Stroppe Race Bronco - Update w/pix

[BajaBronco]

VIN update

After at first being a bit miffed about the response from John at Marti, I thought a picture of the VIN plate emailed to Kevin Marti himself might help shed some light. He was quick getting back to me and gave the following insight: "The plate you showed me is a 1967 data plate. They changed styles in 1968. My opinion is that this is an original 1967 that was put on some sort of mule or test vehicle. I'm guessing someone at Ford made up a serial number just as a "place holder." However, when I check the database for all 1968 Broncos painted code J with a 9 interior, all of them are body style (U)15. There were no Broncos built in 1968 with a DSO of 84, but this would be a typical DSO for a prototype or other "internal use only" vehicle."

So that makes more sense to me. It has been rumorred that Ford gave Stroppe 4-12 (depending on source) Bronco prototypes or even "Crash test" Broncos to build into race cars, and I think this VIN plate might be as close to that story as we've come. For example, one other racer we know of in SoCal started life as a 68 Wagon and was a production vehicle to begin with.

Andrew

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.

Todd Z.

 

[ProjectCumminsBronco]

Thats cool

 

[toddz69]

Andrew came to Phoenix this weekend to see his new baby for the first time. We braved the 115 degree heat to clean up the truck a little more, fix a trans leak, and go through all the spare parts that came with it. Andrew found a "C7XXXXXX" number on the underside of the frame so we know we have a '67 frame. Fixing the trans leak and some fresh trans fluid gave us forward and reverse gears again. Andrew had the honor of making the first blast down and back on my street with it. Big ol' grin on his face!

Still more cleaning to be done but we've made great progress so far.

Terry Marvel (66bronco) and his son Josh came over on Saturday from LA and helped us go through a ton of old 4WD magazines, flagging pictures to be copied, etc. They were a big help. This will all help us with the history of the truck. We still have more to go but we gained more positive IDs this weekend that helped with some puzzle pieces for us. On Saturday night we went and visited another Phoenix resident who has another Stroppe race Bronco. We looked at all of his parts (his is in pieces) and had a great time visiting with him.

We have also pieced together a portion of the truck's race wins. Impressive - to say the least!

Todd Z.

 

[willtel]

Andrew came to Phoenix this weekend to see his new baby for the first time. We braved the 115 degree heat to clean up the truck a little more, fix a trans leak, and go through all the spare parts that came with it. Andrew found a "C7XXXXXX" number on the underside of the frame so we know we have a '67 frame. Fixing the trans leak and some fresh trans fluid gave us forward and reverse gears again. Andrew had the honor of making the first blast down and back on my street with it. Big ol' grin on his face!

Still more cleaning to be done but we've made great progress so far.

Terry Marvel (66bronco) and his son Josh came over on Saturday from LA and helped us go through a ton of old 4WD magazines, flagging pictures to be copied, etc. They were a big help. This will all help us with the history of the truck. We still have more to go but we gained more positive IDs this weekend that helped with some puzzle pieces for us. On Saturday night we went and visited another Phoenix resident who has another Stroppe race Bronco. We looked at all of his parts (his is in pieces) and had a great time visiting with him.

We have also pieced together a portion of the truck's race wins. Impressive - to say the least!

Todd Z.

What magazines are you guys looking at? I have a bunch of old off road mags from that era and this would be a good excuse to flip through them again. Any idea when it's racing career ended?

 

[BajaBronco]

Thinking its last race was the 76 Mint 400 I believe. At least that was the last race it ran with the hood pictured on page 1 of this thread. We've been looking at Off Road and Four Wheeler. And pretty much have most all those issues between the two of us, but any coverage from 69 - 77 or 78 of MInt, Parker, Baja, and other races in other magazines would be helpful I think.

 

[Rumpfy]

No mini-video clips of the drive by?

 

[BajaBronco]

No, no clips of the drive-by, but I think there are some stills. I'm working on getting a related video posted. Will keep this thread up on the progress of that!

 

[66Bronco]

W/E at Todd's checking out the Stroppe racer

Can't say enough about the fanastic time my son and I had over at ToddZ's place. Listening to Todd and Andrew analyze pictures from the old Four Wheeler mags was awesome. Still not sure what some of the names they used referred to, things like stove pipe, Edsel, etc.

Here's a couple of pics of the guys in the Stroppe racer.

Here's a link to the rest of the pics I took over the weekend.


Thanks for a great time, especially while on the Boondocks and Boulevard.

-Terry

 

[Rumpfy]

So cool.

 

[eaglenest66]

What an awesome adventure this one is turning out to be!!! Congrats guys and glad you are sharing this piece of bronco history with everyone!!! It brings all of us to your place thanks to the internet!!! Keep us posted. Tim

 

[BajaBronco]

The truck gets more exciting with sound too. Here's a link to the clip on YouTube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZVytgIhL7U

 

[broncnut]

Very cool. Love all the info on the racer..Keep it coming. ;D

 

[oldskooldropout]

That thing sounds SUWEEEET!!!

 

[1975stroppebaja]

The truck gets more exciting with sound too. Here's a link to the clip on YouTube.com

ooooooooh... I like it! What a teaser vid that was! ;D

 

[braxton357]

Updates?

 

[toddz69]

Updates?

Not a whole lot to report. It's been another long, hot summer here in AZ and coupled with the rare occurrence of mosquitoes here in Phx, it hasn't been very pleasant to be out in the garage wrenchin'. Got a correct air cleaner assembly fab'd up a month or so ago, working on a specific set of valve covers we want for the engine right now. Got the ducting for the air intake going. Put a set of Andrew's Cibies on the pushbar to replace the KCs. We've continued to work on the history sleuthing - gathering photos, talking to people, etc. I've also been busy selling off some extra parts that came with the truck. It's a slow process but we hope to ratchet things up a bit this fall.

Todd Z.

 

[sprdv1]

Good Pics boss... just got caught up..

 

[JGbronc]

That thing sounds SUWEEEET!!!

Amen!!! ;D

 

[Airtractr]

It's so much fun playing detective and watching this cool piece of Bronco history unfold. Reminds me of when I restored Shelbys and some Trans Am racers built by Penske and Smoky Unick. Interesting that the suspected original block is a 289 Hi po. I was at Holman Automotive (formerly Holman Moody) in Charlotte visiting with Lee Holman and he said the 289 will make a better engine than a 302, no quantifiable reason other than their experience but they should know a thing or two about building a Ford racing engine. Holman also still makes the cams they ground for Stroppe originally, all bottom end flat tappet stuff.

 

[toddz69]

It's so much fun playing detective and watching this cool piece of Bronco history unfold. Reminds me of when I restored Shelbys and some Trans Am racers built by Penske and Smoky Unick. Interesting that the suspected original block is a 289 Hi po. I was at Holman Automotive (formerly Holman Moody) in Charlotte visiting with Lee Holman and he said the 289 will make a better engine than a 302, no quantifiable reason other than their experience but they should know a thing or two about building a Ford racing engine. Holman also still makes the cams they ground for Stroppe originally, all bottom end flat tappet stuff.

We agree with that - we'd like to get the Hi Po 289 back in there assuming it's in usable shape. The cam we have in our pile o'parts is a Moon cam. No idea on the grind.

Todd Z.