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Full article @ Car and Driver: https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a33359649/2021-ford-bronco-trim-names-secrets/
Secrets behind the 2021 Ford Bronco's Trim Names
The origins of Big Bend, Badlands, Sasquatch, Wildtrak, and more.
Prince wanted to party like it's 1999 for just one night. Since the debut of the 2021 Ford Bronco, we've been partying like it's 1996 for an entire week. Remember 1996? Macarena owned the year's Billboard chart (FYI, that song does not mean what you think it means), and Tupac, charting at 17, asked us "How do you want it?"
If "it" is the Bronco, turns out a bunch of us want it just like Ford gave it to us. Well, except for the automatic-only Sasquatch package, but Ford says it's receptive to our lamentations on that matter.
A week of stories hasn't been enough to reveal all of the Bronco's secrets, though. A slew of insider Bronco terms have been resurrected for the new model, and a few more terms are still sitting in Ford's vault. Here's some Bronco lingo that has been resurrected with the new model.
Big Bend: The United States counts 419 national parks. Ford chose two of them for Bronco trim names: Badlands, which is the Wrangler Rubicon competitor, and Big Bend, the trim just above the base Bronco. The latter moniker has a history. Ford sent one of the earliest production Broncos to Carroll Shelby's California workshop in 1967, the U14 Sports Utility model hanging in SoCal long enough to get a new paint job and a 289-cubic-inch V-8. Shelby shipped the Bronco to a ranch he co-owned in Alpine, Texas, about 70 miles from Big Bend National Park, and the truck was occasionally serviced at Big Bend Ford. Said to be the oldest surviving Bronco, it sits on display at Gateway Bronco in Missouri and is referred to as the "First Bronco."
Big Oly and the Baja Driving Mode: Everyone knows a Bronco won the Baja 1000 in 1969. That one was a 4WD model driven by Larry Minor and Rod Hall. The Bronco won the Baja in 1971 and 1972 races, using a model built by racing driver Bill Stroppe's shop. That tube-framed truck was named it Big Oly to promote the truck's sponsor, Olympia Brewing Company. Replicas built on the modern Bronco are certain to come in 3, 2 . . . oh, look, Saleen already announced one.
But the new Bronco doesn't hang its Baja credentials—and its Baja driving mode for desert driving—on those two trophies alone. The coda to Todd Zuercher's book Ford Bronco: A History of Ford’s Legendary 4x4 is 20 pages of Bronco off-road racing exploits in Baja and elsewhere, covering five Bronco generations over more than 50 years. The Bronco didn't just win in Baja, it never left Baja.
Sasquatch: Jeep trolled the Bronco's launch by teasing a Hemi-powered Wrangler, but Ford's Sasquatch package perma-trolls Auburn Hills. Jeep and Sasquatch have been in an informal relationship for ages, with Wrangler forums mentioning unofficial, dealer-created Sasquatch and Big Foot packages as far back as 2007. There are Sasquatch Jeep tours and Bigfoot Jeep rentals, Sasquatch Easter eggs on Jeeps, and Etsy and Pinterest are full of proto-human Jeep-themed décor. Alas, Jeep didn't put a ring on it, so now Sasquatch belongs to Ford as the name of a Bronco off-roading package that comes with a lift and higher fender flares, 17-inch beadlock-compatible wheels wearing massive 35-inch mud-terrain tires, locking front and rear axles, Bilstein shocks, and a shorter final drive.
Wildtrak: This one's more context than secret. As with any OEM, Ford likes to repurpose popular trim names. The 1958 Edsel Ranger car turned into a Ranger trim package before becoming the Ranger pickup. Ford coined the Explorer Special package for the F-100 pickup in 1968, expanded it to the Ranchero, Bronco, and Bronco II, then transferred the package name to the Explorer SUV.
Ford repatriated the Wildtrak name for the 2021 Bronco, having had a Ranger Wildtrak on sale in places like the Philippines and Australia since 2009. Our Bronco Wildtrak is a dune runner bulked up with the Sasquatch package. The 2009 Ranger Wildtrak was designed to "cater to the automotive demands of urban professionals who become urban warriors on weekends." More than a decade later, the pickup serves the same crowd. When you see a pristine, jacked-up Ranger Wildtrak parked in front of a chic Bondi Beach café instead of grinding it out in the Outback, now you know why.
Secrets behind the 2021 Ford Bronco's Trim Names
The origins of Big Bend, Badlands, Sasquatch, Wildtrak, and more.
Prince wanted to party like it's 1999 for just one night. Since the debut of the 2021 Ford Bronco, we've been partying like it's 1996 for an entire week. Remember 1996? Macarena owned the year's Billboard chart (FYI, that song does not mean what you think it means), and Tupac, charting at 17, asked us "How do you want it?"
If "it" is the Bronco, turns out a bunch of us want it just like Ford gave it to us. Well, except for the automatic-only Sasquatch package, but Ford says it's receptive to our lamentations on that matter.
A week of stories hasn't been enough to reveal all of the Bronco's secrets, though. A slew of insider Bronco terms have been resurrected for the new model, and a few more terms are still sitting in Ford's vault. Here's some Bronco lingo that has been resurrected with the new model.
Big Bend: The United States counts 419 national parks. Ford chose two of them for Bronco trim names: Badlands, which is the Wrangler Rubicon competitor, and Big Bend, the trim just above the base Bronco. The latter moniker has a history. Ford sent one of the earliest production Broncos to Carroll Shelby's California workshop in 1967, the U14 Sports Utility model hanging in SoCal long enough to get a new paint job and a 289-cubic-inch V-8. Shelby shipped the Bronco to a ranch he co-owned in Alpine, Texas, about 70 miles from Big Bend National Park, and the truck was occasionally serviced at Big Bend Ford. Said to be the oldest surviving Bronco, it sits on display at Gateway Bronco in Missouri and is referred to as the "First Bronco."
Big Oly and the Baja Driving Mode: Everyone knows a Bronco won the Baja 1000 in 1969. That one was a 4WD model driven by Larry Minor and Rod Hall. The Bronco won the Baja in 1971 and 1972 races, using a model built by racing driver Bill Stroppe's shop. That tube-framed truck was named it Big Oly to promote the truck's sponsor, Olympia Brewing Company. Replicas built on the modern Bronco are certain to come in 3, 2 . . . oh, look, Saleen already announced one.
But the new Bronco doesn't hang its Baja credentials—and its Baja driving mode for desert driving—on those two trophies alone. The coda to Todd Zuercher's book Ford Bronco: A History of Ford’s Legendary 4x4 is 20 pages of Bronco off-road racing exploits in Baja and elsewhere, covering five Bronco generations over more than 50 years. The Bronco didn't just win in Baja, it never left Baja.
Sasquatch: Jeep trolled the Bronco's launch by teasing a Hemi-powered Wrangler, but Ford's Sasquatch package perma-trolls Auburn Hills. Jeep and Sasquatch have been in an informal relationship for ages, with Wrangler forums mentioning unofficial, dealer-created Sasquatch and Big Foot packages as far back as 2007. There are Sasquatch Jeep tours and Bigfoot Jeep rentals, Sasquatch Easter eggs on Jeeps, and Etsy and Pinterest are full of proto-human Jeep-themed décor. Alas, Jeep didn't put a ring on it, so now Sasquatch belongs to Ford as the name of a Bronco off-roading package that comes with a lift and higher fender flares, 17-inch beadlock-compatible wheels wearing massive 35-inch mud-terrain tires, locking front and rear axles, Bilstein shocks, and a shorter final drive.
Wildtrak: This one's more context than secret. As with any OEM, Ford likes to repurpose popular trim names. The 1958 Edsel Ranger car turned into a Ranger trim package before becoming the Ranger pickup. Ford coined the Explorer Special package for the F-100 pickup in 1968, expanded it to the Ranchero, Bronco, and Bronco II, then transferred the package name to the Explorer SUV.
Ford repatriated the Wildtrak name for the 2021 Bronco, having had a Ranger Wildtrak on sale in places like the Philippines and Australia since 2009. Our Bronco Wildtrak is a dune runner bulked up with the Sasquatch package. The 2009 Ranger Wildtrak was designed to "cater to the automotive demands of urban professionals who become urban warriors on weekends." More than a decade later, the pickup serves the same crowd. When you see a pristine, jacked-up Ranger Wildtrak parked in front of a chic Bondi Beach café instead of grinding it out in the Outback, now you know why.
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