DAILY GRIND
Hey, Nick, sweet-looking Bronco — you don’t see many around, especially with young guys at the wheel; what’s the story with it?
I’ve wanted a Bronco for the past 15 years, but I’ve always had Falcons, old and new, for a daily commuter, then my mates started to get into offroading, and I tagged along with them a couple of times and got sick of being in the passenger seat. So, I bought a Safari and did an RB25 swap. It was a fun wagon to drive and take off-road, but I’m a V8 man, and it just wasn’t me. I had to get back into a V8, so the Safari went up for sale and there were two Broncos on Trade Me at the time — an ’80s one in good condition and perfectly legal that I was going to buy, and a black one that was rusty as hell and had been deregistered for the past 10 years, but it was the late ’70s shape, which was my favourite. I wasn’t even going to look at it, but I thought, why not just go and have a look? And I fell in love and bought it.
Was it a mission to get it on the road?
Na, although it was dereg’d and it had a few issues, as soon as I bought it, I used it as my daily. I did nothing to it. Then, after 10 or so years of sitting still, then being driven every day for a whole year, it finally broke down. To be fair, it had been a bloody reliable car, but once the cops cottoned on, it soon cost me my license.
Bugger! You’ve done a bit to it now, though?
Yeah, I have always had a plan of what I wanted to do to it, but I just had to fix everything the way it was to get it back through compliance. I had to get the LPG tank tested, new brakes, driveshaft, LPG mixer, and a small novel’s worth of paperwork — the list goes on. Once it was compliant, I could start doing the fun stuff. I waited six or seven months for a six-inch Skyjacker lift kit and some custom wheels to come over from the States, got some 37-inch tyres on it. I made an alloy drop tank — must be the muscle car influence — converted it to petrol with a blow-through carb, put an MSD ignition on it, and made a single-turbo kit for it. It’s got a four-inch exhaust, and I put a full manual valve body in it. I’ve still got a few things to do though, such as a longer driveshaft, and I want to put Wilwoods all round. Grant Rivers is going to build me a 460 for it, and maybe an internal roll cage to strengthen the chassis a bit.
That’s serious! We hope with all this going on you’re not going to change the retro graphics on it?
I love the reflective graphics, but they are not complete; some were removed for rust repair and others have been replaced with non-reflective stickers, so I’m going to repaint it. They will all need to go at some point, but I can get a new reflective sticker pack from the States, so, eventually, they will go back on.
We presume you won’t be taking it off-road at all, then?
I brought it for that reason so that’s what I’m gunna do. I still have a few things to do to it before it’s ready, and I need to be careful with how and where I go — it’s not like I can just buy a new one if something happens to it. It needed boost, and a blower wasn’t ideal for off-road conditions, so turbo was the way I chose to go — sounds so good when it spools up too.
What does the number plate mean?
I believe the original owner was Roger Bertram, 10-time New Zealand Stock Car champion. He purchased it to tow his stock cars around. I have been trying to find him to give the plates back, so if anyone reading this knows him, get in contact.
You’ve got a blown XD Falcon; turboed the Bronco; and, a few issues ago, we saw that you helped your old man build a twin-turbo GT40 — now that you’ve been involved with both, what’s best: blower or turbo?
That’s a hard one, but I’d have to pick a blower — instant power when you need it. I like turbos too though; it’s just a different kind of driving experience.