Were Baja Broncos available in 1976?

[slim811]

Spotted a Free Wheelin' brochure on ebay, advertised as a 1976. It shows the Baja Bronco as an option, I thought Baja's were from 1971-1975. Thinking the brochure is correctly dated for 1976 because it also shows a special decor 1st year for them, also thinking 1st year for any "Free Wheelin" car or trucks.

 

[englewoodcowboy]

The only Stroppe Bajas I know of after 75 are the balloon chaser broncos and ambulance.

 

[slim811]

Thanks for responding.

The only Stroppe Bajas I know of after 75 are the balloon chaser broncos and ambulance.

Another question for me to ask Drew and his father at the up coming roundup. Hard to read but when you Zoom in 3 or 4 X's at the end of the 1st paragraph. "Or wind up with a Baja prepared version {shown at right}". Kind of been into researching the Free Wheelin' literature lately.

 

[broncosbybart]

Those were Stroppe prepped vehicles but not Bajas. They didn't share some of the same parts from the earlier years. The parts were probably sourced just for these rigs as they likely were not produced/stocked by Stroppe anymore.

 

[DirtDonk]

I wonder if it was just a case of the marketing/advertising/printing people just not getting "the memo" in time for printing the brochures?
Was the end of the Baja program with Ford a sudden thing maybe? Or did it just run it's course naturally without any corporate drama?

Paul

 

[slim811]

Brochure has a date of 10/75 I'll try to post more pics from available eBay brochures later.

 

[toddz69]

I wonder if it was just a case of the marketing/advertising/printing people just not getting "them memo" in time for printing the brochures?

That's my hunch.

Todd Z.

 

[DirtDonk]

I wonder how many (if any) EB's were painted and never delivered to the Stroppe shop before production ceased? I buddy here has a Ford painted Stroppe colored '73 that has the oddball DSO but was never delivered to Stroppe. Instead it was sold through normal dealer channels with the Poppy Red and Wimbledon White color scheme. No Blue and no Black hood, but a factory 2-tone Bronco nevertheless.
Add the Denver Editions to that, and I wonder if any painted ones made it down the pipeline.
What year(s) were the Denver Editions available?

Interesting.

Paul

 

[toddz69]

To the best of my knowledge, 75 was the only year for the Denvers.

Todd Z.

 

[englewoodcowboy]

I always thought the Denvers were strop paint jobs that never made it to Stroppe... would like to know the whole story, I am sure someone on here knows it.

 

[broncosbybart]

Here you go:

http://www.stratadrome.com/bronco/history.htm

 

[edmedlin]

Apparently there is not a lot of info on the late '74-'75 Bajas. Ford painted a lot of them in various colors, many stock Ford colors. Dual shock mounts, front bumper braces, wheel well cutouts and Ranger designation with power steering and automatic are the only giveaways. Not all had power brakes, some had air conditioning. Kind of a crapshoot. Hard to prove if you have one even with a MARTI report because it wouldn't show as a Baja, just a Ranger. I guess you would have to have photographic evidence back to the original owner of the vehicle or at least a hard paper trail. I know one without a hard paper trail, painted in Stroppe colors sold for only $18,500 at auction recently. Pretty cheap even for any cut EB in good driving condition with no glaring problems.