Tom’s Bronco Parts offers high quality Early 1966 Ford Bronco Parts. The 1966 Classic Ford Bronco is in many ways in a class of it’s own. This was the first year model of the Ford Bronco and while the body style remained basically the same throughout the Early Broncos (66-77 Ford Broncos) there are some intrinsic differences in the 66 Bronco that makes this year model unique. Ford initially created the Ford Bronco as their answer to the Jeep CJ models and International Harvester’s Scout model. It’s short 92″ wheelbase made the Early Bronco ideal for off-roading. A few of the specific areas where the 1966 Ford Bronco differs from the later year models are outlined below:
The ends of the stock rear bumper on 1966 Ford Broncos went out straight as opposed to the taper found on 67-77 Broncos.
The ends of the stock front bumper on 66 Broncos also did not have this taper but the ends were bent inward to wrap around the sides a bit.
66 Ford Broncos also had a different wheel hub cap than the 67-77 Bronco hubcaps. These hubcaps are only found on 1966 Broncos and are therefore very hard to find and very valuable.
1966 & some 1967 Ford Broncos used a more flat front bucket seat than the rest of the classic Broncos did. Also, most 66 Broncos had a shiny silver seat cover which was discontinued promptly and replaced by the parchment seat upholstery that is commonly seen in early Broncos. You can tell if your classic Ford Bronco has 1966 Ford Bronco seats by measuring the plastic backing of the front bucket seats vertically. If it is a 66 Bronco seat, it will measure 19″ from top to bottom of this backing panel. Later models measure about 16″. The rear bench seat on a 1966 Bronco was also slightly different than those of later years in that the arm rests were more of a flat arm rest that mounted on top of the seat arm rest frame where the other year models used an arm rest that wrapped around the top and sides of the arm rest frame.
Another common difference found in 66-67 Ford Broncos is in the doors. The rear door posts strikers are located in a different location than the 68-77 Broncos and use a round striker post as opposed to an oval one. The door latches are completely different design with a special plastic bushing kit for the outer door lock rod. The door panels are also quite different than later model Early Broncos. 1966 & 1967 Ford Broncos use a standard twisting pull handle for the inner door handles, whereas the 1968 to 1977 Ford Broncos utilized a paddle handle assembly. The arm rests on a 1966 or 1967 Bronco when present were much smaller than the 68-77 arm rests.
There are many more one-year only differences for the 66 Broncos. Watch this page for updates and additional information or call us if you have a question.
