By now, you’ve probably heard about Sydney Sweeney’s Bronco. As the star power of the 24-year-old actor has grown over the past year, thanks to her role in The White Lotus and her character’s high-drama storyline during season two of the mega-hit Euphoria, so has fans’ fascination with Sweeney’s unexpected hobby of restoring a 1969 Ford SUV. She began chronicling the project on her TikTok account for her family (her handle is @syds_garage), but the videos soon blew up, and she now has 1.4 million followers and millions more views.
In her most recent clip (posted in January of this year), Sweeney is finally able to drive the car, and she writes in the caption that she’ll be “sending her off to get reupholstered this weekend.” Since then, we haven’t seen any Bronco updates—until now. On Wednesday, Sweeney and the Bronco, in all of its shiny, candy apple red glory, made an appearance at eBay’s New York Auto Parts Show at the Classic Car Club of Manhattan.
AD was able to chat with Sweeney there and even get an up-close look at that fresh, cognac-colored leather upholstery. Below, she tells us about the process of restoring the Bronco and the stylish car she’s working on next.
Architectural Digest: When did your love of cars first start?
Sydney Sweeney: I had a family that loved cars. We never had really nice cars, but there was a lot of talk and dreaming of cars. I’ve worked really hard to be able to afford [a vintage car], and I knew that, if I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t happen. I was like, I just have to make that scary jump of purchasing one. I got it off an auction site.
How did you decide it was going to be a Bronco?
I always wanted a Bronco. It was one of my dream cars. I’m obsessed with them. And I scavenged the land for a really good-condition all-original Bronco. It needed a lot of love and a lot of work, but she’s beautiful now.
Was it red when you bought it? Did you pretty much keep it how it originally was, or did you make any big changes?
Yes, it was red. My favorite color is baby blue, and I was originally planning on painting it baby blue, but then I found out how much it cost to repaint a car. A really, really good full paint job of a car—it means they take apart every single piece of your vehicle, and it can be $30,000. I ended up instead just going and buying a 1965 baby blue Mustang for less than what it would’ve been to repaint the car, so I got two cars out of it.
Oh, that’s amazing. So, what was the hardest task that you did when you were restoring the Bronco?
There were a lot. The transmission, because I changed it from manual to automatic. Trying to find the parts was quite a task. Ebay Motors helped quite a bit with finding original pieces or new pieces that would work with older models.
Are you doing any work on the Mustang?
I’m probably going to change out the engine. She needs a little more power.
Can you say what other cars you’re working on?
I have a surprise car that people are going to be really happy that I’m doing.
I feel like people were surprised that this is your hobby. What do you make of that?
I think that, a lot of times, a lot of people in the entertainment industry only show one side of themselves. I have so many interests, and I want to learn and try so many things, and I think that it’s cool to show people that you don’t have to just choose or be one thing. You can love and try out as many things as possible.
I know you’re also into home design a little bit. Would you ever share that on TikTok?
I am. I haven’t decided how I’m going to share that process, but I am a huge fan of HGTV, and I bought an older home that I’ve been slowly doing little DIY projects to.
