2023 Ford Bronco DR with mystichrome paint surfaces on the market

A 2023 Ford Bronco DR with throwback paint has surfaced on the market on Bring a Trailer.

Announced in 2021, the Bronco DR (short for Desert Racer) is a turnkey race truck intended as a spiritual successor to Broncos that competed within the Baja 1000 within the Sixties and Seventies. Just 50 are thought to have been built, all as 2023 models with a mid-$200,000 price tag.

The truck up on the market stands out much more due to body panels finished in Mystichrome, the color-shifting paint only offered from the factory on the 2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra.

The remaining of the truck appears to be factory-spec, meaning it sports a Coyote 5.0-liter V-8 delivering an estimated 400 hp. The V-8 drives all 4 wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission and independent electronically locking front and rear differentials, pushing 6,200 kilos of car in race trim.

Ford also gave the Bronco DR unique bodywork to cover widened 73.7-inch front and 73.3-inch rear tracks, together with a roll cage and serious chassis upgrades. Highlights include Positional Selective DSSV Dampers from Multimatic and 37-inch BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 tires with 17-inch beadlock wheels.

When it announced the Bronco DR, Ford claimed the race truck boasted 55.1% more front suspension travel, at 15.8 inches, and 58.6% more rear suspension travel, at 17.4 inches, in comparison with a stock four-door Bronco Badlands. Ford also quoted approach, departure, and breakover angles of 47, 37, and 33 degrees, respectively.

2023 Ford Bronco DR (photo via Bring a Trailer)

The inside includes only the fundamentals. Two seats are squeezed between the roll cage, with a Motec C187 display and CAN data acquisition system in the middle of the dashboard. A 65-gallon fuel tank and spare tire are housed behind the motive force and passenger.

Because it is a race vehicle not intended for road use, the Bronco DR is obtainable only with a bill of sale and doesn’t have a title or registration. For people who desire a road-legal Bronco with some desert-racer character, there’s all the time the Bronco Raptor.