Ford Bronco El Bandito Review

Ford Bronco El Bandito in the Nevada desert

We are in the high desert, roughly 72 km from Las Vegas. Beyond the next rise sit a firing range and an ageing military-helicopter graveyard; everywhere else is sand, rock, brutally jagged ground, clusters of prickly yucca and eerie Joshua trees. Before long, this landscape will be ripped apart by the unhinged Ford Bronco El Bandito and its supercharged 5.2-litre V8 – an engine loud enough to overpower a fierce gunfight and an entire squadron of Black Hawks. First, though, we need to meet El Bandito’s crew and get the necessary photographs and video.

“So,” I begin. “Um, do you think it might be possible – and it’s fine if you can’t – but maybe you could...” I am hesitating because the request I am about to make sounds utterly ridiculous, especially as I have only just met the man. “Well, this might be a bad idea. But, do you think you could jump it over my head?” There is a momentary silence before the reply arrives, accompanied by a grin. “Sure, we can do that. There’s a spot just over there that’ll work.” That establishes the mood for the day: apparently, anything is possible.

Perhaps that is no surprise. El Bandito is an outlaw with no interest in following a rulebook, although it borrows heavily from Ultra4 racing and its flagship King of the Hammers event, along with the punishing, evocative and utterly mad Baja 1000. It is difficult to comprehend the idea that either off-road discipline could regard anything as too extreme, yet El Bandito is arguably the definitive all-rounder. That is, provided your daily journey involves boulders the size of a family hatchback, sand dunes, corrugated desert tracks and regular airtime.

Photography: Mark Fagelson

The man willing to launch a roughly 1,134 kg truck over my head is Loren Healy. El Bandito is the work of his company, Fun-Haver Offroad, created in partnership with Ford. Healy is a two-time King of the Hammers winner, a five-time Ultra4 champion and a Baja 1000 victor. He is relaxed, friendly and infectiously enthusiastic. Later, I discover that his laid-back character transforms into something resembling demonic possession behind the wheel, but for now he appears to be one of the nicest people imaginable. “This thing is my dream Bronco project,” he says. “And – I say this all the time – it’s the most fun vehicle I’ve ever driven. There’s just something about it.”

There certainly is. The question is what, exactly, is needed to strike enormous boulders at 113 km/h without instantly dying. Loren explains: “To me this is a whole mix of luxury pre-runner, an Ultra4 truck that would take on King of the Hammers, a Trophy Truck and a production Bronco.” Our definitions of luxury differ somewhat: Bandito has neither a windscreen nor side windows, never mind air conditioning or massaging seats. Still, it is the mechanical specification that counts.

The front-mounted motor is the supercharged 5.2-litre V8 found in the Mustang GT500 and Raptor R, now equipped with a 3.8-litre Whipple supercharger and producing 1,000–1,100bhp. Power goes through a three-speed TH400 gearbox with a manual lockout from Gearworks, plus a single-speed transfer case designed for monster-truck use. El Bandito is four-wheel drive, a layout that has become Baja’s preferred choice over the past few years. Before that, mid-engined rear-wheel-drive trucks were the favoured machines.

Remarkably, El Bandito began life as a pre-production Bronco used for durability testing. Bronco ‘55’ had been marked for destruction, but Healy bought it for $1 and the project began. How much of number 55 survives? Not very much, beyond the doors, dashboard structure and badges, I would suggest. Ford is, however, determined to become ‘the Porsche of off road’, and more production-based Broncos and Raptors are enjoying major success in North American off-road competition. Naturally, El Bandito takes that ambition a huge step further.

Ford Bronco El Bandito chassis and suspension

Its chassis is a custom all-chromoly tubular structure built by Kibbetech Offroad Fabrication & Design. Vast bash plates, similar to those on an Ultra4 racer, strengthen it for rock impacts and enormous jumps. Suspension is where vehicles of this kind create their real magic, and El Bandito pairs exceptionally robust Triton Engineering billet arms and uprights with Fox Live Valve dampers that adjust to the surface in real time. Wheel travel measures 508 mm at the front and 635 mm at the rear. The tyres are 1,067 mm Nitto Trail Grapplers on 508 mm wheels, using a double-beadlock arrangement that permits pressures as low as 2psi without concern that the tyre will pull away from the rim.

Opening a door to get aboard El Bandito is about the final moment that feels familiar or fits any normal point of reference. Oddly, the seats are Recaro Sportsters, once fitted to RenaultSport Clios and Mégane models. They sit rather higher here, though, and the outward view is rather different as well. There is no glass anywhere, for obvious reasons, while a deep inverted V of chromoly crosses the centre of the windscreen opening. The steering wheel is a small three-spoke racing item in blue camouflage, looking as though it belongs in a 1990s Vauxhall Corsa.

Switch on the ignition, start the engine and offer a prayer to the internal-combustion gods. Its sound is deep, sharp-edged and all-encompassing. The transmission clunks through its odd, zig-zag shift pattern, and I immediately question whether I can keep this monster heading in the proper direction while wrestling with the heavy-duty gear lever. I have never wanted paddle shifts more. There is, amusingly, also a long-throw hydraulic handbrake. Fun-Haver is a joint venture with Vaughn Gittin Jr, so some of his drifting influence has clearly found its way into El Bandito.

Driving the Ford Bronco El Bandito

Our route at Ford’s Bronco Off-Roadeo facility is close to ideal: lengthy and varied enough to create the feeling of being deep in the wilderness, yet compact enough to memorise. Loren joins me as co-driver and, rather than suggesting restraint, encourages what I think our American cousins would call ‘hauling ass’. Just 24 seconds after I first open the throttle – and the huge torque converter means it takes plenty of right foot merely to get moving – everything briefly pauses as we fly over the first of countless jumps. It is a tranquil instant within an otherwise frantic, fiercely physical opening barrage of booming V8 noise and great clouds of dust and dirt. The landing is as smooth as a Bentley Flying Spur passing over a speed hump.

18 minutes 8 seconds

El Bandito’s ability across the desert is genuinely mind-altering. Whether travelling over gravel and rocks, cutting through ruts or skimming across rapid-fire bumps, it rides far more pliantly than, for instance, a BMW M4 Competition during a Nürburgring lap. That composure inspires near-instant confidence, while the four-wheel-drive system puts the engine’s urgency to excellent use. Naturally, complete traction is never possible on a surface this loose, but El Bandito claws into it and finds remarkably effective drive. Its slides are predictable, too. Loren advises that, if I run too deep into a bend, I should straighten the vehicle and abandon the apex – it is unlikely that anything ahead will stop us – rather than risk a rollover. In truth, though, I am not carrying enough speed for matters to become serious.

The steering is light but alert. Unless you are aggressively working the rear-biased brakes or hydraulic handbrake, there is a touch of understeer on corner entry. Once the truck has rotated, however, you can unleash that astonishing engine and fire out of the turn with a healthy dose of opposite lock, feeling like a superhero who has prevented the end of the world.

If only I could cope with the rabid pace, the constantly shifting balance and the challenge of reading the terrain while operating the heavy gear selector, which is slightly out of view. In practice, Loren changes between first and second for me, signalling when to keep it pinned and laughing encouragingly. The jumps grow larger, speeds increase and El Bandito becomes ever more imposing. What an extraordinary machine. Every imagined vision of the Baja or King of the Hammers is contained within this truck, and the real experience goes far, far beyond even the wildest fantasy.

This remarkable truck floats, slides and soars with a poise that’s completely at odds with the tough, inhospitable landscape

The last part of the day is a passenger run with Loren over the same route. Seeing El Bandito truly unleashed is something very special. His confidence is obvious as he positions the truck for each corner, locking the rear axle to aim its nose precisely where he wants it. Jumps are taken flat out, with a substantial mid-air throttle blip keeping the flight path level and accurate; despite the increased altitude, the landings are even softer. Astoundingly, he does all of this one-handed, resting his right palm on the gear selector as he manages that mighty, artillery-specification supercharged V8. Not a fraction of performance goes unused. Once it is finished, I step out in mild disbelief, wearing a huge grin. I hear Loren speaking to the crew: “Yep, that was full qualifying pace,” he says.

Those few minutes are unforgettable. This exceptional truck floats, drifts and flies with a composure utterly at odds with the harsh, unforgiving surroundings. Its suspension feels like black magic. Yet for all its endlessly adjustable balance, it moves with a smooth, almost delicate quality because it is so responsive – while the soundtrack, heat and unfiltered exposure to torn-up sand, dust and gravel create an overwhelming, exhausting assault on both mind and body.

For Loren and the others who race in the Baja or King of the Hammers, we have not even reached the beginner slopes of off-road competition. As the truck stops and the savage V8 falls silent, leaving a profound quietness, I ask Loren how long each Baja stint would last. “My longest ever was 18 hours. That was rough.” I ask him to say it again. Perhaps twice. Driving this way over much tougher terrain, without ‘play by play’ pace notes and – most astonishingly – in darkness, sounds as though it ought to be illegal. “Oh, it’s the Wild West down there,” he says with a broad smile. The Ford Bronco El Bandito may never compete in the Baja, but its spirit seems to perfectly capture the sheer lunacy that Loren, his colleagues, rivals and friends simply call life. I adore it.