My 73 Baja thread

[Bajabrewer]

Today is a great day to start telling my Baja's story because it turns 49 today(4/17/22) & I drove it out of the garage under its own power for the 1st time in 16 years. Here's when I bought it in Breckenridge Co. in April of 1988 about an hour after I got it.

and Today

I still have a lot to do before it's road ready but I took it to the end of the dead end street I live on & it drove great & shifted good so I am SUPER HAPPY! I'll post more pics & history & details in the coming days - I just wanted to get this started.

 

[ford man]

Cool bronco and can't wait to hear the rest of the story.

 

[House]

Love that Gravel Grabber Baja!

 

[DirtDonk]

You were definitely the cool kid on the block. Then and now!
I loved those Sears TrailHandler tires. Probably the best off-road AND on-road tires I've ever owned on a Bronco. But I'm guessing they're a little old to be your daily-driver tires!

Lookin' good. Can't wait to see it fully on the road again.
Got any trips planned? Maiden voyages of note?

Paul

 

[toddz69]

Congrats man! So glad to see that your rig is back on the road!

Todd Z.

 

[green61bug]

Awesome.... I love those old scoops on the hood. Congrats on getting her going again.

 

[Bajabrewer]

Thanks everyone - When I bought it I had no clue who Bill Stroppe was or what a Baja Bronco was except for the stickers on the fenders. I had it about 3 weeks when it was time to head back to Michigan so one thing I did was hook up the Aux tank on the drivers side(passenger side was gone except for the filler neck. I saw where the hoses went & after connecting everything I was ready to go. I got to Denver about rush hour & the main tank started sputtering so I reached down & flipped the valve & it died so I coasted to the shoulder to figure out what was wrong. That's when I discovered the aux tank wasn't really plumbed to the valve like I thought, it actually wound around some & was capped off. So I bypassed the valve & ran the aux tank direct & drove the 1,200 miles home on the small tank. Had to stop a lot but driving by myself it wasn't too bad. Here's a couple more pics from Colorado in 1988 - The first pic reminded me that on the way down the mountain that night the headlights went out coming into a tight curve & I damn near drove into a tree trying not to drive off the cliff. I got a new light switch the next day & I think I still have that one. One thing to notice is the top is flat black and I haven't found any blue on the top at all & the roll bar/cactus smasher are orange with grey primer(no black) under the orange. I don't know if it was done that way at Stroppe's shop or Fairway Ford - home of the "Gravel Grabbers" More interesting stuff to come.........

 

[Bajabrewer]

I loved those Sears TrailHandler tires. Probably the best off-road AND on-road tires I've ever owned on a Bronco. But I'm guessing they're a little old to be your daily-driver tires!

Yup I loved those tires too! that set I bought right after I got back to Michigan in 1988 so yeah they're my rollers - held air good until this spring & now 3 out of 4 last about an hour when I air them up. Time for some new rollers.

 

[77Bronco636]

Glad you got it out of the garage David and look forward to seeing it in person in the near future! The tow truck towing a tow truck pic is classic! Look forward to reading the stories in this thread!!

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

And man, is that Jeep deep or what.
Your third pic is literally calendar worthy for next year!

Paul

 

[gnsteam]

Congrats, on getting it on the move. And thanks for sharing the pictures of your early experiences.

 

[NGABronco]

Cool story!!! That first pic looks like you ain't much older than the Baja??? Get'er done!!!

 

[sprdv1]

Today is a great day to start telling my Baja's story because it turns 49 today(4/17/22) & I drove it out of the garage under its own power for the 1st time in 16 years. Here's when I bought it in Breckenridge Co. in April of 1988 about an hour after I got it.
View attachment 880242

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and Today
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I still have a lot to do before it's road ready but I took it to the end of the dead end street I live on & it drove great & shifted good so I am SUPER HAPPY! I'll post more pics & history & details in the coming days - I just wanted to get this started.

Awesome.. Great shots too

 

[sprdv1]

Thanks everyone - When I bought it I had no clue who Bill Stroppe was or what a Baja Bronco was except for the stickers on the fenders. I had it about 3 weeks when it was time to head back to Michigan so one thing I did was hook up the Aux tank on the drivers side(passenger side was gone except for the filler neck. I saw where the hoses went & after connecting everything I was ready to go. I got to Denver about rush hour & the main tank started sputtering so I reached down & flipped the valve & it died so I coasted to the shoulder to figure out what was wrong. That's when I discovered the aux tank wasn't really plumbed to the valve like I thought, it actually wound around some & was capped off. So I bypassed the valve & ran the aux tank direct & drove the 1,200 miles home on the small tank. Had to stop a lot but driving by myself it wasn't too bad. Here's a couple more pics from Colorado in 1988 - The first pic reminded me that on the way down the mountain that night the headlights went out coming into a tight curve & I damn near drove into a tree trying not to drive off the cliff. I got a new light switch the next day & I think I still have that one. One thing to notice is the top is flat black and I haven't found any blue on the top at all & the roll bar/cactus smasher are orange with grey primer(no black) under the orange. I don't know if it was done that way at Stroppe's shop or Fairway Ford - home of the "Gravel Grabbers" More interesting stuff to come.........

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The things you know now right

 

[Bajabrewer]

Glad you got it out of the garage David and look forward to seeing it in person in the near future!

Look forward to showing it to you!

 

[Bajabrewer]

That first pic looks like you ain't much older than the Baja???

26 at the time - Just hit 60 this year & realized it's time to git it done!

 

[Bajabrewer]

For the next installment of the continuing saga of the Gravel Grabbers Baja we have a mystery or two. When I bought it I was in the truck driving away when the seller yelled "Hey you want the spare tire?" well Duh yeah I was just so excited to be owning an EB again(my 1st was a rusty Michigan 74) I totally forgot about the spare. We went to the storage cage at his apt & he says I got a tow bar too if you want it? well Yes & thank you I think I will take that. He handed me the drivers side tow bar bracket & said they took it off & it just needed to be put back on. Well the reason someone took it off was to add a plate to stiffen the frame at the steering box & they covered the holes for the bracket. Ok when I pulled the body off I trimmed the plate to expose the holes & found the bracket wasn't for a Bronco because the rear mounting hole on the bracket was farther back & didn't line up & in fact would interfere with the steering box. I got around that by taking the passenger side bracket & moving it to the drivers side where it lined up with the holes. Then I put the longer bracket on the passenger side & drilled a new mounting hole & bolted it up. My guess is the shop that plated the frame had a few brackets laying around & gave them the wrong one when the job was done. The next mystery is the tow bar itself - If you notice it has some heavy road rash on the top of the coupler? I'm not sure how you could do that but I'm sure someone has a really good story! My best guess is they had it bolted to the brackets upside down & tied up to the Cactus Smasher & it broke loose, dropped & ground down the top of the coupler? Anyone else have any guesses?

 

[Rebuilder]

This is so awesome. This is so close to my Baja story (which you've seen on another thread). I bought mine in 1996 in Denver just to have a 4x4 daily driver while I lived in Breckenridge. I too didn't know anything about Bill Stroppe and nobody really cared about what a Baja Bronco was. It was just another old 4x4. I almost bought a Scout that was sitting in the Walmart parking lot in Frisco (lots of vehicles for sale there at the time), after that I was looking at FJ40's but then I saw this old orange and white '71 Bronco (not listed as a Baja) for sale in the Summit Daily and for $2600 and that's what I ended up getting. It was my daily drive for 2 years and when I got back to Minnesota in 1998 I started to rebuild it. Half way through the rebuild I came across Andrew's BajaBroncos.com and realized what I had. That was quite an AHA moment to say the least but in reality it still wasn't clear what I had but at least I knew what colors I needed to paint it. Looking back I wish I would have done a lot of things differently on the rebuild as far as originality goes but 26 years later I'm still pretty happy that I have it. It's far from original but I think it's still pretty cool. Oddly enough I just started it up a few hours ago for the first time this spring. Can't wait for it to warm up so I can get it out on the road again....

 

[Bajabrewer]

This is so awesome. This is so close to my Baja story (which you've seen on another thread). I bought mine in 1996 in Denver just to have a 4x4 daily driver while I lived in Breckenridge. I too didn't know anything about Bill Stroppe and nobody really cared about what a Baja Bronco was. It was just another old 4x4. I almost bought a Scout that was sitting in the Walmart parking lot in Frisco (lots of vehicles for sale there at the time), after that I was looking at FJ40's but then I saw this old orange and white '71 Bronco (not listed as a Baja) for sale in the Summit Daily and for $2600 and that's what I ended up getting. It was my daily drive for 2 years and when I got back to Minnesota in 1998 I started to rebuild it. Half way through the rebuild I came across Andrew's BajaBroncos.com and realized what I had. That was quite an AHA moment to say the least but in reality it still wasn't clear what I had but at least I knew what colors I needed to paint it. Looking back I wish I would have done a lot of things differently on the rebuild as far as originality goes but 26 years later I'm still pretty happy that I have it. It's far from original but I think it's still pretty cool. Oddly enough I just started it up a few hours ago for the first time this spring. Can't wait for it to warm up so I can get it out on the road again....

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

 

[House]

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…