Banks Insider: ’66 Bronco

This 1966 Bronco just sold for $121,212!

How does a 54-year-old vehicle nab that much, and why should you care? Well, there’s a good story to it.

A lot of vehicles at car meets can ultimately be just for looks, being more style than true function. One such example opposite of that was showcased at the 2019 SEMA Show in Las Vegas: a 1966 Bronco completely upgraded and retrofitted with current engine technology. The build was spearheaded by the SEMA Garage, WD-40 and many companies in the automotive aftermarket, including Banks Power. This fully functional one of a kind Bronco was recently auctioned by Bring a Trailer to benefit Childhelp, a charity whose purpose has been prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. With a winning bid of $121,212, Jeff Mosing won the fierce bidding war that erupted as the auction came down to the wire. 100% of the proceeds from the auction went directly to Childhelp.

The origin story of this special Bronco began as SEMA members learned about the charity build project and started donating parts, helping with installation and in some cases designing custom one-off pieces to accommodate the bold restomod. The idea behind the build was to keep the classic look of the ’66 vehicle, but upgrade and update to current power levels and capabilities. Replacing the stock in-line six is a modern-day marvel from Ford: the 3.5L twin turbo EcoBoost. Here, the engine generates 375 hp and a whopping 470 lb-ft of torque. The EcoBoost is a whole different animal than the original engine from the ’66 Bronco.

In order to shoehorn it all in, the team worked with companies in the cooling business to create a custom package. The battery was also relocated to make needed room. Banks Power supplied the iDash DataMonster, AirMouse and instrumentation modules that gave the vehicle the ability to read far more than what was available on the dash and aided in proper tuning.

All in all the finished Bronco turned out to be quite a beast, both in final form and on fetching a high price at the auction.

For more on this, click here.