As we celebrate the Bronco's 60th anniversary, I'm excited to share a project that captures what Bronco has always represented: Build Wild capability, readiness for fun and the ability to make it all your own.

In Michigan, we have a place that showcases everything Bronco is built for – Silver Lake Sand Dunes.

The Silver Lake Sand Dunes on the shores of Lake Michigan hold a special place in my heart and in Bronco's DNA. It was the first Bronco enthusiast event I attended back in August 2017, when we were still developing the sixth generation Bronco.

We saw firsthand how Bronco owners modified their heritage Broncos and how these original models combined the pure joy of open-air driving combined with serious off-road capability. All of this directly influenced the sixth-generation Bronco. Removing the doors and the roof is a hallmark of the original 1966 model – it just wouldn’t be a Bronco without it. The incredible open-air experience really makes you feel like you’re that much closer to the natural world when you’re out in the wild.

But it goes way beyond the doors and roof. Bronco has been designed to give drivers maximum control over their vehicles. With one hour and a wrench, you can strip this truck down, which makes it easy to two-tone your vehicle. You can change your Bronco so much that you wouldn’t recognize it.

Much of the same also applies to Bronco Sport, the Bronco of small SUVs. The 2025 Bronco Sport, with the available Sasquatch package, is built for high performance in sand thanks to its available Rally mode. And drawing inspiration from the full-size Bronco, it’s easier for customers to personalize and make it all their own, with new modular bumpers and Bronco bolts that signal where owners can easily install custom accessories.

So, we wanted to celebrate west Michigan’s unique terrain and its influence on Bronco and Bronco Sport with two vehicles personalized to celebrate what made our first trip to the dunes so special, memorable and influential. The Bronco and Bronco Sport Silver Lake Dunes Project Vehicles are custom interpretations of both Bronco and Bronco Sport that capture the essence of dune cruising, and which customers could replicate via Ford Performance Parts, Ford Accessories, and a talented vinyl decal installer.

Our Director Paul Wraith and Head of Design Todd Willing challenged us to modernize how we break up the compositional elements of the Bronco and Bronco Sport.

Working with our exceptional color and materials team, Kellie Walters and Brad Fishkin, we developed custom graphics that modernize how we break up the compositional elements of the vehicle. And we paired them with Azure Gray paint that celebrates the tones of both the sky and water that make the Silver Lake Dunes and Lake Michigan so breathtaking.

The graphics tell a story: the beautiful dune flowing into the horizon line of Lake Michigan, rising up into that gorgeous blue sky. We wanted to create this sense of movement, almost like you're viewing the landscape through a portal on the vehicle itself. It's not your typical stripe package, this is something that creates an immediate visual impact from a distance while staying true to what makes that landscape so special.

Unlike some of our more fabrication-intensive Project Vehicles, the Silver Lake Dunes Project Vehicles are built primarily with readily available parts and accessories from the Ford Performance catalog including:

• Yakima Paddle Board Carriers and Cross Bars
  
  
• Rigid Light Bars
  
  
• Bull Bars (stock on Bronco Sport Badlands Sasquatch)
  
  
• Painted Bronco Heritage wheels and BFGoodrich T/A KO3 tires on the Bronco Silver Lake Dunes Project Vehicle
  
  
• Painted Mustang Mach-E Rally wheels and BFGoodrich XL TRTERTA tires on the Bronco Sport Silver Lake Dunes Project Vehicle

Additionally, custom graphics and painted fenders, tow hooks, badging, and Bucking Bronco complete the package.

This philosophy reflects something fundamental about Bronco: the ability to be part of our community by making your Bronco truly your own. This is key to every design decision we make. We wanted to show how, starting with a stock Bronco or Bronco Sport, you can make adjustments that express your individual style and create something as unique as you are.

We're always watching what enthusiasts do with their vehicles – what resonates, how they push boundaries, how they adapt their Broncos for their specific adventures. These Project Vehicles, similar to the Bronco Off-Roadeo™: Arches Edition and the Bronco Off-Roadeo: Cliffhanger Project Vehicle, represent our way of trying new ways to inspire personalization within the Bronco community.

We see Bronco's modularity and customization capability as something we need to enable.

The Silver Lake Dunes Project Vehicles vehicles represent our commitment to doubling down on this philosophy. We want Bronco to be even more modular, more adaptable, more buildable to however someone wants to access their favorite wild. Because depending on where your favorite wild is, you're going to equip, tune, and customize differently.

That's been true for sixty years, and it'll be true for sixty more.

Robert Gelardi is Bronco Chief Designer.