s it had with its entry in the pony car rivalry two years previous, Ford landed the first shot in what would become the battle of the mainstream sports utility vehicles in 1966 with the introduction of the original Bronco. But it wasn’t Chevy that Ford had its sights on, at least initially. It was Willys that had owned the market for small, utilitarian 4x4 vehicles since the end of WW II when its military MB had been decommissioned and morphed into the civilian Jeep CJ. Toyota had copied the CJ design with its early Land Cruisers and Land Rover had its British take on the concept, but it wasn’t until International Harvester released the first of its Scout series in 1961 that Jeep had any serious domestic competition. The Scout was a huge success for International,
