After supplying the world – everyday owners, TV and film productions; police, fire, armed services and municipal fleets in particular – with every Bronco sold between 1965 and 1996, the Ford plant known as the “Home of the Bronco” would soon begin producing the Expedition and Navigator. But not before the legendary Bronco received a big send-off.

Following years of declining sales and the rise of the Ford Explorer, Ford began producing the fifth-and-final generation of the original Bronco in 1992. After 31 years, the iconic SUV’s rugged reputation was well-known, but a variety of factors, particularly Americans’ desire for larger, four-door SUVs, led to its discontinuation.

On June 12, 1996, a 1970 Bronco from a private collection led the farewell parade down the assembly line at Michigan Truck Plant, followed by the last of the original Broncos and an all-new Expedition, the vehicle that replaced the Bronco in the Ford lineup. Employees later signed the frame of the last Bronco off the line with marker.

According to a plant newsletter from that time, more than 160 plant employees worked there through the entirety of Bronco’s first run – a total of more than 1.1 million Broncos were produced in that span. Today, there are still a few employees at the plant, now known as Michigan Assembly, who worked on the original Bronco and are also working on the all-new Bronco, which recently began production.

The Bronco’s four-door successor, the Expedition, began production weeks after the celebration, and it would be another 25 years – with the exception of a one-off Bronco Package Expedition created in 2013 to preserve the Bronco trademark – before the Bronco would resume production.