Our next series of articles will look at the so-called Resto-mod cars. It stands for restoration + modern/parts/technology, i.e. when the body and/or parts of an old car are completely restored. The vehicle is then modified using modern parts and technology. 

This Ford Bronco, for example, is being turbocharged under the old guise by the American company Gateway.

The recipe is this: take your Bronco, take it apart, dismantle it. Then, using modern parts, they thoroughly rebuild it to the customer’s specific requirements. Gateway will put in a Roush-tuned Ford 5.0 v8 engine. It can be ordered with a ten-speed automatic transmission on custom request. 460 horsepower provides the torque.  And with the optional supercharger, a top speed of 194 km/h can be achieved in 10 seconds.

The Gateway is located not far from St.Louise, Missouri, and has been in business for a few years. Prices start at around one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but auctions have been held for up to six hundred thousand dollars. The buyer gets a five-year warranty and a guarantee that the car will be ready in two months.

By the way, there is one pop culture event worth noting about Ford Bronco in general.

On Friday afternoon, June 17, 1994, a car chase began on the Los Angeles freeway.

The vehicle being chased was a white 1993 Ford Bronco. The vehicle was pursued by a horde of white and black police cars. The TV networks broadcast the incident from a helicopter. As many as ninety million viewers watched what exactly was happening live.

Former American football player and actor O.J. Simpson was on the run from authorities suspected of murdering his wife and her lover.

No car in modern history has ever received so much publicity, or rather negative publicity.

After the incident, O.J.’s teammate (Al Cowlings), who owned the car, was offered seventy-five thousand dollars if he would sell the vehicle. That was an insane amount of money in the nineties.

In the end, Cowlings backed out of the deal because a bizarre tour was planned for interested parties.  They were going to drive it where the chase happened. And at the end, they would have visited the grave of Nicole Simpson.

Three people ended up buying the car as an investment. One of them was Mike Gilbert, O.J.’s ex-girlfriend. The total came to seventy-five thousand dollars. But over the years they also offered $275,000 for the vehicle.

 “After the limousine in which JFK was shot, it’s the second most sought-after car in American history,” Gilbert said.

Adam Gubán