could buy a pickup truck, but they like the wagon’s shape, holds a lot of people & stuff, feels safer to drive, good visibility of other cars on the road b/c the driver is sitting higher up. Is it just the Bronco? Or all similar used makes of that type of vehicle high-priced used like that? If the latter, I’d guess the owner of this sort of used vehicle wants to buy a new one, and when they visit a dealership they see the price of the new ones are ranging close to $50K. In order to come up with enough cash to buy a new one they have to sell the old one at a pretty high price. They also realize that if the buyer seeking a used one doesn’t want to pay their price, the only alternative is a new one, and that’s gonna cost 3-5 X as much
OP, if you want one, I’m sure you can find one at more reasonable prices, but unless you get lucky, you’ll have to accept one that has some issues needing resolving. Try to find one where it won’t pass emissions, something like that. And maybe it has some chipping paint. May turn out the problem is just a faulty sensor. A new sensor, and a little home-brew work on the paint job, and you are in the driver’s seat.
I admit that’s a pretty good looking vehicle, but I think it would look better if it was a little shorter and a two door. It’s a little bit too big, looks too much like a Suburban. I expect Ford knows what the new-vehicle buyers are looking for these days much better than I do, and bigger must be what they want.
Seriously, George . . . ?!
People paying a lot for classic Broncos has no relationship to the price of new SUVs
I’m not sure where you even got that idea 
They got the idea because new suvs have always been relatively expensive, but at times used ones were dirt cheap. Remember when we first hit $4 a gallon for gas? Used pickups and suvs were being sold at bargain basement prices. Old pickups got hot about 10 years ago and stayed that way. Suvs are following that trend. Early 50s pickups are changing hands for $30,000 dollars. From WWII to the 70s. new pickups were cheaper than new cars.
Any time you want something at the same time that other people want it, the price goes up.
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I seriously doubt most people paying top dollar for classic broncos are going to use them as daily drivers
I think it’s nostalgia, recapturing their youth, etc.
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We are all suckers for status and image and for many automobiles are their most highly prized status symbols. But all things considered there are worse ways to spend money. If I win a Mega-Millions there are several classic cars on my list to buy as soon as I return from my trip around the world.
I have a friend who owns an antique shop. More like a used junk shop. They say they can sell pretty much anything. Somebody will eventually pay a good price for most anything they have on hand. An old dish with a chip on it? $25, somebody will eventually pay that, no problem.
Not at the antique store, but a good recent example that people will pay extravagant prices for nonsensical items, this tiny piece of impure crystalized carbon just sold for $50 million 3 days ago. Why the owner thinks it is worth that much, who knows? The only rationale I can think of is they believe they can sell it to somebody else for more than that at a future date. Which is probably true … lol … But think about what they paid $50,000,000 for. It’s just a piece of crystalized carbon; and an impure one at that; just a differently configured version of an old piece of black soot scraped from the chimney flue.
That seems awfully high. I mean if it were a Chevy that would be ok, but for a Bronco?
I’ve always been a fan of the full size Broncos and Blazers and was sad when they quit making them. With the short wheelbase and 4WD and V8 engines they were the perfect vehicle for both daily driving and towing your boat or travel trailer on weekends.
I doubt they are getting those asking prices, but in general these trucks have a following and people are willing to pay a pretty penny for one in nice condition.
Still may just be a piece of carbon, but I’ll bet the guy that did the cutting on it was shaking a little bit. One false move and poof.
Possibly from texases link?
The bottom line is that you should treat something of this vintage as a hobby car and select, spend, and budget accordingly. As with old boats, you may find that a well maintained or restored example at a higher initial price ends up being more economical than a rough one that is waiting to become a money pit. There are more expensive hobbies so if you can accept their age and limitations, enjoy searching junkyards for parts, have the means to keep it going, and don’t mind if the price goes down after the fad passes, go for it.