Ted Ryan

Time to raise a #DavesCarIDService toast to the 60th birthday of an all-time American classic: The Ford Bronco, which was first introduced to the public on August 10, 1965. FoMoCo was on a heater in the mid-60s; first with Mustang in April 1964, then the Bronco in 1965. Not to mention the Shelby Cobra, and dethroning Ferrari at Lemans in 1966 with the mighty GT40s. Like the Mustang, the concept was proposed by Donald Frey, and championed by Lee Iacocca. And like the Mustang it was an instant hit, sparking a mania at Ford showrooms. But unlike the Mustang, which initially was a rebodied Ford Falcon, the Bronco was legitimately all-new. Engineer Paul Axlerad designed its unique 4 wheel drive chassis layout, which shared no major components with any other Ford Motor Company vehicle. A lot of the Bronco's success owed to its styling; boxy, compact, rugged, outdoorsy, manly... but yet... dare I say cute? The man responsible for designing that first Bronco was McKinley Thompson (2), who joined Ford in 1956 as their first black designer. In (3), Thompson's first Bronco concept drawing from August 1963. Those first generation 1966-77 Broncos remain among Ford's most beloved vehicles - rivaled only by the Mustang, Model T, Model A, and 1932 V8. Subsequent generation Broncos gained some unfortunate bloat and unfortunate low-speed police chase notoriety, but I'm quite fond of retro remake. Paul Wraith headed that restyling which harkens back to McKinley Thompson's original. My only gripe is that nearly all of the ones I see are 4 door. C'mon, auto buying public! Those 2-door Broncos are where it's at!

"There is no thing we can do that is more American than getting in a car and striking out across country." -William Least Heat-Moon Today #DavesCarIDService salutes the first person ever to have that most American of notions, the delightfully named Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, who struck out from San Francisco on May 23, 1903 in a 1903 Winton 20 hp with the goal of reaching New York City. He was 31 years old, with virtually no driving experience and no maps. Just a lot of determination and a fairly decent bankroll to blow on his seeming folly. We also celebrate his road trip companions: 20 year old Sewell Crocker, with whom he shared driving duties, and Bud the Bulldog, a canine good luck mascot he bought for $15 in Idaho along the way. Spoiler alert: battered and bruised, they successfully completed the journey 63 days later.