Although Chevrolet sold a three-quarter ton version of the Suburban, a full-ton never left the factory before the year 2015. The Ford Centurion had one big ace in the hole that GM simply couldn't match: the existence of the full-ton C-350 model. This would also mean the end of lift-off convertible fun for anyone purchasing the 4x4 SUV. The exterior of the trucks remained almost entirely factory-look, although as time went on from their late-80s debut, Centurion would eventually replace the Bronco's fiberglass components with more durable steel. This included items like TVs, VCRs, and surprisingly a cooled storage compartment suitable for hauling temperature sensitive snacks and beverages. The company also made sure to fill each model with as many luxury features as possible, in order to help justify the high prices charged for the conversion (with window stickers that would have approached $70k in adjusted dollars). Inside, most models offered 9-passenger seating by maintaining the stock Bronco bench at the back, although it was of course possible to select captain's chairs for the middle row as well as the first two positions. Of course, there were a number of finishing touches required to give the Ford Centurion a factory-like look. This meant that, at least in their initial run, Centurion Classic 50 and Classic 350 (for full-ton conversions) featured the same lift-off fiberglass roof at the back as their smaller Bronco cousins. Given that the Bronco was built on a short-wheelbase version of the F-150, all Centurion had to do from a design standpoint was use a four-door chassis cab version of the platform and graft the Bronco's rear passenger compartment on top of where the bed typically would be. Gifted with a strong ladder frame and relatively simple body lines, it was relatively easy for the company's design team to take the Bronco's hindquarters and mate them to the front end of either version of Ford's strong-selling pickup truck. Of these, by far the most successful was Centurion which offered an entire range of 'what might have been' SUV conversions that combined the best elements of the Ford F-Series and the Ford Bronco, in effect creating the very first four-door version of the latter decades before Dearborn would think to do the same.įor conversion companies it doesn't get much better than starting off with full-size pickups like the Ford F-150 or Ford F-350 that were used as the foundations for Centurion builds. With rival Ford on the outside looking in until the development of the Expedition in the late 1990s, a few enterprising aftermarket companies did their best to appeal to fans of the brand by building unique extended-wheelbase sport-utility vehicles of their own using Blue Oval bones.
No other truck builder offered the same kind of 7 passenger SUV, with three rows of bench seats expanding that capacity to a hefty 9 passengers in certain models. For decades General Motors dominated the full-size sport-utility vehicle scene with the Chevrolet Suburban and its GMC clone.
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