The 2023 Ford Bronco Heritage edition is delightfully retro

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Ford of America has released a line of Bronco Heritage editions that tip their hat to the original 1966 model with retro-inspired colour schemes. 

Every Bronco Heritage edition features two-tone paintwork with Oxford White roof and other accents – and only 1966 examples will be built to commemorate the first year of sales. 

Those near 2000 units will be split among two- and four-door full size Broncos, as well as Bronco Sport models. There are no plans to offer a Bronco Raptor Heritage edition for now. 

In North America Bronco Sport Heritage editions are available now, with the examples of the ‘big Bronco’ to be available by the end of 2022. 

The Bronco Sport is a midsize SUV based on Ford’s C2 passenger-car platform that also underpins the Australian-market Escape, while the ‘big Bronco’ runs on the same T6.2 body-on-frame architecture as the new Ranger ute.

The two SUVs are mechanically unrelated but share Bronco branding in the US market.

Even though a large amount of Bronco’s development and evaluation was conducted in Australia, there are still no immediate plans to introduce the reimagined 4X4 here. Part of this is down to the success of Ford’s Everest – a rival for Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Isuzu MU-X.

What extra kit does the Bronco Heritage edition get?

Outside the changes are obvious, but the Heritage Edition is more than just tinsel. The retro 17-inch alloy wheels are painted to match but are wrapped in 35-inch BF Goodrich all-terrain tyres.

These tyres are part of the standard ‘Sasquatch’ pack that also adds fender flares hiding a 50mm wider track, a steel bumper with recovery points, fog lights, Bilstein position-sensitive off-road dampers as well as front and rear locking differentials. 

The Bronco Heritage Limited swaps cloth upholstery for a mix of red vinyl and leather and gets different alloy wheels with ‘dog dish’ centres. 

Heritage Limited cars also get the ‘Badlands’ pack, swapping the 2.3-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder for a 231kW/542Nm 2.7-litre twin-turbo petrol V6, 10-speed automatic, and extra metal ‘Bronco’ script on the exterior.

Bronco Sport also gets the Heritage treatment

Although a new addition based on Ford’s C2 passenger car platform – shared with Escape and Focus – the Bronco Sport also gets some Heritage off-road magic. 

Like the big Bronco, the Sport gets the Oxford White two-tone exterior treatment with heritage inspired paint colours including ‘Yellowstone Metallic’ and ‘Robin’s Egg Blue’ and 17-inch alloy wheels. Inside the upholstery is Clotch with colour-matched accents.

Packing a 135kW 1.5-litre turbo-petrol three-cylinder, the Bronco Sport Heritage edition has larger diameter anti-roll bars and dampers as part of the ‘Big Bend’ options pack.

Meanwhile the Heritage Limited scores a bigger 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder as well as a rear electronically-controlled limited-slip differential linked to off-road drive modes and 29-inch all-terrain tyres. 

The Bronco Heritage range is available to order in North America now, but is unlikely to come to Australia.