Our 1971 Baja Bronco

Here is our new 71 Baja Bronco. It was restored by the previous owner. He passed away in 2000 and the car sat in storage for two years while they settled his estate. We had spoken with the owner on a couple of occaisions, but never met him in person. He was a Bronco enthusiast and an Air Force training pilot stationed in Arizona. Since we didn't get to talk to him much about the Bronco, we don't know alot of it's history. Anyone recognize this Baja?

Some of you may have seen this ad in The DuPont Registry back in the early 1990s. The previous owner, John Porter wanted alot of money for this Baja, but never sold it. It's a pretty nicely restored truck. Maybe a bit too much chrome for our tastes, but all of it was pretty well done. The truck was purchased by John in circa 1982 in Los Angeles. The bulk of the restoration was done there over the course of the next 12 years.

The truck appears to have come from Stroppe with the full rollcage option. Most Baja Broncos just got a back bar, but this one has the full front hoop and connector bars. The bents are nice and have gussetts and the glovebox door still opens. The dimensions and layout are identical to Jack Neiderkorn's 1971 Baja, which has a Stroppe installed front cage. So far this one and Jacks are the only Bajas known to have front cages.

Here's one of the corner gussetts. It's not welded on top, so when they installed it they didn't remove the top. The truck also has rear air bags which appear to be original. John claimed it had a tachometer from Stroppe too, but he replaced it with a late 80s Ford Motorsport monster tach with oil pressure light. It also has a neat angled gauge pod that hold 3 temp gauges and an oil pressure gauge...all vintage late 80s SVO stuff. That sounds funny.."vintage late 80s"!

The 351W engine was installed in 1974 or so according to notes and an email we got from John back in 2000. It is a 69 Mercury Cougar motor that John had rebuilt by Chris Kaufmann Products in the early 90s. John mentioned in the same email that this truck had the motor installed by a the friend of the owner in 74 and that that friend later bought the truck. Supposedly both owners were members of a club called the Pomona Trailmasters. Does anyone in SoCal know of such a club? I'm looking for any info on this truck's past, since it seems to be somewhat unknown by other Bronco enthusiasts.

We found these old 1975 Sand Nationals dash plaques in the glovebox. Anyone remember this event or seeing this Bronco there? Some notes we have indicate the truck had a mural paint job at one time and there are also signs of the rear axle being painted Stroppe colors. Judging from the early 70s F100 springs and the cage and airbags, this truck was used offroad.

So far I've really enjoyed this Bronco and all it's modificatons. Most all of the Stroppe stuff is there except for the wheels. The wheels are actually steel wheels that were custom made to look like slotted mags. The hoodscoop is functional and looks like it may be from a Maverick/Comet or a Boss 429 Mustang. Anyone recognize it? If you have any info on this Stroppe or if you knew John or any of the previous owners, please let me know as I'm trying to track down it's history. Andrew@BajaBronco.com