Erin-cool topic for a paper-
So, in no particular order but hopefully able to follow-
There is a portion of the Early Bronco following which are "legacy owners"- either remember their Dad's having one when they were a kid, or another significant influence from back in the day having one"- there are a few on here who were fortunate enough to buy theirs new!!- I think as time has progressed and the popularity has increased there is a real shift away from this "core group" to the newer, Hey those are cool, I would like to have one group-thus to your topic:
Design, function, ability to work on(probably many will never realize or attempt this!!) and lastly the point I want to expand on is word of mouth cool factor which turns out to be true.
The rise of the internet has been mentioned but not expanded on-
Before Classic broncos dot com, back in the '90's when email lists were the rage and super cool to be a part of, there was a site called Bronco dot com. They had an email list you could subscribe to which sent out real time email messages or you could sign up for "digest" which gave you the major traffic emails of the day in one email. There are folks on here that can give you the exact origin of bronco. com and the email list ebml(early bronco mailing list) if you are curious about the history.
Why is this noteworthy? I can't tell you how many times in the late 90's or early 2000's I would attend an event which was mentioned on the "list" and have people start conversations about "so and so's bronco is modified as ....... or I know someone who has restored their old bronco .......... but they are not on line. I will tell them about this event and get them to come next time. The event attendance grew as the number of folks on the internet grew and by old fashion word of mouth.
I made a post to someone on here a while back about his actions reminded me of junior high, when you found out something that the cool kids were into and could not wait to tell it so you told everybody to be cool like the cool kids. To a certain degree, our Early Broncos are in that category- popularity by who all has one and the various restored/modified rigs are cool- I want one to after seeing the various examples....
Now, specifically, WHY- novelty comes to mind- not the norm, not available,any more, has to be built/restored by someone - a blank canvas to make your own, stock to modified is cool, how modified can it be and still "be" a bronco?
I have read the comments about "tough, heavy duty, durable etc." to a degree these are accurate. I do have many memories of finding the limits to stock, uncut, unlifted and open differentials in the late 70's which made me start thinking about how to modify a bronco to make it "better". The ability to do those modifications is certainly a reason imo for the bronco's popularity. A new generation or group just finding out how easy it is to "increase a bronco's abilities" to take you further/on more challenging trails/ go further out off the beaten path etc.
One could also add, the Early Bronco owner group in this equation- many cool people have been met, gotten to be friends, exchanged info etc. over the years which again, lends itself by word of mouth- "hey those early bronco owners are really cool-good crew to hang out with". I can remember again, back in the day, wrapping up events and the owner of the camp/park or support personnel saying, "you old bronco guys come back next year, we had no problems with your group"
The vendors in our early bronco world play a real role in the popularity especially for those owners who actually want to restore/modify their rigs-not just buy one done. We are fortunate to have good aftermarket support for products and knowledge which most are happy to pass on to customers to make the work go smoother on the broncos.
Cutting edgemodifications?- yes, I think so- late model supercharged Coyote V8's and 6speed trans. are now showing up in some early bronco restorations. As was the case with the 50's F100s, if you can imagine a drivetrain being put in a platform, early broncos have their share of interesting combinations- from flatheads, to diesels to the above mentioned latest gen. Ford engines- and yes, over the years some bow ties have made their way into early broncos, much to the disdain of some and thats cool to others.
In conclusion, hope some of this made sense and by all means share your finished product
Good luck