What is the difference between the Bronco roadster, half cab and wagon?

Ford launched the Bronco for 1966 with three bodies on one chassis. Sales went overwhelmingly to one of them, which is why two are now scarce.

The three bodies

• Roadster, U13 (1966 to 1968): the basic open version. Doors and a roof were optional. About 5,000 were built over three years by the most widely quoted count, making it the rarest of the three.
• Half cab, U14 (1966 to 1972): sold as the Sports Utility, a pickup with a short enclosed cab and an open bed. About 17,000 were built.
• Wagon, U15 (1966 to 1977): two doors and a full-length steel top. More than 200,000 were built, roughly nine of every ten early Broncos.

From 1973 the wagon was the only body offered. The scarcest of the three has its own article, the U13 roadster.

How to tell which one a truck was built as

The first three characters of the VIN are the body code: U13, U14 or U15. That matters because all three share one chassis and the roadster's doors and roof were bolt-on options, so the way a truck looks today does not prove how it was built. A truck presented as a roadster or half cab should have U13 or U14 in its VIN. Read the number on the frame, not the shape of the truck. Where the VIN is on an early Bronco shows where to look.

Which one to buy

• Wagon: the practical choice and by far the easiest to find. It covers every year, so it is the only way to get the later upgrades such as the automatic (1973) and front disc brakes (1976).
• Half cab: a useful small pickup with a following of its own. All are 1972 or earlier, so all have drum brakes and a manual gearbox unless converted.
• Roadster: the collector's piece. Genuine U13 trucks are few, all are 1966 to 1968, and originality is most of the value.

How scarcity affects prices is covered in body style rarity. To see what is offered, start with the Bronco listings or the 1966 page, the first of the three years in which all three bodies were sold.