This 50-shades-of-beige Bronco seems to have missed out entirely on the mud and mall life for which it was intended.

Instead, it lived inside what must have been climate-controlled storage, venturing out rarely and racking up only 22k miles.

But $26k for an ’84 Bronco? This is one of those sales that cements a stupid-looking grimace on my face.

If this truck had less than 1,000 miles I would maybe, possibly understand. But it doesn’t. And worse, the odometer displays what is “likely the actual mileage from new.” Likely? At $10,000 or less, “likely” is an acceptable answer. At an out-of-this-world amount, it is not. And although the interior looks fantastic, the catalog says it’s new. That’s different than original.

Five thousand dollars would’ve been about right for something like this not that long ago, and a buyer at that price would have ditched the roof and installed serious mud-slinging meats before even getting it home. But at this price, guys with a hankering for a crate motor and a set of boggers aren’t the main market anymore. Thirty years on, kids from the “He-Man” era who used to ride around in the back of these are now prime earners, and they’re the next players in the collector car market.

Trucks from this era are starting to see some movement, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is just a hint at a coming trend — especially considering that there are so few really good versions of trucks like this out there today. They say you can never pay too much, only buy too early. I just wonder if the people who said that ever figured an ’84 Bronco would become collectible.