A team of brothers, Jimmy and Mike Lack, alongside friend Logan Mikulasovich, are undertaking the simultaneous restoration of two classic Ford Broncos. A 1973 model kept factory original, and a 1974 with a little surprise under the hood – a third generation Ford Coyote motor.
“We’ve been working on the Broncos for about three years,” says Mikulasovich. “Because all of us have jobs outside of the Broncos, we only go to the shop after-hours or on the weekends. For the most part, all the hard work gets done on Saturdays.”
While the team is building the Broncos with the intent of selling them once completed, they’re more of a passion project.
“The three of us are hanging out, we’re working on the trucks, we’re listening to music, and we’re just having a good time. It’s fun, not work,” Mikulasovich said.
Mikulasvich got his start with cars when his grandfather gifted him a 1963 Ford Thunderbird for his 13th birthday. “The Bird,” as he calls it, had been sitting at his grandfather’s shop for 20 years, and needed some serious work before being roadworthy.
Over the following four years, Mikulasovich spent as many weekends and evenings as he could rebuilding the motor and suspension, restoring the body and interior, and searching high and low for increasingly rare replacement parts.
It was the Thunderbird that sparked Mikuasovich’s love for all things automotive, and eight years later, he’s pouring his love into these two Broncos.
“We’ve been working on both at the same time. The ‘73 got a complete frame-off restoration. The body and the frame were sandblasted and epoxy coated, all the body work and welding was done at the shop, and it’s just about ready to get pushed into the paint booth, then rolled out the door. The ‘74 still needs the frame redone, the body put back on, the drivetrain installed, etc., but it’s about to get its first round of body filler. I figure maybe another year-or-two before it’s finished,” says Mikulasovich.
Quite a ways off, but good things take time. Mikulasovich explains that although the drivetrain swap for the 1974 isn’t rocket science, it’s actually not too difficult either.
“Lucky enough it’s actually fairly easy, and it’s also quite simple. These are very sought after trucks, so over the years people have gotten their hands on them, made their own parts to see what would work when doing a Coyote swap, and now you can go online and purchase the custom parts required to do the swap. The motor, transmission, and transfer case all sit and fit in the car perfectly fine once you install the custom mounts. The wiring harness gets routed the same way, but we’re also going to pull out any wires from the harness that we don’t need. It’s pretty much just plug and play.”
As far as the parts going into the Bronco, Mikulasovich and his team opted for nothing but the best. The motor and electronic control unit come from a 2019 Mustang GT, which is good for a hearty 460 horsepower. From that same Mustang comes the Bronco’s new transmission, Ford’s lightning quick ten-speed masterpiece. The transfer case was sourced from a “newer” F-150, which will allow the Bronco to retain its original four wheel drive capability.
Unless you’ve spent the last couple decades underneath a rock on another planet, then you know restored and resto-modded 70’s Broncos have been the darlings of auction houses. They’re not common, but they’re not hard to find — and usually sell for more than a brand new 2023 model.
As for the team’s expectations, they’re hoping the restored 1973 model will fetch between $35,000 and $40,000- a pretty penny for a truck that was purchased brand new for roughly 1/10 of that.
The general rule of thumb with restoring classic vehicles is ‘the most original parts, the higher the value.’ However, that’s not quite the case with the team’s 1974.
“If you go online and look at prices of similar resto-mods like what we’re doing, you’ll see the prices ranging from $75,000 to $100,000 depending on the condition and where it’s sold,” said Mikulasovich. His estimates appear to be conservative, as according to the leading online auction house for vehicles, BringATrailer.com, Broncos such as the team’s are typically selling for tens of thousands more. In fact, the highest recorded sale price of a restored or resto-modded Bronco at auction was $220,000, set in Mar. 2022.
When asked which of the two is his favorite and why, Mikulasovich said “the ‘74 is my favorite because this is a swap that I’ve never done before. I’m really excited to have my hands on it. It’s a little tricky, but I’m excited for the challenge, especially when we’re doing it so meticulously. By the time we finish it and it’s sold, it’s really a huge feeling of completion and pride.”