An open letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley

EKbrook

Dear Mr. Farley,
As a new Bronco owner, I wanted to say THANK YOU! To explain why, I’ll have to give you a little of my history.
When I graduated from college in 1990 I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. The first thing I did with my newfound job security was to purchase my first car with my own money/credit: a beautiful blue and tan 1990 Jeep Wrangler. I loved this vehicle. These were the good old days when Jeeps still had manual transmissions and were still simple enough for me to do much of my own maintenance. That Jeep got this single young man through many assignments in places like North Dakota where there wasn’t much else to do, butt camp, hunt, fish, and generally go four wheeling in mud, snow or off-road conditions. Needless to say, I drove my vehicle hard, but had a lot of fun, and learned lots about vehicle maintenance in repairing the dings and bruises. I took it with me to the island of Guam where it was very useful finding hidden beaches or jungle waterfalls. I distinctly remember putting a 30° bend in the leaf spring one night off-Roading as a typhoon passed the island just because I was bored of sitting inside with the power out. Oh the adventures i had with that Jeep. I once got it so stuck that I thought I was going to have to abandon it to the jungle. I was finally able to rescue it through the help of some good friends and some local Chamorros who had spotted it from a distance and we’re on their way to “salvage it” until they ran into us.
It was expensive to have replacement parts shipped to the island which is 8 hours by air west of Hawaii. This was driven home when my two hard doors and hard top were stolen and my insurance company totaled the vehicle because it was going to cost more than it’s value to replace those parts and ship them to the island. So I took my settlement check and bought a new one when I was transferred to Mississippi for flight school. Needless to say I had just as much fun with that one. After Mississippi, I-took it back to North Dakota, then-to Texas and then onto an assignment in England and Europe where I met my wife and started having a family. It was still serving as our primary family car for moves to Florida and Virginia. But child seat number two was problematic in the old two-door jeeps, so I was forced to sell my beloved jeep for a 2005 Dodge Durango. While, not nearly as exciting, this vehicle served us well for 20 years and 257,000 miles.
As with most Durango’s, the hemi engine is still going strong, but with transmission number three and the doors and tailgate ready to rust off like all the Durango‘s and most dodges, it was time to buy something new.
With my kids now grown, I initially started thinking back to my jeeps. But now that they are mostly automatic transmissions, it seems everyone has one. And what is the deal with all those ducks? Needless to say, it’s not the vehicle I used to know.
Then there was the other vehicle I was starting to take notice of, the new Bronco. Again, it seemed like everyone was getting one. They were really expensive. But man, they looked good, almost better than the originals. And I wasn’t as hung up about them being automatic as I was with the jeeps. I just didn’t have the same history with this vehicle. And bonus, the wife likes them too. We looked for a good used one for a while, but they went quick, so we finally decided to buy new. Let me say, I have not regretted the decision. Not only is this Vehicle a dream to drive, and great to take off roading, but it’s quieter and more comfortable than my jeeps ever were. And what an amazing job Ford has done with design and planning on this vehicle. The forethought and coordination that has gone into making the myriad of accessories that can be added to customize the vehicle and make it your own and make it better, boggles my mind. Best of all, though I can’t exactly do the same level of maintenance I used to do on my jeeps, I’m enjoying being able to add my own accessories, to get under the hood and run wires to get under the chassis and turn screws and generally get my hands dirty. I actually look forward to working on my Bronco and making it better and unique.
So thank you, Mr. Farley, thank you to you and your entire company for conceptualizing the rebirth of this wonderful vehicle. But also for realizing that it’s about more than just the vehicle, and putting so much effort into planning and coordinating for an entire system of accessories to support it. With four drivers in our household now and a fifth within the the next six months, we’ve already got three Ford vehicles and I can only see getting more. I’m impressed with your company and your visions for the future. Please don’t go completely down the electric Vehicle rabbit hole, though. The new technologies are good, hybrids are great, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket either as a company or a vehicle. Again, thank you for the honor of owning a 2025 Ford bronco heritage edition.
Sincerely, Gregg Easterbrook
Dayton, Ohio

Paul 82 Bronco

Great open letter Gregg! I put in time at El Forko Grande back in the 80s. I remember seeing (barely) the fireworks at the high school field from the base...26 miles away. We used to say the state tree was the telephone pole and the state bird was the mosquito.

EKbrook

And there was a woman behind every tree…I did the forks from 91 to 93. I volunteered to do a protocol job in Guam to get out of there while I waited for Pilot training. Then my penance for washing out of pilot training in the last month was to get sent back to NODAK, this time to Minot (95-97). All in the days before the big oil boom. When at the Forks, I used to spend a lot of time up around Cavalier Air Force station camping and hunting. Did a lot of crazy offroading up there with my jeep. It was the one place in North Dakota you could almost get the impression you were in a state with trees. When we needed something more to get our fix of trees, we would escape to the Bemidji Minnesota area. Again, lots of tails. It was a great group of young, lieutenants, all single, except for the chaplain who hung out with us, whose wife was our designated driver. Good Times in the Red Dog Saloon.

Paul 82 Bronco

My pilot training class earned the distinction of being the first (perhaps only) to have their class patch banned from the front gate at graduation. I can send you a picture if you would like. Googling "UPT Air Force patch 'Max Thrust'" may give you part of the story. After graduation a bunch of us got SACumcised. SAC's official motto: Peace Is Our Profession. Yeah, global thermonuclear Armaggedon was more of a hobby. Those were the days. I started in a class of 36 at FSPOT (Flight Screening Program Officer Trainee). A year and half later, 2 of us graduated UPT. The Air Force ended up cancelling the entire FSPOT program due to its amazing success. I bought my first Bronco near the end of UPT when I was confident I was going to graduate and be able to make the payments. It was the first vehicle I ever purchased new, and earlier this week it arrived at my oldest son's house for him to enjoy with his children. That Bronco gave us years of happy camping and fishing memories, with only a few off-road delays.

EKbrook

I’d love to see a picture of that patch. I can only imagine.
I can’t top that UPT story, but I did have some pretty good individual antics both there and at Intel school, which is where I ended up. But I can say that my field training class is the reason that open base weekend outside of the country.(i.e. Canada doesn’t happen anymore.). Funny it never dawned on Plattsburgh Bass leadership that they lose all control of cadets when they cross international borders until we reminded them.
I was an official SAC trained killer for all of about three months before SAC stood down. FSPOT was long gone, but I got lucky and Uncle Sam paid for me to get my private pilots license while in college.

EKbrook

Dear Mr. Farley,
As a new Bronco owner, I wanted to say THANK YOU! To explain why, I’ll have to give you a little of my history.
When I graduated from college in 1990 I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. The first thing I did with my newfound job security was to purchase my first car with my own money/credit: a beautiful blue and tan 1990 Jeep Wrangler. I loved this vehicle. These were the good old days when Jeeps still had manual transmissions and were still simple enough for me to do much of my own maintenance. That Jeep got this single young man through many assignments in places like North Dakota where there wasn’t much else to do, butt camp, hunt, fish, and generally go four wheeling in mud, snow or off-road conditions. Needless to say, I drove my vehicle hard, but had a lot of fun, and learned lots about vehicle maintenance in repairing the dings and bruises. I took it with me to the island of Guam where it was very useful finding hidden beaches or jungle waterfalls. I distinctly remember putting a 30° bend in the leaf spring one night off-Roading as a typhoon passed the island just because I was bored of sitting inside with the power out. Oh the adventures i had with that Jeep. I once got it so stuck that I thought I was going to have to abandon it to the jungle. I was finally able to rescue it through the help of some good friends and some local Chamorros who had spotted it from a distance and we’re on their way to “salvage it” until they ran into us.
It was expensive to have replacement parts shipped to the island which is 8 hours by air west of Hawaii. This was driven home when my two hard doors and hard top were stolen and my insurance company totaled the vehicle because it was going to cost more than it’s value to replace those parts and ship them to the island. So I took my settlement check and bought a new one when I was transferred to Mississippi for flight school. Needless to say I had just as much fun with that one. After Mississippi, I-took it back to North Dakota, then-to Texas and then onto an assignment in England and Europe where I met my wife and started having a family. It was still serving as our primary family car for moves to Florida and Virginia. But child seat number two was problematic in the old two-door jeeps, so I was forced to sell my beloved jeep for a 2005 Dodge Durango. While, not nearly as exciting, this vehicle served us well for 20 years and 257,000 miles.
As with most Durango’s, the hemi engine is still going strong, but with transmission number three and the doors and tailgate ready to rust off like all the Durango‘s and most dodges, it was time to buy something new.
With my kids now grown, I initially started thinking back to my jeeps. But now that they are mostly automatic transmissions, it seems everyone has one. And what is the deal with all those ducks? Needless to say, it’s not the vehicle I used to know.
Then there was the other vehicle I was starting to take notice of, the new Bronco. Again, it seemed like everyone was getting one. They were really expensive. But man, they looked good, almost better than the originals. And I wasn’t as hung up about them being automatic as I was with the jeeps. I just didn’t have the same history with this vehicle. And bonus, the wife likes them too. We looked for a good used one for a while, but they went quick, so we finally decided to buy new. Let me say, I have not regretted the decision. Not only is this Vehicle a dream to drive, and great to take off roading, but it’s quieter and more comfortable than my jeeps ever were. And what an amazing job Ford has done with design and planning on this vehicle. The forethought and coordination that has gone into making the myriad of accessories that can be added to customize the vehicle and make it your own and make it better, boggles my mind. Best of all, though I can’t exactly do the same level of maintenance I used to do on my jeeps, I’m enjoying being able to add my own accessories, to get under the hood and run wires to get under the chassis and turn screws and generally get my hands dirty. I actually look forward to working on my Bronco and making it better and unique.
So thank you, Mr. Farley, thank you to you and your entire company for conceptualizing the rebirth of this wonderful vehicle. But also for realizing that it’s about more than just the vehicle, and putting so much effort into planning and coordinating for an entire system of accessories to support it. With four drivers in our household now and a fifth within the the next six months, we’ve already got three Ford vehicles and I can only see getting more. I’m impressed with your company and your visions for the future. Please don’t go completely down the electric Vehicle rabbit hole, though. The new technologies are good, hybrids are great, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket either as a company or a vehicle. Again, thank you for the honor of owning a 2025 Ford bronco heritage edition.
Sincerely, Gregg Easterbrook
Dayton, Ohio

EKbrook

Dear Mr. Farley,
As a new Bronco owner, I wanted to say THANK YOU! To explain why, I’ll have to give you a little of my history.
When I graduated from college in 1990 I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. The first thing I did with my newfound job security was to purchase my first car with my own money/credit: a beautiful blue and tan 1990 Jeep Wrangler. I loved this vehicle. These were the good old days when Jeeps still had manual transmissions and were still simple enough for me to do much of my own maintenance. That Jeep got this single young man through many assignments in places like North Dakota where there wasn’t much else to do, butt camp, hunt, fish, and generally go four wheeling in mud, snow or off-road conditions. Needless to say, I drove my vehicle hard, but had a lot of fun, and learned lots about vehicle maintenance in repairing the dings and bruises. I took it with me to the island of Guam where it was very useful finding hidden beaches or jungle waterfalls. I distinctly remember putting a 30° bend in the leaf spring one night off-Roading as a typhoon passed the island just because I was bored of sitting inside with the power out. Oh the adventures i had with that Jeep. I once got it so stuck that I thought I was going to have to abandon it to the jungle. I was finally able to rescue it through the help of some good friends and some local Chamorros who had spotted it from a distance and we’re on their way to “salvage it” until they ran into us.
It was expensive to have replacement parts shipped to the island which is 8 hours by air west of Hawaii. This was driven home when my two hard doors and hard top were stolen and my insurance company totaled the vehicle because it was going to cost more than it’s value to replace those parts and ship them to the island. So I took my settlement check and bought a new one when I was transferred to Mississippi for flight school. Needless to say I had just as much fun with that one. After Mississippi, I-took it back to North Dakota, then-to Texas and then onto an assignment in England and Europe where I met my wife and started having a family. It was still serving as our primary family car for moves to Florida and Virginia. But child seat number two was problematic in the old two-door jeeps, so I was forced to sell my beloved jeep for a 2005 Dodge Durango. While, not nearly as exciting, this vehicle served us well for 20 years and 257,000 miles.
As with most Durango’s, the hemi engine is still going strong, but with transmission number three and the doors and tailgate ready to rust off like all the Durango‘s and most dodges, it was time to buy something new.
With my kids now grown, I initially started thinking back to my jeeps. But now that they are mostly automatic transmissions, it seems everyone has one. And what is the deal with all those ducks? Needless to say, it’s not the vehicle I used to know.
Then there was the other vehicle I was starting to take notice of, the new Bronco. Again, it seemed like everyone was getting one. They were really expensive. But man, they looked good, almost better than the originals. And I wasn’t as hung up about them being automatic as I was with the jeeps. I just didn’t have the same history with this vehicle. And bonus, the wife likes them too. We looked for a good used one for a while, but they went quick, so we finally decided to buy new. Let me say, I have not regretted the decision. Not only is this Vehicle a dream to drive, and great to take off roading, but it’s quieter and more comfortable than my jeeps ever were. And what an amazing job Ford has done with design and planning on this vehicle. The forethought and coordination that has gone into making the myriad of accessories that can be added to customize the vehicle and make it your own and make it better, boggles my mind. Best of all, though I can’t exactly do the same level of maintenance I used to do on my jeeps, I’m enjoying being able to add my own accessories, to get under the hood and run wires to get under the chassis and turn screws and generally get my hands dirty. I actually look forward to working on my Bronco and making it better and unique.
So thank you, Mr. Farley, thank you to you and your entire company for conceptualizing the rebirth of this wonderful vehicle. But also for realizing that it’s about more than just the vehicle, and putting so much effort into planning and coordinating for an entire system of accessories to support it. With four drivers in our household now and a fifth within the the next six months, we’ve already got three Ford vehicles and I can only see getting more. I’m impressed with your company and your visions for the future. Please don’t go completely down the electric Vehicle rabbit hole, though. The new technologies are good, hybrids are great, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket either as a company or a vehicle. Again, thank you for the honor of owning a 2025 Ford bronco heritage edition.
Sincerely, Gregg Easterbrook
Dayton, Ohio

EKbrook

In thinking about my recent letter to Mr. Fraley, and the various replies to it, I had an idea. This idea was based upon the fact that I took so much enjoyment from being able to at least in part, maintain and repair my own vehicle. (I don’t believe I am the only one and historic vehicles are not that prevalent). While the conveniences of modern technology has certainly improved automobiles and made them safer and more efficient, they have also created vehicles that are extremely expensive to buy and repair. (And in many cases aren’t even repaired at the dealership, but components are simply swapped out there. This plug and play component mentality can be problematic when supply chains breakdown.).
In lieu of all this, a suggestion to Mr. Fraley and Ford Motor Company would be to develop a bare bones trim- level version of the Bronco. Such a version would revert to old technology and allow users to perform on the fly maintenance and repair as needed on the trail or in their own garage. Of course they could still bring the vehicle into the dealership for day-to-day conscience, or for the parts needed to support repairs, but it would be built around the concept of no computers, no digital displays, simple analog everything, manual transmission, and basic combustion engine technology. A bonus would be if it would run on everything from gasoline, ethanol, propane, camp fuel to moonshine, etc. Anyone who took a high school vehicle maintenance class should be able to fully maintain this vehicle. And the “Bare-Bones” Bronco would maintain the concept of being wired and ready for accessory upgrades just like the current Broncos are. So if owners wanted to add lights or conveniences, they could do so.
I see this type of vehicle as not only feeding a finite sector of the off-road community who would be interested in this type of rugged, repairable vehicle, but also opening up the Bronco community to a section of our society who otherwise couldn’t afford to buy and maintain one. In many ways, it might be the model T or Willy‘s Jeep of the 21st century. Just thinking out loud and dreaming of a vehicle that would go well with an off the grid, self-reliant lifestyle.