Ford has picked a peculiar day to unveil its reborn Bronco SUV — July 9, O.J. Simpson's birthday.

Simpson has been indelibly linked to the car since police pursued him in a white Bronco on Los Angeles freeways on June 17, 1994 — a slow-speed chase that was viewed on national TV by 95 million people.

Simpson — whose full name is Orenthal James Simpson — was wanted in the slayings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted the following year in one of the most closely watched murder trials in American history.

The timing of the new Bronco's debut is “a pure coincidence,” Ford spokesman Mike Levine told NBC News.

Brian Moody, executive editor of Autotrader.com, told The Detroit Free Press that despite the timing, bringing the Bronco back was the right move, since it is “completely woven into the cultural fabric of America."

Ford dropped the full-size SUV in 1996, two years after the Simpson-police chase. A classic, truck-based utility vehicle, it was facing a variety of problems, including allegations of safety design problems linked to various rollover crashes. It was subsequently replaced by the Ford Explorer...

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