Coyote V8 Swapped 1978 Bronco Takes a Classic Icon and Makes It Substantially Angrier

But instead of buying an all-new Bronco, why not combine the best elements of the old and the new? That's exactly what one Bring a Trailer user out of Parker, Colorado, set out to do. What we have on the outside is a perfectly typical 1978 Bronco two-door. Of course, it looks this good because of a comprehensive refurbishment by Montana Broncos. An aftermarket classic Bronco restoration expert group based out of, well, Montana, of course.

You may be driven to believe by its unassuming exterior that this SUV's rocking the same 400-cubic inch (6.6-liter) V8 with the two-barrel carburetor it's had since the day it left the factory. One pop of the hood shatters this illusion into so many pieces that they're microscopic. Instead, sitting under the hood is a modern, powerful Ford Coyote engine sourced from a 2014 Mustang GT. A derivative of the perenially misunderstood Ford Modular V8 engine found in Mustangs, F-150s, and even the occasional TVR British sports car.

Power is fed to either the rear or all four wheels via a selectable four-wheel-drive system by way of a six-speed automatic transmission and a dual-range transfer case. All in all, if the name of the game was a balance between old and new technology was the name of the game, so far, this build threads the needle effortlessly. It only gets better and better from there, especially with the exterior.

Another aspect of the refurbishments done to this truck included a full respray job in the exact same Bright Red with Wimbledon White siding the truck entered the dealership with over 40 years ago. If the difference between flawless factory original paint and a mighty impressive respray is all in the perception, then most people truly wouldn't be any the wiser that this time around, it's not the original paint.

Other goodies outside the vehicle include all new chrome trim pieces, a removable hard top, chrome bumpers, a new trailer hitch, and classic-looking, western-style side mirrors to go along with the 17-inch polished alloy wheels wearing 285/70 BFGoodrich K02 All-Terrain T/A tires. Not that you'd ever want to off-road too ferociously in a truck this special, it's just too pretty to get all dirty.

Safe to say, the innards of this Bronco under the body match the quality of everything else. With disk brakes up front and refurbished power-assisted drums out back, there's plenty of braking force if it's ever called upon. The truck features coil springs at the front with leafs at the rear. All with aftermarket shock absorbers of an undisclosed variety at all four corners.

If there was one criticism we could find about the entire truck, it'd only be that we wish the rear suspension was a bit fancier. But really, as far as nitpicking goes, it's pretty microscopic The manually locking front wheel hubs are sure to come in handy if you forgot our warnings about hooning the thing on a trail. Other good due diligence the owner of this Bronco performed post restoration was replacing the rear left leaf spring and U-bolt, just because that sounds like a really good idea. Moving on to the interior, it's just as nice as under the hood.

With supple-looking seats sporting striped cloth lining on the innermost portion with leatherette material on its borders, they look like some seats we would not mind riding on for a nice long multi-state road trip. The dashboard, gauge cluster, headliner, radio, and carpets have all been thoroughly revitalized to create a fitting time capsule to a period when Ford made some of the toughest off-roaders on the market.

No matter how much prestige the latest-generation Bronco may carry, it'll never have the same mystique as an old one will. It just so happens this particular classic Bronco is chocked full of modern hardware. The price for all this magnificence? I hear you screaming from across the internet. Well, the auction still has six days left on the clock as of September 16th, 2022. But with a current bid already reaching $50,000 before taxes and fees, there's every reason to suspect this is a six-figure restomod every day of the week.

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