Ford Hints At Bronco Rescue Patrol Concept

Sure, Doug Demuro has reviewed the Ford Bronco, but the general public still won’t be able to get their hands on one for quite a while. In an effort to get more customers to put their name down for a vehicle, the Blue Oval has teased a number of concepts catering to a specific motoring niche. The most recent Instagram effort shows the original offroader wearing specialist rescue patrol equipment.

While the caption reads just like any automaker’s clever marketing shtick, there’s more than meets the eye. After a brief investigation, the last bit of the caption reading “might as well have the best,” got us thinking. Sure, it could just be Ford being cute, but it’s actually the official catchphrase for Filson, a renowned manufacturer of outdoor goods – fitting, as this is a get-anywhere rescue vehicle we’re looking at.

Earlier this year Filson did a brief show and tell on its blog about the Bronco’s all-terrain accolades. Essentially, the U.S. Forest Service put its trust in the offroader to cover the 193 million acres of wildland they patrolled. Even from the factory, its credentials could blow any other vehicle out of the water; it had the ground clearance, stability, and the four-wheel-drive poise to handle just about anything in its path. 

Regardless, what makes the new version so special is Ford’s effort to keep the mystique of the original. While the current brute certainly isn’t as much of a trailblazer as the first – which dominated the Baja 1,000 and set the desert racing scene on fire – the spirit still remains. Thankfully, this isn’t an exercise in getting the band back together for an ungainly tribute album.

With the recent announcement of the Bronco Wild Fund, we’d wager this concept could see the light of day very soon. Semantics aside, it’s refreshing to see an automaker committed to the future with vehicles like the Mustang Mach-E, but also carrying a soft spot for the past.