The 1981 Bronco Montana Lobo that never was

I follow the Obscure Cars Daily page on IG and this popped up a few days ago. Though not a Bullnose, it fits within the Bullnose era and there could have been a page on this very site about it had it ever gone forward;). Pics below and copy/pasted wording from the posting at the bottom. Interesting.







"1981 Ford Bronco Montana Lobo. The Bronco Montana Lobo was a concept that Ford had debuted at the 1981 Chicago Auto Show as their interpretation of a futuristic off-roader. In reality, this truck was just a standard 1977 Bronco that was adorned with a variety of entertaining options by some blue oval braggart. These included drastic changes to the bodywork in the form of a rooftop spoiler, louvered side rails, foam bumpers, and exposed side-exit exhausts that are utterly determined to burn the living shit out of the legs of anyone who dares to enter this beast. Its doors were detachable and constructed of plexiglass (likely to show the entire world the third-degree burns on your legs that you'd suffered from entering the truck), but the most intriguing features are the seats, which were crafted from hemp fabric. Honestly, you just can't do that to someone like me and not expect mischief and chaos. I'd be cutting off pieces of upholstery with my utility knife at any given point, then stuffing them into my hashpipe as I buck the Bronco wildly across the parkway, disregarding human life entirely, while the anemic 5.0L V8 bellows in protest, like some useless coworker who only shows up because he's out of PTO and he's invested too much into his pension to quit. Ford Bronco Montana Lobo; if the guy that stole your copper pipes could afford a truck, this would be it."

What would Arte Johnson have said about that on Laugh In? "Very Interesting, but stupid."

Still, it is a concept vehicle and it shows that whomever designed it doesn't live in the world for which he's designing.  Take the lights on top - they are against the roof so won't light much of the road ahead, and will blind the person behind.  And the side pipes are cool looking but not only will they be hot in use but loud since there's no room for a reasonable muffler and the exits are very close to the passengers.  Plus, haven't they increased the rear overhang?  Doesn't a Bronco have a relatively short overhang?

On the positive side, it looks like it retained the solid front axle/spring combo.  And I like the fender flares.

But thanks for sharing, Cory.  It is interesting to see those old vehicles.

Gary Lewis wrote

But thanks for sharing, Cory.  It is interesting to see those old vehicles.

One has to wonder, what market were they thinking of when they designed it? Ford already had the full size Bronco, and the little Bronco II came only a few years later (although not really an offroad machine). Ford had obviously decided to get rid of the smaller Bronco for 1978. Jeep had just released the CJ-8 Scrambler in 1981...but it never really took off and ended up being fairly rare, even when it was current (1981-1986?). The thing kinds reminds me of an International Scout II...the Super Scout version...because of the doors, or lack thereof...



Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler...somewhat rare, even when new.



In any case, I think the Bronco Montana Lobo was ugly as sin and probably a bad idea, and I'm a big fan of the vehicles of that era like the IH Scout and Jeeps, etc.

 

Front end looks really good, aft of the front fenders it all goes to heck. This is oddly similar to the Isuzu VehiCROSS, which was a body-on-frame 4x4 with weird styling.

This thing can be rectified. Replace the bubble window doors with half doors, scrap the roof lights and spoiler, use a normal exhaust, extend the roofline back like a regular SUV or give it a more conventional style truck bed by removing the lame rear roll bar thing.

gotta love spoilers on low speed vehicles

mat in tn wrote

gotta love spoilers on low speed vehicles

Those plexiglass doors would be awful wouldn't they??...LOL. They'd get so scratched up and faded you wouldn't even be able to see out of them.

wow ! that point totally got by me. anyone who has a truck topper/cap with those should understand that immediately.
and that is also an issue with acrylic windsheilds on motorcycles. I remember polishing out the haze on the Goldwing a couple times. many riders just replaced as necessary but I'm a diy guy