Baja Bronco Sighting

[frenchy]

Just watched a episode of Cannon on me tv. At the start of the show he is looking at tire tracks on a remote dirt road. I reconized the tread pattern as I believe to be the gateway commandos. Does that date me? Anyway a couple of scenes later he's looking thru the chain link fence and there it is a Baja Bronco with those tires on it. Thats the last you see it till the very end. Then the bad guy trys driving away from cannon in it of course he gets it stopped. Great looking Bronco. Thats the 2nd time I've seen a bronco in the cannon tv series. That time they were beating the hell out of a dark brown one. Be cool to know what and where that baja ended up. Maybe Andrew at baja bronco .com has some history on it. I love the old tv shows sponsored by the big three, especially ford.

frenchy

 

[Stroppe-Envy-77]

Although Ford sponsored all those Quinn Martin shows in the '60s and '70s, I wonder if the Baja was from a source other than their official studio fleet. That would seem like a really obscure vehicle to include in ones they lent to production companies, rather than just regular Broncos (which showed up all the time).

In the obscure film Blue Sunshine, there's a Stroppe Baja prominently featured in several scenes. But the movie is copyrighted 1976, after the Baja program had been cancelled by Ford. The one shown appears to be a '74, and at the very end of the credits there's a courtesy to a SoCal Ford dealer for providing the Bronco.

 

[Blue71]

Thanks for the tip Frenchy, Will have to keep an eye out for the old Cannon reruns. Wow.."Cannon"...thats been awhile Would be great if Andrew knows the history and location of this one, or the Blue Sunshine one. As far as the "Blue Sunshine" movie...that Stroppe-Envy was talking about..it does show the Stroppe in a few scenes from the Movie Trailer. Man that really is an OBSCURE movie. Stroppe can be scene at 1:07 and 1:31 of the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC23RzhrH5Q

Blue71

 

[Stroppe-Envy-77]

I bought the DVD for Blue Sunshine to add to my collection of movies with interesting cars in them.

Here's what I've been able to decipher from repeated viewings of the Bronco scenes:

At the very end of the credits, there is a listing of "Bronco by Chaffee Motor (sic) Ford." Chaffee Motors was a Ford dealership on Hawthorne Boulevard just north of the 405 in the South Bay area which closed many years ago. That Bronco must have been some kind of personal vehicle of the owner's or something, as it was definitely not new.

The Baja wore California license number 133KST, which would have been issued sometime in 1974. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't a prop plate as a lot of lower-budget producers didn't bother with them, nor would the prop guys have put a correct-for-the-year letter sequence on them. They use letter sequences issued by the DMV for those.)

On the lower left corner of the windshild there was a period CHP inspection sticker. Up until about the mid-1970s, the California Highway Patrol would do random roadside vehicle inspections to make sure cars had working lights, had registration, etc. One they inspected a vehicle, they'd put a small sticker in the corner of the windshield so they could wave that vehicle by during future inspections. So, at some point, that Bronco had been inspected and issued the sticker.

I've looked at other clips of Baja Broncos in various films and don't think this one was used in anything else, at least none that I've found so far.

 

[BajaBronco]

THat is actually a great movie. I love the music in the trailer. Bad.

 

[broncojack]

Frenchy,
Funny you seen it too!
I uploaded it last week to my collection of Bronco videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txTCA1tNDQU

 

[BajaBronco]

10 years ago a buddy of mine described the episode but told me it was Rockford Files. So now....Im an expert on Rockford Files because I watched all of them looking for this episode of Cannon....

 

[Old School]

10 years ago a buddy of mine described the episode but told me it was Rockford Files. So now....Im an expert on Rockford Files because I watched all of them looking for this episode of Cannon....

I SAW that one!

The Bronco set up like a gold Firebird, right?

 

[Stroppe-Envy-77]

10 years ago a buddy of mine described the episode but told me it was Rockford Files. So now....Im an expert on Rockford Files because I watched all of them looking for this episode of Cannon....

Uh, yeah, your friend thinks Jim Rockford was a fat bald guy with a moustache??? ;D

But look at the bright side. You got to see a bunch of other Broncos in those Rockford episodes, including the one where a '77 does an impressive sliding oversteer skid to a stop.

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_332042-Ford-Bronco-1977.html

 

[72_EB]

Those Car Freaks with High Powered Engines!

Found a pic of Jack at Broncorama show last year. "KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THE PAINT JOB, KIDS!"