Backwards Bill's Garage · Leander, TX
Frame-off restorations, restomods and repairs for 1966 to 1977 Ford Broncos. Done at our shop in Leander, Texas, near Austin, for owners here and across the country.
From around $65K
Driveline, fuel injection and suspension work on the Bronco you already have
8 to 9 months
For a full frame-off restoration
One or two at a time
Your truck gets worked on, not stored
Shipped nationwide
Transport priced into the quote
Maybe it was your dad's. Maybe you found it at an auction, or it has sat under a cover for years waiting on the right shop.
Either way, it looks the way a Bronco should. It just drives like a truck that's fifty years old. It wanders on the highway, the brakes need planning ahead, and every drive ends with a new noise to track down.
Early Bronco restoration at Backwards Bill's Garage fixes that. We take the truck you have and bring it back so it looks right, starts every morning and drives the way you hoped it would.
The work happens at our shop in Leander, twenty to thirty minutes northwest of downtown Austin. Austin-area owners drive their trucks in. Most of the Broncos we finish leave Texas.
Restoring an early Bronco can mean two different things, and it helps to know which one you want before you call.
A stock-style restoration puts the truck back the way Ford built it, inside and out. We build those with aftermarket parts most of the time, because the good ones are proven and hold up better than OEM.
We don't do factory-correct or concours restorations, where a judge checks every part against what left the plant. Ours are meant to be driven.
A restomod keeps the body, the size and the look, then replaces what made the truck hard to live with: the old frame, drum brakes, 1960s steering and tired wiring.
Most of our work leans toward the restomod side, and most owners land somewhere in between. Some keep the original frame and fix what's worn out. Others go frame-off onto a new Kincer chassis with a modern engine. We'll tell you honestly which one your truck and your budget call for.
| Kind of work | What it covers | Where it starts |
|---|---|---|
| Repair and refresh | Brakes, suspension, steering, A/C, wiring or an interior on the truck you have | Quoted per job |
| Driveline and drivability | The whole driveline cleaned up and resealed, a fuel injection conversion and new suspension | Around $65,000 |
| Frame-off restoration | Body off, everything apart, a new Kincer chassis, modern engine, brakes and wiring | Full custom builds have run about $300,000 |
Every restoration starts with an honest look at the truck. Send us photos, especially of the underside, and we'll tell you what it needs before you spend anything.
A clean body on top can hide a lot underneath. After more than fifty years, most early Bronco frames have rust in the seams that you can't see until the truck comes apart.
That's why teardown comes first on every full restoration. It's where the surprises live. Anything it finds gets priced and talked through with you before we go further.
If you don't own a Bronco yet, we can help you find a good one to start from. We also buy and sell early Broncos, and Cam builds a few on spec, so sometimes there's a finished truck ready to go.
A frame-off restoration is the deepest version of the job. The body comes off, everything comes apart and every piece gets photographed before anything goes back on.
Every frame-off restoration we do goes onto a new Kincer chassis. An original early Bronco frame was designed in the mid-1960s for a small six-cylinder, drum brakes and skinny tires. Putting a modern V8 on that is asking a lot of old steel.
Kincer builds early Bronco chassis to order in Louisville, Tennessee, and we're on their builder list. You can compare the Classic, Freeway and Adventure chassis on our Bronco chassis page.
| Stage | What happens | Shop time with parts in stock |
|---|---|---|
| Teardown | The body comes off and everything gets taken apart and photographed | About 1 month |
| Chassis and driveline | Kincer chassis, engine, transmission, axles, brakes and suspension | About 2 months |
| Paint and body | Done by an outside paint shop we trust | Scheduled with that shop |
| Reassembly | The body goes back on with new wiring, gauges, seats and trim | About 2 months |
| Shakedown | At least 150 miles of driving, and we fix whatever turns up | Before delivery |
The shop stages add up to about six months. Waiting on built-to-order parts, plus paint, is what takes a full frame-off restoration to 8 or 9 months.
Early Bronco restoration work at Backwards Bill's Garage starts around $65,000. That covers cleaning up and resealing the entire driveline, a fuel injection conversion and new suspension. A full custom frame-off restoration has run about $300,000. Single repairs are quoted per job.
Where yours lands comes down to a few things:
You get a written plan with the scope, the parts and the budget before a wrench turns. Parts are paid for in full up front, and full builds are billed every two weeks as the work gets done.
Nothing gets added to the bill without a phone call first. We don't offer financing, but we'll help you plan a restoration that fits the budget you have.
People are often surprised by the number. Three things drive it.
The truck is old. Rust hides in seams, wiring gets brittle, and teardown always finds something nobody knew about.
Good parts are built to order. A chassis, an engine package or a set of custom seats can take weeks or months to arrive, and they cost what they cost.
The hours are real. Wiring gets routed clean under the dash, fuel lines get run with attachment points that don't fail, and mounts, cooling and driveline get handled as one job. Nobody will ever look under there, and it's most of the difference between a Bronco that looks good and one you can drive.
Cam will talk you out of parts you don't need, and out of cheap parts that cost you later. Tell us your budget and we'll show you the best truck it can build.
Most owners come in wanting one thing and leave having done three. Here's what that can include.
Full custom builds on a new Kincer chassis with modern power, brakes and wiring. See our restomod Bronco builds.
Kincer Classic, Freeway and Adventure chassis, installed in a full build or on your truck as a standalone job. See our Bronco chassis page.
Ford 7.3L Godzilla, Coyote 5.0L, GM LS, BluePrint 306 MAX and Cummins R2.8, with mounts, wiring, cooling, fuel and driveline done as one job. See our Bronco engine swaps.
Disc brake conversions, coil-overs and modern steering under a truck that came with neither.
Getting the engine you have to start, idle and pull the way it should, plus new wiring and air conditioning.
Half-built Broncos from other shops. We go through the truck, write down every issue we find and give you a straight plan to finish it.
Help finding a good donor truck, early Broncos bought and sold, and the occasional finished truck ready to drive home.
Early Broncos for weddings and photo shoots, and we do the driving. See Bronco rentals.
Plenty of owners do part of the work themselves. Where do-it-yourself restorations usually go wrong is fitment: an engine from one place, a transmission from another and a suspension kit that looked right, none of it working together.
If you're restoring your own, we take on standalone jobs like chassis installs, suspension, brakes, air conditioning and interiors, and we source the parts we install. No job is too small.
We don't install customer-supplied parts. When we source every part, we know it fits, and if something we installed fails down the road, it's ours to fix.
Cam Musgrove leads every build. He came up through General Motors training, worked with Pratt Miller in professional motorsport, and was a lead technician and crew chief for an IMSA team that won multiple championships.
He has finished about 15 early Broncos, and his builds have run as center spreads in Hot Rod, Super Street and PassMag.
John Kemper works on the Broncos. He's a TSTC automotive graduate with eight years in the trade. Coleman Bement handles fabrication and engine swaps, with five years of swaps and restorations behind him.
There's no service desk. The people who tear your truck down are the people who put it back together.
A few of Cam's early Bronco firsts:
Backwards Bill's Garage is at 14305 FM 2769 in Leander, Texas, twenty to thirty minutes northwest of downtown Austin. Visits are by appointment, Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4 PM.
If you're out of state, distance isn't a problem. We help coordinate enclosed or open transport in both directions and price the haul into the quote.
Most out-of-state owners fly in twice, once at teardown and once at delivery. If you'd rather not travel, we'll walk you through your truck on video. Either way, you get photos as the work happens.
When it's done, you get a binder with the paperwork for every part and a USB drive with photos of the whole restoration.
Early Bronco restoration work at Backwards Bill's Garage starts around $65,000 for a full driveline cleanup and reseal, a fuel injection conversion and new suspension. A full custom frame-off restoration has run about $300,000. Single repairs are quoted per job. You get a written plan with the budget before any work starts.
A full frame-off restoration takes 8 to 9 months. A simpler engine swap on a solid truck can take about 6 months. Heavy custom work, or parts that are built to order, can push a restoration past a year.
A restoration brings a Bronco back to its stock look. A restomod keeps the original body and look, then replaces the chassis, engine, brakes, suspension and wiring with modern parts. Most of our work leans restomod, and many owners land somewhere in between.
No. Our stock-style restorations use aftermarket parts most of the time, because the good ones are proven and hold up better than OEM. If you want a truck that's correct down to the original parts for judging, we're not the right shop for it.
Send photos, especially of the underside, and we'll tell you honestly what it needs. A rusty original frame doesn't end the project, because every frame-off restoration we do goes onto a new Kincer chassis.
Yes. We help clients find good donor trucks, we buy and sell early Broncos, and we sometimes have finished trucks ready to go.
Yes. We take over stalled builds from other shops. We go through the truck, document every issue we find and give you a straight plan to get it finished.
No. Backwards Bill's Garage sources every part that goes into a build. That way everything fits, and if something fails later, one shop is responsible for it.
Paint and body go to an outside paint shop we trust. We'll tell you up front who's doing it and where it fits in your schedule.
No. Most of the Broncos we finish leave Texas. We help coordinate transport both ways and include the haul in the quote.
Yes, by appointment, or on a video walkthrough. You'll also get photo updates as the work happens.
No. We'll help you plan a restoration that fits the budget you have.
Start a build conversation
It starts on the first try. It tracks straight at highway speed and stops when you ask it to. You take the long way home because you can.
Getting there starts with a few photos of your truck and one conversation. Tell us what you've got and how you want to drive it. If we're not the right shop for it, we'll tell you that too.
Or call (512) 937-7086, Monday to Friday, 8AM to 4PM.
5.0 on Google
"Cam was very quick to get me a quote and communicated with me throughout the entire process. If you're looking for an honest reliable shop these guys are it."
"It's refreshing to find someone who actually cares about your car equally or more than you do."
By Appointment Only
