(upbeat music playing) (car engine accelerating) - When I came through
Alaska a couple weeks ago I met a young guy in Delta Junction Adam McNabb, who had this
really nice old Bronco. First generation Bronco,
original paint car. He was a mechanic, he restored
vehicles, he raced vehicles. And I just thought well it'd be worthwhile to go back and see him again. So I have his number, got his name, we're driving down to Delta Junction right in the heart of Outback Alaska. (upbeat music playing) (car engine accelerating) (dogs barking) This is Adam. Hello Adam, what's happening? - Just enjoying this weather. - I happened to be driving
through here a few weeks ago, met Adam at a hamburger
stand and admired his Bronco. Which is why we've driven from Fairbanks down to here a couple hours. To see this car again
which is a really cool barn find discovery and he's
got several other Broncos. So can you tell us what's
special about this car? - [Adam] So this is a '72 302 three speed. I found this car down in Glennallen. - Which is a town how far from here? - About 160 miles, roughly. The gentlemen that I picked it up from was from what I understand
the second owner. He bought it from a school
district that used it as far as I know from when it was new to transport kids across
the small creek crossing during high water. And that's pretty much
all it ever got used for. It currently has 110,000 miles on it. - [Tom] And that's an
original paint Bronco? - [Adam] It is, yes. - [Tom] Huh, so is that a factory color? - [Adam] Yes. - [Tom] So the school
district bought this car just to bring school kids across
a creek during high water. Unbelievable. Can you pop the hood on it? - [Adam] Yeah. - [Tom] So you can see the original color all inside the fender, the firewall. So that's a 302 two barrel. So this car's never been
monkeyed with or anything it's just the original, huh? - Well the holly carburetor
is a replacement. It would have had a Motorcraft on it. But other than that everything else as far as I know is original. - [Tom] I'd say for a '72 Bronco this is probably the best original paint one I've seen in a long time, man. And having lived it's life in Alaska, that's saying a lot, man. So how did you find this car? - [Adam] Through a friend. You know, it's one of those
things that once you've got one other people see it and "Hey I know somebody that knows somebody" and that's how I came across this one. - [Tom] No kidding. - [Adam] It's been a great little rig. You know, it sat for I
think about 15 years. I threw a battery in it and filled up the float bowl with gas and it started (snaps) just like that I've been driving it ever since. - Hey, why don't you
introduce your son here? - Oh, this is Nathanial. He's my oldest boy. - And he shares your car passion? - I think so. He says that his first
vehicle's gonna be a Bronco. - Oh, man! (laughing) You can't own just one Bronco, can you? - No, not one. - So you got a couple other
ones here on the property - I do.
- And some other ones - At another property close by. - Let's take a look at some
of the other ones you've got if that's okay. So here we have another
one of Adam's Broncos. Tell us about this car. This is the oldest one you've got, right? - [Adam] Yeah, so this is '66. This actually isn't the
oldest but it is the oldest complete Bronco that I have. - '66 was the first year of
the first generation Bronco. - Correct. And so this one was built in June of '66. It's got its original 289 car three speed. From what I understand
the 289 wasn't offered until March of '66. Prior to that you could
only get a six cylinder. '66 was the only year
that I'm familiar with that they actually offered
both the 240 six cylinder as well as the 160. Or 170. - 170, yeah. - 170 six cylinder. - [Tom] And so how did you find this one? - [Adam] Actually I found
this one in the woods. Behind a guy's place. He said he had some old two
door four wheel drive rig. Told me he just wanted
somebody to haul it away. So that's what I did. It didn't have any axles
under it or anything. - Oh, just as a tub? - Yeah, sitting on a frame. So I gathered up a set of front
rear differentials for it. The engine and transmission
and everything was still in it, I'm not sure why the axles were gone. You know, it would've had
the Dana 30 front axle which nobody really cares for. - [Tom] Mm-hmm. - [Adam] It now has a Dana
44 and of course a nine inch. - [Tom] So what would be
the future of this vehicle? - [Adam] Well, we'll
probably hang on to it. I need to tear it back down
and do a bunch of body work and repaint it and what not. - [Tom] So tell us about a
vacation you took with this? - [Adam] So we flat towed
this behind our motor home from here to Southern California. We went down Highway 101, we drove this through the Chandelier Tree and there's two other Redwoods
you can drive through. One which from what I
understand has fallen over since we did that trip. And then we went to Anaheim,
went to Disney there. Sea World and went out to Glamis. And from Glamis we went to Mojave and then up into Colorado and Wyoming. So it was quite the adventure. Lots of good memories in this rig. (upbeat music) - [Tom] So what year is this one? - [Adam] This is a '72. This one lived kind of a hard life. Got hit pretty hard in the back. All the bones are solid,
there's no rust in it. - [Tom] No kidding. Is it an Alaskan vehicle? - [Adam] As far as I know, yes. That door's bent. - [Tom] Oh, okay. It's only got 76,000 miles. The floor, you know, I
don't think it's got cancer but it's got rust. - Yeah. Rocker panels are still good. - [Tom] What is that thing in
the middle, is that a heater? - [Adam] Yes, that's an electric heater. So that's one of the solutions was to have something
like this in your vehicle. And then when you plug it in at night, it heats the cab or attempts to (laughing) while your vehicle's plugged in. Because up here we run
a engine block heater as well as oil pan heaters. - So this then would heat
not only your engine block but the interior? - [Adam] Correct, yeah. - [Tom] No kidding, did it work? - [Adam] I don't think so. I think it burned a lot
of vehicles to the ground. (Tom laughing) Honestly. I've seen a lot of vehicle fires
because of stuff like that. - Now what motor's in this one? - So this is a 302 three speed. - So what's the future
of this vehicle for you? - Um, I think this is gonna be probably a good candidate for him. - Really? - I think so. - [Tom] And Nathanial would kind of learn how to work wrenches and stuff with this? - [Adam] Yes, yeah absolutely. - [Tom] Oh, that'd be neat. - [Adam] Now what I've found
is that there's a lot more '72 and newer Broncos out
there than previously. And I believe the reason for
that is the 1971 Baja 1000 was won by Ford in a Bronco. - [Tom] No kidding! And it became more
popular because of that. - [Adam] Don't know if it was '71 or '72 but Ford came out with
a Baja Bronco edition. There were 650 of them made. I've found so many different
variations amongst Broncos and I can't really
understand why they did what. You know, I mean I've got one that's got dual shock towers on all four corners. - From the factory. - From the factory. And I don't know why. Ford was a lot like a sandwich
shop back in those days. You could get whatever you wanted. - We're gonna leave Adam's home. And then drive just a mile or so away. Still in the same town to see a collection of other Broncos he's got at
a place he used to live at. So follow us. (upbeat music) (car revving) Wow this thing does turn tight, wow! I think we're making his day. And he's making my day. I've never driven a first gen Bronco. F Chaise over there. Here we are at Adam's second location. And it's just a mile
from where he lives now. And I see lots of various
vehicles littering the place here. Tell us, okay let's
stay on the Bronco theme for a little while. What's the deal with this? - So this is a '68 Bronco. This was a six cylinder three speed. The body has definitely seen better days. It's got a lot of patchwork done on it. And it was on a rig that I was driving and we pulled it off for a better body. - I just wanna point out
I've been talking about how dry the climate is here in Alaska. And look at this quarter
panel on this Bronco. Adam told me that he sandblasted this quarter panel seven years ago. So this raw metal has been sitting out in the Alaska weather for seven years and there's virtually no rust. I mean the slightest bit of surface rust that a piece of sandpaper or a brillo pad or a piece of steel wool
would take it right off. But here is actually no rust at all. No rust! So that's why cars in Alaska last so long. Just amazing, perfect example. - There's still a lot of good bones here and I think eventually
that this will go back onto a chassis and live again. But the one unique thing about this that I guess from what I understand very few of these Broncos came with was a factory bench seat. And so this has got the
pick-up style divider like on the pick-up Broncos
but clearly was a wagon. And that was because the
seats had no support frame behind them so they used
the divider to support them. - So did it have back seats? - Yeah it still had the back bench seat
- But you had to climb over or get in the tailgate. - Right. Yeah, kind of absurd. - Yeah, it wouldn't fly these days. - [Adam] Nope. - [Tom] How'd you find this one? - This one, so this came
with a '72 that I have out in the field that I picked up in an auction, an estate auction. - Oh, okay. - And I paid the total sum
of 1700 dollars for both. Also ended up with a 351
Cleveland Super Cobra Jet Engine that they were originally
gonna put in one of these. - So where's the chassis for this now? - This is at my shop in
town, the chassis is. - You've got shops all over the place. - I've got a couple, yeah. (Tom laughing) - And we saw another part's
rig back here, right? - Correct, yeah. - What year's that one? - So this is a '66. This was the third month of '66. This was a 170 six cylinder. - [Tom] Mm-hmm. - [Adam] Been pretty well abused. And so now it's just parts. - Okay, did you take the
quarter panel off it? - I did. - [Tom] But not worth
getting rid of, either. - No, there's still little things. These switches and knobs
and heater components. - And that's the Dana 33? - [Adam] Dana 30, yeah. - [Tom] Dana 30, okay. Dana 30. Which has no useful life, I guess. - [Adam] No, no. Yeah it's kind of ironic
if you're a Jeep guy the Dana 30's the one you
want because otherwise you got a Dana 20 and
if you're a Bronco guy you want the 44 because
that was an option too. - Yep. I see some other vehicles over here, FJ's. - [Adam] Yeah we've got an addiction for almost anything four wheel drive. So I've got some old FJ 40s. This one here's a 1980
and real bad cancer. - [Tom] Yeah, look at that. - [Adam] But they're a great parts rig for the older ones because
they've got disc brakes in the front, they've got a
more modern windshield wiper - Right here, yeah.
- [Adam] Assembly instead of the old style. - So is that the foam
you're talking about? - [Adam] Yes, that's the foam. - And that's the cause of this. - [Adam] That's why they rot. - Man, take a look at this over here. So people in Alaska do this
so the cars heat up better in the wintertime, but all
it does is contain moisture and just rots the cars out. - [Adam] Just turns them to garbage. - So can you imagine, look
at the decals still on here, if that hadn't been done what
a nice vehicle this could be. - [Adam] Oh, it'd be a beautiful rig. - [Tom] Man, so this is
just a parts vehicle. - [Adam] Yep. - [Tom] Are those projects? - These are projects, rebuilders, or, you know, send them down the road. One of the two, you know? This one here is a really
nice, all original '71. Hasn't been cut, has
some rust, not horrible. Has the factory original PTO winch and still has the hub caps on it. - [Tom] So that's a factory winch. - That's a factory PTO drive Toyota winch. - That was put on in Japan. - Yep. - Wow. No drive chain in there? - [Adam] No. - [Tom] Isn't Chevy a popular
swap into one of these? - [Adam] Chevy is, and
if I was gonna do one I would put an LS motor in it. - [Tom] What's the horsepower
on something like that? - [Adam] Factory, I have no idea. - So 84,000 miles. You remember how you found this one? - [Adam] Yeah, I went to the video store to get a video and I was driving my '71 that I've now turned into a crew cab. And guy pulls in behind me says "Hey, I got three of them
things, you want one?" (Tom laughing) And so I went down and I think I gave him 800
dollars for all three of them. - What a deal. So was that that one and this one? - [Adam] No, it was another
- Okay. one that I've gotten rid of since. I got my 800 dollars back. - [Tom] And one more over here, huh? And this is another project? - [Adam] Yep. And this one is a '73. The only difference is it's
got an enclosed gas cap. So it's got a fuel door on it. - So I can see it
doesn't have that exposed wiper motor over here. - Correct, yeah so
they've got a goofy little motor up here in the top which this one's been stripped out which lots of them are
because they always fail. - [Tom] Yep. - And so it's got the motor on one side and then the other side has
got a cable going to it. And those cable's always fail. And so that's why that's a
more desirable windshield because it's got a mechanical
linkage like a modern vehicle. - So your preference of
a Toyota over a Ford? - These are tough as nails. And these will take 500 horse
to the stock drive train. - [Tom] Really? - [Adam] Yeah we've put
383 Strokers in them that were all strung out and can't blow them up. But a Ford won't quite handle that. Off-road with big tires
and lots of horsepower, this is the vehicle to have. They'll handle and
enormous amount of abuse. A daily driver, the Bronco. The Bronco's the peach - So it's good to have both of them. - Well, that's what I tell my wife. (laughing) So we've got the Bronco out in the field if you wanna see it. - Is it like that or that? - [Adam] It's like the blue one. - Okay. You wanna go out there? - [Adam] It's really cherry. - Oh really? Cherry and it's in the
field, what are you doing? - Well it's not, the motor's not in it. It's a Bronco, it's a '72 Sport. - [Tom] It looks pretty
complete from here. - [Adam] Yeah, it is. Yeah it's in pretty decent shape. It's got that standard rust
on the seam in the floor. - Right where the two angles? - Yep, yep. That's an easy fix. - [Tom] Oh, that's a pretty nice one. - [Adam] Yeah. - [Tom] So '72? - [Adam] '72 and that's a factory Sport. - And what did this Sport have? - Trim, I think. They had a different grill
bezel, a chrome package, and of course the 302 but you
could get that in any of them. I think that's the only
difference is the trim. - So this is the second one
I've seen from Fort Greely. - Yep. So interestingly enough the Air
Force bought a pile of these and so you'll see quite a few of these in Alaska that are blue, like a flat blue. That are what do they call it
"Battleship Blue" or whatever? And that's from the Air Force. The Air Force owned a pile of them. - [Tom] So that would
be a 302 three speed? - [Adam] Yeah so the
automatic wasn't available until '73 or '74. - So what's the plan for this? - [Adam] Restoration. - This looks like one of
the nicest ones I've seen. - [Adam] Yeah, it's in really good shape. Oddly enough, you know everybody talks about the orange Broncos. Ford never made an orange Bronco. So when you look at the paint
codes it's called coral. Yeah, cause I actually
went to a paint shop to buy paint for one and I
said "Oh I want Bronco orange." And they said "Well
there's, what do you mean? "Bronco orange for a '72." Well it turns out, I came
back and I got the paint code. I was going through the
list and they're coral. And so then I started looking
all the different years and they never made an orange Bronco. - So would you consider selling these? - Yeah, absolutely. I don't know as far as
price wise what I would be willing to get rid of them for. They're becoming more and
more difficult to find. And they're becoming
more and more popular. - This would be a good one to strip down and just do it over with the stock, with the hub caps everything
would be pretty good, wow. - [Adam] Yeah. Absolutely. - Very nice. Well sir, I really appreciate
you spending time with us. - Thanks for coming. - And Nathanial, you're
an impressive guy, man. Nice to meet you. And maybe if I come up in a couple years you could show me what
you've been building. - [Adam] There you go.
- Maybe. - Alright, well thank you. So if you find yourself
in Alaska on a vacation... The last frontier, the 49th state, I encourage you to get to the
back roads, the dirt roads, and keep your eyes peeled behind houses because so many houses have interesting vehicles parked behind them. Just don't leave Fig Newtons in your car. Happy hunting. - So I bought this from pawn shop in '98. Our first kid was on the way and I thought "Man, these would be really cool "if they made them in a four door." And so I'm out in my shop
and I cut the thing in half and I wheel out the back half of it. And my wife goes "Oh my
gosh, what'd you do?" And I said "Well, they made
it wrong so I'm fixing it." - [Tom] And what kind of drive train? - [Adam] So this is
gonna have a 4BTA Cummins with a NV-4500 transmission. - [Tom] That's cool stuff, man. Huh.
