Doing the Devil’s Work

A lot of people hate this truck. That’s not an overstatement. They’ve skipped right past the dislike phase and went straight for one of the strongest four-letter words in the English language.

ALONE TIME SPENT IN THE GARAGE WAS PLENTIFUL THROUGHOUT THE NEXT FEW YEARS. MIKE SLAVED AWAY, FINISHED THE CHASSIS AND STARTED ON SHEET METAL WORK.”

Now you might be wondering how could anyone have such a singular feeling of blatant disgust for this Bronco? Well, do understand that most of the ill will is being generated by a segment of traditional 4×4/off-road extremists who despise any truck with suspension measurements that dip below stock ride height. What positive purpose could a truck serve if it can’t slosh around in mud pits or hit whoops at 70 mph? None whatsoever according to them, and that’s pretty much the crux of their entire argument. Oh, and hacking up one of their regarded classics like this here ’69 Bronco and slamming it to the ground ranks right up there with forgetting to turn your cell phone off in church only to have the Slayer ringtone you just downloaded go off and interrupt the communion line. Totally blasphemous, right?

Mike Sturgill has heard every snide remark and slanderous comment you could think of regarding the desecration of the truck in question, but the verbal sticks and stones never slowed his proverbial roll. Mike responded to the negativity with one simple statement, “I just wanted to do a build that nobody had done before.” So on went the show, and anything any naysayer had to say was deflected indefinitely.

Now, to get the truck looking anything like it does today took about six years, the first year or so being the toughest. Mike found the truck for sale online in Maryland, and worked out a deal with the owner. He ended up getting something other than he had bargained for. “I paid to have the Bronco shipped to me, an when it arrived, I realized that the four photos I saw online had been carefully crafted to hide how bad the condition actually was. The truck was literally held on to the frame with a single C-clamp. I’m still not sure how it didn’t fall off the body in transit.” So Mike started researching suspension design, made a few calls to some of the best minds in the game, and began fabricating a new platform from scratch.

Alone time spent in the garage was plentiful throughout the next few years. Mike slaved away, finished the chassis and started on sheet metal work. He replaced more than 75% of the body panels by the time he was finished. In between all of that, he was taking the truck to shows, which forced him to make progress in awkward, half-finished stages. He finally decided to lock it up until it was drivable, and once he reached that goal, it was nothing but steady mashing towards the finish line.

To reach the end of the line, however, Mike needed a paint and body guy to pick up where he had to leave off. Enter Matt Lawrence. The two devised a plan throughout the course of a weekend while at a show, and as soon as Sunday afternoon rolled around, the Bronco was on its way to Matt’s place for a major spit shine. Mike told us, “Between the months of fall and spring, Matt focused on getting all the panels to fit perfectly and straightening the body. I would stop by every now and then to keep his supply of parts full. Once April arrived and show season began, Matt picked me up for Lay’d out at the Park, without me having even seen the absolute finished build. I don’t have the kind of patience it takes to get all the details right like he did. I debuted the truck successfully that weekend.”

There had been a number of people patiently waiting to see this Bronco completed. Seeing it displayed in its various stages throughout the years revealed hints as to what the final picture would look like, and it exceeded the expectations of many of its fans.

The running tally of those who love what Mike has done with this Bronco vastly outnumber those who would like to stone the truck using jagged pieces of broken concrete with inlaid rebar before torching it to the ground like it’s the beginning of some kind of holy war. Hey, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion though, and if they feel passionately enough about it, they’ll let their voice be heard in person or on Facebook (since those behind keyboards tend to holler the loudest and the longest, right?) Hate on, haters. ST

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TRUCK SPECS

OWNER

Mike Sturgill
1969 Ford Bronco
Cincinnati, Ohio Aftermath

ENGINE/TRANS

• 2000 Ford Ranger 2.5L engine
• 1997 Ford Ranger header
• 2000 Ford Ranger auto transmission
• Ford Explorer rearend with 4.10:1 gears

SUSPENSION

• Custom full frame and front suspension
• HM Engineering uniballs for all spindle connections
• Rear triangulated 4-link
• Scratch-built control arms
• Toyota drop spindles
• Rancho RS5000 shocks
• Viair compressors
• Slam Specialties RE7 airbags
• Two 5-gallon air tanks
• Front and rear disc brakes

WHEELS & TIRES

• 22×9 Boyd Coddington C7S
• 255/30ZR22 Michelin Pilot Sport tires

BODY & PAINT

• Shaved original gas fillers, new one made using Dodge Dakota gas door
• Custom late-’60s Ford F-100 front bumper sectioned 2 inches vertically and 14 inches from width
• New original or replacement panels
• 1967 F-100 tailgate sectioned 9 inches per side
• Roll pan made from original Bronco tailgate
• Bodyline continued from doors to the rear of truck
• PPG Envirobase Ipanema Brown and Wimbledon White paint

INTERIOR

• Shops: Wanda’s Trim Shop, Line-X of Newark
• ’60s Mustang bucket seats recovered in tan vinyl and plaid
• Shaved original dash, vinyl wrapped dash pad
• SpeedHut gauges
• Door panels wrapped in tan vinyl and plaid
• Lokar shifter
• Floor covered in Line-X matched to 2013 Dodge Viper Carmel interior color

Special Thanks From Owner: Huge thanks to my wife Abby for letting me spend years working in the garage. Big thanks to Broncograveyard.com for support and excellent products and to Matt Lawrence for bringing the project together. Finally, thanks to all my friends who helped along the way when two hands just weren’t enough.

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