Stroppe Race Bronco - Update w/pix

It's been several weeks since Andrew and I posted some initial pictures and information on the Stroppe racing Bronco that we bought in April. Since then not much has happened to the vehicle itself but we've been busy trying to determine a little more of its pedigree and rounding up the remainder of the parts that came with the truck.

In the previous thread, I noted that we thought the VIN, U13FLC00001, indicated it was the first '68 Bronco (or truck, period) off the assembly line for the '68 model year. We based this statement on some information we received that we thought came from Kevin Marti. Shortly after my initial post, "Rude John" from Marti called me to tell me the VIN # "was no good. It doesn't exist. People make fake VIN plates all the time." I didn't argue (although I knew this one was definitely real) and thanked him for his time. So the mystery continues as to what year the truck really is. The data plate on the driver's side kick panel would make one think it's a '66 or a '67. But the VIN doesn't match any of the factory #'s for those two years. And Marti says the # doesn't exist for where we think it might fit; 1968. Another interesting bit is the DSO: 84. 84 is Home Office Reserve - a DSO code saved for "special" Ford vehicles. Terry Marvel (66_bronco) sent us a webpage giving some history on Home Office Reserve vehicles. So we believe it's something "special" based on that DSO. Terry also wisely pointed out that our body code of '996' indicates a parchment interior, which '66s didn't have. Another interesting tidbit.

I've attached a few shots of the truck as it sits now with some 33" tires and pseudo-Stroppe slots on it along with some shots of the VIN tag. The paddle tires shown in the first pictures are sold. I've also included a shot from a 1974 Four Wheeler magazine with what we believe is our truck. Special thanks to Jason Ray (1975stroppebaja) for the shot. More on that in a following post.

Todd Z.

What does the vin on the frame say?

Another big effort underway by Andrew and I is to determine which Stroppe truck we own. This can be tough, even for dedicated enthusiasts, because the trucks were built and rebuilt and painted and repainted many times with different drivers and co-drivers. Andrew and I had a hunch all along that our truck was either the truck known as the "Stove" or one we'll just call the "Hall's Ass" Bronco. Willie Stroppe called me early one morning after seeing the photos to state that the truck was definitely the one he raced, aka the "Stove". But Andrew and I weren't so sure. Yes, it has the "hard" door insert covers and we knew it had a "funky" shaped hood to go with it (which belonged to the Stove) but other details seemed to point towards the truck that Rod Hall drove for several years after he and Larry Minor won the '69 Mexican (aka Baja) 1000 overall in their Bronco. Also, the Stove was propane-powered for many years and our truck didn't display any evidence that it had propane power. The final clinching detail was when Willie told us to measure the o.d. of the rollcage. If it was 1.75", it was the Stove. If it was 2.0", it was Rod's truck. I measured it and it was 2.0".

After several more phone calls with Willie on that Friday and sorting through some more details, we believe we have Rod's second truck that he drove from around 1970 until about 1974. However, it has the hard door sides and the hood from the Stove. How to explain this? Well, when Stroppe went through some financial difficulties in the mid '70s, many of his race vehicles ended up in others' hands and pieces from certain trucks ended up on other trucks. Willie believes this is how the hood and door sides from his truck ended up on this one.

Attached below are some shots of the "funky" hood and the hard door sides. If you have a Stroppe parts catalog from the '70s, look on the back cover. The large Bronco in the picture is the Stove and the hood on that truck is the one in the pictures below. The hood had the odd bubble on it to clear the intake plumbing for the propane system. The hood has the signature 3 Stroppe hood pin holes and although in rough condition, is well-made.

Todd Z.

Broncoman said:

What does the vin on the frame say?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a VIN on the frame....yet....

Todd Z.

Now some pictures of some odds-n-ends. The original seats arrived a few weeks ago. The seats are Bostroms and I believe they were originally used in semi's or some other large over-the-road trucks. They have a suspension system of sorts to them that I haven't exactly figured out yet. If you unzip the rear covers on the backs, you'll find some coil springs and shock absorbers. These made those rough desert trails just a little more comfortable than the meager 4-6" of travel in the suspension allowed.

The ring at the rear corner of the bed baffled me for awhile until I discovered the blue can in the box of spare parts. Willie explained this was for a large air horn on the truck. We've seen some pictures of trucks with this horn on them. And sure enough, I found a large, chrome, bashed horn "trumpet" in the pile of parts as well. Mystery solved.

Another item we received were the original rear fender flares with layers of blue and red Stroppe colors on them. The undersides of the rocker panels also show these red and blue colors where the current red paint on the truck was blasted away by Glamis sands. Unfortunately the fenders and most of the rest of the body were sandblasted by a previous owner prior to the current red paint being applied.

Also shown are the fillers for the fuel cell and the intake plumbing that runs from the top of the carburetor to the plenum that goes through the firewall and is covered by the two air filters on the firewall. Another shot shows the side exit exhaust through the rockers. A neat touch.

The final picture shows the cutouts in the rear quarters to allow side-by-side mounting of two spare tires in the rear. Early (up until about 1970 or so) shots of Stroppe racing Broncos show two side by side spares. As tire sizes increased in the early '70s, the Broncos shifted to a single center mounted rear spare, which this truck currently has. Willie Stroppe also noted that dual spares were preferred in the early years due to longer distances between pits, less chase support, etc.

Todd Z.

All this is really cool to see and read about.

Those of you who know me know that I'm a suspension and drivetrain geek of sorts so these shots show some of the real interesting things on the truck to me. The fuzzy shot of the 3rd member doesn't hardly show it, but I was pleased to see that this truck has a Ford nodular 3rd member, which you would expect considering its competition heritage. Visible in another shot is the driveline loop.

The rear axle is a heavily trussed/braced big bearing 9" housing. Willie Stroppe claims this is a narrowed Lincoln axle.

What we REALLY found interesting is the extra set of leaf spring mounts INBOARD of the stockers. Hmmm....Andrew found a few Stroppe Bronco shots with the springs mounted inboard, directly under the frame rails. Bingo - that's what this truck has. Note the inboard mounts at the front. Look at the pictures of the rear frame rails and how they're cut/channeled and swept up at the rear. The rails have holes in them where shackles once pivoted. The shot of the axle housing shows an inboard set of leaf spring pads as well. This spring mounting is mentioned in the Motor Trend article on the Rod Hall/Larry Minor Bronco in the "Ford Bronco 4x4 Performance Portfolio 1966-1977" book, page 48-49. We haven't seen any other Stroppe trucks with this spring setup, which of course begs a few more questions about the exact lineage of this truck.... Andrew and I are fairly convinced our truck is the one shown on those pages.

Another interesting item is the piece of strapping on the "C's" on the front axle. Stroppe added these to his front ends to keep the C-bushings from blowing out during races. They're redundant in this day and age since our C-bushings have lips on them. But until James Duff put lips on the bushings, this is what they did to keep them in place. I also included a shot of the "standard" Stroppe steering setup and bumper brace (still coated with Glamis sand).

Todd Z.

Here are some shots of a few of the other things that came with the truck: the original "police special" speedo which we hope to remount in its original location between the seats, driver/co-driver windscreens, cage for Thermos jug, window nets, original horse collar harnesses, seat belts, a pair of original Gabriel shocks, Hays electronic ignition modules, etc. We also have at least a portion of the original wiring harness which consists of nicely done wiring with circuit breakers and mil-spec toggle switches. Stroppe knew how to prep a vehicle - that's for certain. Although it's old and "beat", the fab work is quite good, especially considering what most folks were racing in the early '70s.

Todd Z.

A few more shots. This truck has disc brakes on it even though Stroppe never offered disc brakes on their trucks. Instead, they retrofitted a kit available in the early '70s from Clover Industries (owned by Vic Hickey). I am told this kit uses Dodge calipers. We haven't determined whether they're Chevy calipers or Dodges yet. I'm not yet certain what the hub/rotors are from although they look to be standard '76-newer EB/F150 fare. Also included is a shot of the two level "dead pedal" for the driver. The rear suspension once included Air Lift air bags but now only a lonely rubber bumpstop resides in that location with a "target" bolted to the top of the leaf pack. The front coils are very heavy duty and also have Air Lift bags in them. The tab retaining the springs appears to be welded into position, which leads one to wonder how/if they changed springs. Hmmm... The engine compartment has formed aluminum panels which bridge the gap between the inner fenders/grille and a tubular cage which surrounds the engine. Again, you can see the makings of this cage in the Brooklands article referenced earlier. The Hall/Minor truck in Reno and Big Oly have similar aluminum panels in their engine compartments. This was all the handiwork of Dick Russell, who did most/much of the fabrication work on these trucks. The door insert panels have holes in them to store parts/supplies in them. Another shot shows the battery box underneath the passenger's side seat. I don't have any pictures of them, but both floorboards also have the holes for p*ss tubes in them. The rear brake drums are drilled for cooling. Willie Stroppe told me the man who drilled those holes still works for him today.

Todd Z.

And the last of the photos for now. One shot shows a little bit of the underside of the inner fenderwell - you can just make out the fitting on the firewall where the intake hose attaches and travels through the firewall to the air filters.

Stroppe was concerned about airflow back in the day as well and often directed the center section of the grilles to be cut out and small deflectors installed on each side to help force the air into the radiator. What's old is new again! Our truck originally had a hardware screen guard over this opening but it disappeared over the years. Thankfully other Stroppe racers have this piece so we'll be able to duplicate it.

A few other details. Another shot below shows how Stroppe rolled the front fender edges for increased tire clearance and strength. The light mounts on the Cactus Smasher are unique according to Andrew and finding this detail has helped him immensely in helping identify the truck in various magazine pictures. I don't believe we've found another truck with a pushbar like this on it yet.

Stay tuned as Andrew and I uncover more interesting bits and pieces of hardware and history on this truck.

Todd Z.

Wow Todd,
What a great find, how did you guys stumble across this one?
Another piece of history, very very cool. Can't wait to see and here more.
Errol

Amazing! Couldn't have gone to a better team of investigators. Congrats and please keep the info coming!

Thanks for the updates...

Question, why did they enclose the engine like they did?

Again, I have to say that I'm happy to see you end up with this truck. I know if I had it, I wouldn't even know where to begin and would likely do more damage than good. Looking forward to the restoration thread Keep up the good work!

Great reading Todd, we'll be watching for the updates

Awesome find, keep us updated, its better than daytime soap operas.....not that i watch those...

I feel smarter from just reading that.

very cool write up there TZ.
the coild are more than likely removed by unscrewing them once the lower plates are off.
lots of cools things old dick whipped up back in the day. if you've ever seen one of the old blazers they share many of the ideas. his skill set was quite advanced for the day.

Wow Todd! The truck is in amazing shape for a race truck. Most I have looked at are beat to death. Please keep the pix coming!

relm4x4 said:

Wow Todd,
What a great find, how did you guys stumble across this one?
Another piece of history, very very cool. Can't wait to see and here more.
Errol

Click to expand...

Andrew tells the story of how we found this one in his article:

http://www.bajabronco.com/RedRacer.shtml

Todd Z.