Gary's 1973 Baja Bronco Restoration

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After spending some time taking stock I began, at the suggestion of our Shop Foredog, Ancho, in the interior of the Bronco. Old carpet and flooring, seats and rollbar were removed, and soon we found out why we'd been advised to start inside....

Ancho found that a critter of some sort had lived in the heater box for a while. Most of the nest was covered in dog food that had been "squirrelled" away in there. As soon as the heater box was removed, Ancho announced he'd take the day off. Go figure.

Off came the front clip and we began to find some gems. First off, the radiator core support had been pushed forward via some tubular braces in order to make room for the A/C condensor. Kind of a crude move, but I guess it got the job done. Since A/C is in the works for this truck, we took note of how NOT to do it. Not only did this bow the core support, it looked pretty hokey, causing the grill to push out.

In addition to the afforementioned, the Baja also showed signs of being hit pretty heavily on the right front - note the bend in the lower core support rail.

...and also the right apron! Note buckles all the way to airbox. We'd plan on replacing both items, but I'm not a fan of reproduction core supports, so I immediately put out feelers for a really nice original '73-75 Core support - not the easiest part to find!

While we weren't expecting to find the damage to the front inner structire, we were very pleasantly surprised by how clean the door posts were. Absolutely no rust and original paint showing no previous attempts at repairs..

With the interior, front clip, doors, and trim removed, we dropped the Baja off at the frame shop to check the tub, frame, and pull the front right corner into shape as needed. Stay tuned for more!