White Chromatic Bronco and XLS Bronco restoration (eye candy)

Video of two rare and beautifully restored Broncos! 🤩

https://youtu.be/eP3FTWjDeaY?si=CspbkvxjdfHpP57f

Wow!  Love those trucks, especially the 81.  And that "silver" dash is beautiful!  

Had no idea they had freewheelin' bullnoses !!!

Always wonder how people get these rare/clean vehicles. With enough money I suppose anything is attainable?

Sheez! Seriously, who would want one of those...  ME!

Nice! The Godzilla engine was a surprise, I was expecting to see a later fuel injected 351W.

Love the content from Chris Lott. I personally picked up three OEM 1978-1979 15x8 wagon wheels locally for $20 and sent them his way for restoration and to be put on one of the Broncos he and Firehouse Vintage Vehicles restores. He had them stripped and powder coated back to like new condition. I'm not sure which truck they ended up on, but I know they look great on it.

Is the white one one of the rarest Broncos?  Not any more.  It used to be one of three (or whatever it was he said) white, chromatic stripe Freewheeling editions.  Now it's one of a million modified Broncos.

I'm not a restorer, so it'd be disingenuous of me to complain about someone modifying a vehicle.  But anyone bragging about the original uniqueness and then sticking a 2021 motor in seems off.

Likewise the NOS stripes on the red Bronco that you can't find any more so they recreated them.  Are they NOS or recreated?  On the white Bronco he consistently said that the stripes were recreated from NOS material.  I can accept that.  But on the red one he called them NOS stripes that they were recreating.  Huh???

OK, complaints over, those are REALLY COOL vehicles that I'd LOVE to have!

Nothing Special wrote

Is the white one one of the rarest Broncos?  Not any more.  It used to be one of three (or whatever it was he said) white, chromatic stripe Freewheeling editions.  Now it's one of a million modified Broncos.

I'm not a restorer, so it'd be disingenuous of me to complain about someone modifying a vehicle.  But anyone bragging about the original uniqueness and then sticking a 2021 motor in seems off.

Likewise the NOS stripes on the red Bronco that you can't find any more so they recreated them.  Are they NOS or recreated?  On the white Bronco he consistently said that the stripes were recreated from NOS material.  I can accept that.  But on the red one he called them NOS stripes that they were recreating.  Huh???

OK, complaints over, those are REALLY COOL vehicles that I'd LOVE to have!

It's really no different than the kids that are sticking 1999+ King Ranch interiors into 1980-1996 F-Series trucks and then explaining how much they love the looks of those trucks. They obviously don't, because why else would they change the interior?

I wouldn't say that.  That's like someone taking an early Bronco, putting a high pinion axle, a pair of lockers and an Atlas transfer case in it and saying what a good trail rig a Bronco is!

Obviously I'm fine with people "improving" their vehicles in whatever way they see fit.  I just would prefer that they don't start with something hard to get that is likely to have a lot of value to someone who wants it original.  For instance, in early Broncos anyone can cut the rear fenders of a solid Bronco (a common modification to make room for bigger tires), but no one can uncut fenders to make it original.  So when I was shopping for my Bronco I passed on any that hadn't been cut yet.

In my perfect world a rare vehicle like that white '82 would go to someone who wanted to either restore it or, better yet, wanted to keep it as a "survivor" (that is, if it was a survivor rather than a basket case).  But still, he bought it, he can do what he wants with it.

And again, what he did is really cool!  It just isn't a restoration, so now it's another modified Bronco.

Interesting conversation.  Very similar to one I had recently with Kel Ertl over on her FB page called Bullnose Bronco's And Truck's (80-86).  She made the "mistake" of asking for pictures of our engine compartments and details about what we've done under there.  

Having one of, if not the, most highly-modified Bullnose trucks on the planet I just outlined a "few" of the things I've done.  And somehow we got into a discussion of "restorations" and she said "Gary Lewis if you're replacing it and it isn't broken for the betterment (and reliability) of the rig then yes it's restoration 👍 even if it's a Frankenstein restoration 😉."  (Emoticons are all hers.)

So I guess there are as many dafynitions of "restoration" as there are people 'cause I never would have thought Big Blue would be considered a restoration.  I don't consider it that.  I built it to "overland", although that isn't really what I'm using it for.  But it certainly is getting used.

But in my book, and in the books of most in the automotive world, a restoration puts the vehicle back like it was when it left the showroom floor.  Somewhere I have the judging booklet for Mopars in concurs competition and the detail they go into when judging is incredible.  Vehicles then were not powder coated anywhere, so that is completely out.  In fact, the amount of "flatness" of the paint on various components is judged.  Reproduction decals are allowed, but only if you can't tell they are reproductions.

So Chris Lott's Broncos aren't true restorations in my book.  But they are beautiful "restomods" or "reformations" and I'd love to have one of them.  I'd take the white one if given a chance, and I'd keep the hood shut and amaze people with how quick the thing is.  

to put it simply. either it is restored, reconditioned or modified. I try to be as transparent as I can be in descriptions because that's on me. I cannot do anything about what someone hears or thinks they heard. consider how often our own spouses don't get what we are saying. I do various versions. frame off resto mods. resurrections. repairs and so on. I never claim a total restoration. an old friend in mid tenn was known for his 55-57 chevy restorations. many awards. his term was "documented restoration" where everything was as it left the showroom. I watched him work and was impressed but I am not that obsessed. I build drivers, users, and not trailer queens that cannot be run long enough to change the color of the exhaust.  

Restoration, restomod, modification.  Anyone can call anything whatever they want.  But the people who want an original vehicle don't really care what you want to call it.  They just want a vehicle that hasn't been modified.  And rare vehicles are more desirable because they're rare.  A rose by any other name... but if you graft a venus flytrap into it because you (and lots of others) think that would be cool, it's not a rose anymore.

And of you're selling something and calling it "NOS", it better not be something you just made.  There's certainly a market for good reproductions, but something new isn't "old stock."

"It's just semantics."  But the definition of "semantics" is "the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning " (Oxford dictionary).  And since the whole point of communication is to transfer meaning to someone else, "it's just semantics" is equivalent to saying "it's just the whole point."

That red paint and black grille look great together! I think that's a good look for my truck.

It wasn’t a survivor per se, I am surprised that Chris did a modification on this one though. But if you follow his FB group you know how many restorations he has done keeping everything as original as possible down to the last detail. I guess he wanted to do something different with this one.

On the XLS I noticed that the window shadow is just a bit off. I always liked the little angle ahead of the mirrors and his seems to be missing that:

 

viven44 wrote

Had no idea they had freewheelin' bullnoses !!!

Always wonder how people get these rare/clean vehicles. With enough money I suppose anything is attainable?

You have to be searching online all the time, all areas, and then have a good network of people looking for you also;)

That white Bronco was surprisingly cheap...I forget exactly what the asking price was as it has been a couple years now, but it was around $9000 if I recall correctly. Scott Benedict had it for sale in Phoenix, AZ and posted it on Instagram. I happened to see it very shortly after it was posted for sale and I tagged Chris Lott, and the rest is history. It looked like it had been in Arizona it's whole life...no rust, and paint and decals burned off lol.

In case you guys don't know Scott Benedict, he was the owner of Detroit Vintage Wheels, but in recent years has been living in Phoenix area and was picking up interesting or unique rust free vehicles and cleaning them up for resale, or just flipping them like this Bronco. He probably found this Bronco sitting in an Arizona field or backyard somewhere. I'm not sure what he's doing now...he seems to have deleted all of his social media accounts. He had a Bullnose also...a red/white tu-tone swb 4x4 with a 351w in it.

I personally would have liked to see that Bronco keep it's original engine, and maybe put a Holley EFI on it or something so that it could still be kept looking at least somewhat original under the hood. However, to each their own. I follow Chris and enjoy seeing the trucks and various other rigs he finds and cleans up. This bronco will probably pull a good price when/if he sells it.

Ford F834 wrote

On the XLS I noticed that the window shadow is just a bit off. I always liked the little angle ahead of the mirrors and his seems to be missing that:

Good catch Jon! You have a great eye for that stuff.

Rembrant wrote

.... This bronco will probably pull a good price when/if he sells it.

No doubt!

Just noticed the Free Wheeler has the wrong mirrors.

viven44 wrote

Had no idea they had freewheelin' bullnoses !!!

Always wonder how people get these rare/clean vehicles. With enough money I suppose anything is attainable?

there were a lot of unique bullnose trucks.

This one here I dont know much about but I want to say it was a dealership special order.

I asked Chris about the blackout frame around the window. He said they recreated that before they got the second XLS in the shop that had it original. He said he still finds it really odd that they deviated from the body contour but that’s how they did it. I asked if the original was vinyl or paint, and he said it was both… painted with vinyl edging. So there’s that…