If you were swept up in the news coming out of Monterey Car Week and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, we can’t blame you. How could you not be distracted by all the cool vehicles showcased and introduced in such a short amount of time? But that means you may have missed the Bronco Roadster Concept that Ford rolled out as part of the legendary off-roader’s 60th birthday festivities.
Today, you can get the sixth-generation Bronco with two or four doors and with a soft top and/or a removable hardtop. But when the original Bronco entered the market as a 1966 model, it was available in three basic forms: the Sports Utility (essentially a single-cab pickup), the two-door Wagon, and the roofless and doorless Roadster. Robert Gelardi, the current model’s chief designer, said, “During the development of the 2021 Bronco and Bronco Sport, we worked with a group of experts and enthusiasts who helped guide our vision. One of them, who has since become a good friend, owns a beautifully spartan 1966 Wimbledon White roadster. We’ve admired that vehicle for a long time, and it served as the design team’s inspiration, as well as a tangible link to the Bronco’s original design DNA, for this Roadster Concept.”
To give the concept vehicle the same “Go Anywhere, Open Air” personality as the original model, Gelardi and his team kept things simple. Of course, there’s no roof or doors on the Wimbledon White one-off, but there’s also a clear lack of the kind of gear you see on many classic and modern Broncos, such as a winch, light bar, or sky-high lift. Silver bumpers cap both ends of the concept and visually connect it to the vehicle that inspired it. The stock wheels were swapped out for a set of silver Fifteen52 Analog HDs.
Behind the largely white interior’s manual shifter and metallic silver bucket seats, the cargo area was gutted to make room for a spare tire. Maroon graphics over the rear fender flares commemorate the Bronco’s 60th and connect near the bottom of the throwback fold-down tailgate.
Unfortunately, the Bronco Roadster, like many concept vehicles, has no shot of making it into production. Perhaps at this year’s SEMA show we’ll see aftermarket companies offering conversion kits that provide the same old-school look.
