My 73 Baja thread

[Bajabrewer]

Love the stories!
With the evidence of the tow bar being repainted and the lack of padding on the roll bar, my guess is a previous owner painted the roll bar and smasher to their liking, or to match the smasher if it was already body color. Another assumption, but if there is zero evidence of blue on the top, it was probably replaced with a white one at some point and then painted to match the hood…

With these trucks anything is possible - I pulled the top in 88 when I first got it & I remember there was no evidence it had ever been off before. I was doing a little research & I found that Frank Coletto Ford was only 7 or so miles from Long Beach. I wonder what the relationship was like between Bill Stroppe & Frank Coletto? I also found that Fairway Ford where "Gravel Grabbers" was was only 30 miles from Long Beach. It's interesting to notice that my Baja was ordered February of 73, Built in April 73 but not sold until February of 74? Dealer company truck for most of a year? I also remember the seller(he thought he was the 2nd owner) telling me he was told it had a replacement engine when it was a year old. When I ran the numbers on the 302 that was in it it is a 74 block. I also forgot to mention in regards to the tow bar that someone had welded a piece of angle iron to the frame so you could disconnect and put driveshaft on it. Once again I'm not sure who added that detail.

 

[House]

Cool stuff, for some reason I always assumed your truck was sold through Fairway since it had the Gravel Grabbers decal on it…

 

[Bajabrewer]

Cool stuff, for some reason I always assumed your truck was sold through Fairway since it had the Gravel Grabbers decal on it…

Me too - until I got the Marti report.

 

[mjschneidy]

Looks good Dave! Glad to see it’s close to road worthy again.

 

[Bajabrewer]

Looks good Dave! Glad to see it’s close to road worthy again.

Thanks Mike, Seems like a lot of 2 steps forward 1 back with Bronco projects.

 

[sprdv1]

Wow - Nice Baja! you ain't kidding it's a close story - The first time I saw my Baja it was for sale across the street from the Walmart in Frisco. At the time I didn't have $100 let alone the $3,200 the guy was asking so I just drooled & drove away. About 5 months later I had made enough money to replace my 1980 Ford Fairmont station wagon with a 2.3 4 speed stick & 4 new snow tires(I have to look for a pic of that). I was looking at Broncos but not finding what I wanted - little rust - tasteful mods - right price. One night I drove from Breck to Frisco to do my laundry at the laundry mat & I walked outside while the machines did there thing. Across the street and behind the snowboard shop building I saw a Bronco tail light so I went to check it out. I immediately recognized the truck & there was no for sale sign. I went in the shop & wandered around looking like I was shopping then asked the guy working if it was his Bronco & if it was still for sale. He said it was his & was for sale so the next day I checked it out, drove it & we made the deal. $2,800 & the Fairmont & I owned it. I daily drove it for 2 years before it became my summer car. in 1991 Petersons 4WD & Off Road Magazine had an article on the Bronco turning 25 & a section of that was on the Bajas & what they were so that was my AHA moment. In fact the article said "Any of these trucks(Bajas) in existence today are worth much more than there original $7,000 asking price" I'd have to say that's still true today LOL

Great story brother....

 

[Bajabrewer]

Now here's something I haven't seen elsewhere and I'm wondering if my Baja was a spare tire cover delete(didn't have one when I bought it) - The wheels are US Indy Mags 15X8 with a 1" pos offset - The spare tire carrier wasn't on when I bought the truck & was obviously broken and repaired(black one - white is the replacement with the mounting square welded on). If you notice there is a square plate welded to the carrier & a "box" with fine thread bolts welded to it. This box allows the good side of the wheel to face to the rear. I didn't think much about it until I went to strip the paint & found Baja Blue under several layers of black & orange paint - Original Stroppe part? notice the dimples in the center hole of the box to give it some added strength. I went with the blue when I got around to painting it a couple years ago & now it's waiting its turn to be installed back on the Baja.

 

[Bajabrewer]

I was going to wait until April to show the progress on my truck when I will hopefully be driving it on the road again but I just had a ton of fun with my Baja so I'll show you now. We got about 8" of snow last night & this morning it's 40 degrees & sunny so I took the Baja into the side yard for a few pics. BFGs are 25 years old but still have enough tread to have no problem with the packable 6"(melting fast) snow. I am still finishing the interior & other small projects but she runs Great! I even caught a neighbor driving past in a Bronco Sport in one pic.

 

[sprdv1]

I was going to wait until April to show the progress on my truck when I will hopefully be driving it on the road again but I just had a ton of fun with my Baja so I'll show you now. We got about 8" of snow last night & this morning it's 40 degrees & sunny so I took the Baja into the side yard for a few pics. BFGs are 25 years old but still have enough tread to have no problem with the packable 6"(melting fast) snow. I am still finishing the interior & other small projects but she runs Great! I even caught a neighbor driving past in a Bronco Sport in one pic.

no sense waiting.. share that beautiful thing w/us so we can drool some

 

[gnsteam]

Playing in the snow is great fun. Thanks for sharing.

 

[LUBr LuvR]

Love that 1st pic with the tires tracks. With the sport being white, it sort of blends into the background.

 

[green61bug]

Love that 1st pic with the tires tracks. With the sport being white, it sort of blends into the background.

Yeah for sure I almost didn't even see the sport back there. That is a great shot!

 

[toddz69]

Love the photos!

Todd Z.

 

[ngsd]

Very cool congrats. The trailer hitch is interesting. Was it reinforced on the sides?

 

[Bajabrewer]

Thanks everyone! Taking those pics was a challenge with the sun in my eyes - I should have taken more with the sun at my back but the background wasn't as nice

 

[Bajabrewer]

Very cool congrats. The trailer hitch is interesting. Was it reinforced on the sides?

Yes it is. I never took a close look at it compared to other Baja hitches. Here's some pics I found in my files of the hitch - I wonder who did it & what they were going to tow that made them want to reenforce it? Stroppe's shop, Fairway Ford or someone else? You can see where the drivers side had a loop for the safety chain that broke off - wonder if there is a story behind that or just not a very strong loop. Interesting they only welded the inside & not the back or outside. Makes me think they welded it while installed on the truck?

Edit - on closer inspection it is welded on the back side

 

[ngsd]

Yes the hitch looks original but the extra pieces definitely not. Maybe just concerned for a larger load than they should have been pulling? But when you look at the original design, it does make you wonder if that is safe to begin with so maybe they had an idea there!

 

[Bajabrewer]

I know I hauled a few 6X12 U-Haul trailers across town with it back in 88-91 as I recall they were about 1,500 pounds empty so I'm glad it was reenforced.

Funny story - I worked for a family owned rental shop off & on for years & when I got back from Colorado in 88 I was at the shop when the district manager stopped in to drop off trailers. He knew I'd been out west & had just got home. He saw my Baja parked out by the U-Haul trucks & for about 10 minutes we had him convinced I had rented it in Colorado to get home because the car I was driving had died out there. He was all ready to take that little "U-Haul" back to the district garage for "service" I finally came clean & told him I bought it & the next words out of his mouth were "Do you want to sell it?" he offered twice what I paid & it was tempting but I'm glad I turned him down.

 

[sprdv1]

Thanks everyone! Taking those pics was a challenge with the sun in my eyes - I should have taken more with the sun at my back but the background wasn't as nice

LOL, but well worth the effort

 

[Bajabrewer]

Happy Birthday to my Baja! 50 Years old today(4/17/2023)

I feel like I should buy it a present so I got it 4 new BFG All Terrains & Insurance(in a couple weeks) It feels awesome to be closing in on being able to drive it again. This past weekend I added the Baja stickers & the air scoops that were on the truck when I bought it. I'm still working on the interior, wiring & I'll paint the speaker boxes Wimbledon White instead of bright white soon. I wish I could join everybody at Super Cel East this week but it just isn't happening this year. I hope everyone that is going has a GREAT time!