First off this week, a correction.
I received a text May 4 from Tim Lloyd, a follower of this column from the very beginning who reads even the small print in photo cutlines.
“How many people have told you the (as you labeled) Jaguar is actually a 1936 Ford?”
Oh no. I knew better than to doubt this man’s knowledge of cars. Surely I hadn’t made that big of a mistake. I mean, how can you trust a car columnist who calls a Ford a Jaguar?
A Google image search for “1936 Ford” confirmed the shiny black convertible pictured in a recent My Favorite Ride above the caption, “A classic Jaguar, year unknown, parked at a Martinsville car show on a Thursday in April,” is 1936 Ford.
Since Lloyd was the only one to point out the error, the rest of you either don’t read captions, wanted to spare my feelings or can’t tell a British luxury car from a Detroit-born classic.
Next up, a 1974 Ford Bronco
Speaking of old Fords, this week’s column is about Liz Irwin’s 1974 Ford Bronco. It’s made for fair-weather driving since it’s got no top, windows or doors.
I found out about the Bloomington woman’s vehicle when I called with questions for a news story I was writing. A tall utility pole with attachments had been erected along Ind. 446, marring the view of Lake Monroe from Scenic View restaurant.
Irwin, a Duke Energy spokeswoman, told me she was not only familiar with the restaurant and the view but had driven to the lakeside dining spot in her 1974 Ford Bronco for brunch.
“Wait, you have a ’74 Bronco?” I asked.
The conversation quickly switched from Duke Energy’s plan to relocate the pole to when I could check out her 52-year-old Bronco. Our plan to drive it to the Scenic View for photos was thwarted by cold weather.
As my deadline for this week’s column neared, Irwin and I decided to try again. But the Bronco’s battery was dead. It had developed a gas leak. And the Scenic View wasn’t open.
So Irwin pushed the old Ford she calls “American Beauty” out of the garage and I went to her house to take some photos.
After more than 25 years, it takes a lot more than cold gray days and a dead battery to divert My Favorite Ride off course.
Irwin, mother to four kids aged 16 to 30, has fond memories from riding around a Montana buffalo ranch in a 4-wheel-drive Bronco when she was in her 20s. Over the years she harbored a desire to own one.
In 2016, she saw the Bronco she had been seeking for sale on Craigslist. She and a friend drove there, arranged the purchase and returned later with a trailer to haul the Bronco to Bloomington.
It has a hard top that can be attached, but Irwin prefers a snap-on soft cover that goes over the driver and passenger seats. “I like to see the sky,” she said. She had a roll cage installed for safety.
The year after she got the Ford she drove it a few hundred miles to a big Bronco show in Tennessee, arriving to find almost everyone else had hauled their vehicle on trailers. “You drove this down here?” people asked.
Irwin likes to drive hers, despite the possibility of break downs. When a hose busted, she cut a new one, attached a metal clip and installed it herself. When a connector rod pulled out and she couldn’t shift out of first gear, she used a zip tie for a temporary fix that lasted weeks. “Sometimes,” she said, “when you drive an old vehicle you make do with repairs.”
When the Bronco needed throw-out bearings, a clutch and U-joints, she helped her mechanic pull the engine and move the transmission.
Once the gas leak is repaired, Irwin has authentic seat covers to prepare the Bronco for summertime driving.
She’s thankful to the man who agreed to sell her the Bronco. He took some flak from the previous owner “who told him he couldn’t believe he sold it to a girl,” Irwin laughed.
Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: My Favorite Ride | Woman appreciates seeing the sky driving 1974 Bronco
Reporting by Laura Lane, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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