Originally Posted by scalladaballa

I bought my '86 Bronco about a year ago for $2600 in Oregon. Engine was mechanically sound. (Water pump needed replacing but not a hard job). A/C was said to need charging. It's practically toast. How long did the PO use it with low R-12/R-134a?? IDK. I couldn't even get an answer to my question of whether it was ever converted to 134a from the original R-12. So I'm looking at a whole new AC system.

Big things that makes an older vehicle worth it. Engine mechanically sound? Rust around engine compartment, wiring harness condition, fuse panel looks in good condition, rust on frame (and how much), rust on body (and how much), interior condition (not a deal breaker for me but a good indication of PO's care of the vehicle).

These vehicles may be within your budget but how much time are you going to spend fixing issues that you may or may not have been told about. Unless this was going to be a project restoration, in which case you'd be redoing everything anyway so who cares. These are high prices for the condition. If these were good deals, they'd be sold by now. I'm with previous opinions here of keep looking.

Originally Posted by andym

How far are you willing to travel? There are a lot of places where you can pick up a rust free Bronco. Try SearchTempest: Search all of Craigslist nationwide & more they are a craigslist search engine.

Originally Posted by Larossho

How much have you guys invested in your Broncos?
Like I said I only have a budget of roughly 3.6 to 4K

Originally Posted by 1985 Bronco

Paid 2300 for my 85 with a 460 swapped in.

Paid 1500 for my extremely rusty 1995 four door bronco.

Rust free, mechanically sound broncos sell for 4-5K in MN.

Yay 800 posts!

Originally Posted by hole

There are definitely places where common sense pricing on trucks occurs, but obviously not in your part of Texas and certainly not in SoCal. I looked for well over a year for my 91. Nothing but worn out trucks in the $3-5k range for the most part, and if a good rig is actually reasonably priced it's sold right away. I consider myself lucky when I found mine, I saw the ad just after it was posted and I was the first person to respond. I managed to get the truck for 700 less than the 3k that he was asking and by the time I had gotten home (1 hour) he sent me two texts complaining about accepting my offer, stating two guys had called and both wanted the rig for Full price, sight un-seen. Not 100% sure I believed him, but it did make me chuckle