Resurrecting Legacy: Baja Adventure with Stroppe Broncos

CHRIS COLLARD . October 18, 2023 . Feature Stories

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Off-road legend Rod Hall restores and races one of his vintage Stroppe Broncos

In the world of automotive sports, whether it be strip, street, or track, the lightning-fast wonders of yesteryear can often be picked up for a smidgen more than scrap value. They are run hard and put away wet, and when their bodies and frames will no longer support another heart transplant or bone graft, we retire them to the back forty for a multi-decade research program on dust collection. If fortune is with them, they fall into the hands of a collector of vintage iron and live out their days with honor and dignity.

Rod Hall and his long-time navigator Jim Fricker drove Stroppe Broncos. Photo courtesy of Trackside Photo

Such was the case for the classic Bronco on these pages. It was built by Bill Stroppe while he was leading Ford’s desert racing program. Although they were enjoying modest success, there was a guy by the name of Rodney Hall who kept beating them to the checkered flag…and he wasn’t driving a Bronco. Stroppe’s solution? Hire him. Beginning in early 1969, Hall put pedal to Stroppe metal, winning that year’s NORRA Mexican 1000 and eventually becoming the most successful off-road racer in North America. I interviewed Rod in 2006 just before his 40th Baja 1000 and asked if, at 71 years of age, retirement was on the horizon. He said, “Rod Hall…” (he often talked in the third person), “will probably be racing until he can’t race anymore.”

“When the dust settled in San José del Cabo, 78-year-old Hall and co-driver and granddaughter Shelby Hall were on the podium with a 2nd-in-Class trophy. Rod, Shelby, and the Bronco landed another podium finish in 2016, and Shelby went on to run Rod’s old steed in the Mint 400.”

Pre-race testing was done on the Black Rock Desert north of Reno, Nevada.

Rod Hall wanted the Bronco to be restored to original specifications, retaining the suspension configuration, roll cage, and axles.

After Hall piloted this stallion in NORRA, the Mint 400, and other events, it was sold to friend Myron Croel for one last hurrah in the desert, which ended badly for the Bronco. After being relegated to a storage yard in Barstow, California, it sat for more than two decades before being spotted by fellow racer and restaurant owner Gale Pike. After recognizing it as a Stroppe, possibly one with pedigree, he negotiated a deal, dropped $5,000 on the table, gave it a fresh paint job, and placed it on display in front of his local Denny’s.

When Hall resurrected the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF), Pike realized the noble stallion should live out its golden days in greater public view and donated it to the ORMHOF museum. Its future became less certain in 2010 when Mike Pearlman, son of NORRA founder Ed Pearlman, brought the organization out of hibernation and reintroduced the Mexican 1000 as a four-day vintage rally. With a bit of coaxing by his granddaughter Shelby, Hall’s gray matter began to percolate with thoughts of climbing behind the wheel of his old friend and taking it for another spin. In late 2014, Hall slipped it out of the museum and dropped it off at Samco Fabrication for a full, race-ready restoration.

The new suspension was comprised of Wild Horses coil and leaf springs, and three Fox Performance Series shocks at each corner.

The objective was straightforward. Rather than carving body panels and torching the frame to allow for modern-day wonders such as bypass shocks and a long-arm suspension, Hall specified, “Bring it back to how it was when I raced it. Above all it needs to be reliable. We have to first finish to finish first.”

There has been considerable debate on if this is the exact Stroppe Bronco Hall drove to an Overall win in the 1969 Mexican 1000. Hall, familiar with the chain of ownership, maintained it was, but historian Todd Zuercher, who has done detailed reviews of almost every Stroppe Bronco still in existence, determined it is another of Hall’s steeds, the Barstow Bronco. Whatever the case, Stroppe built it, Hall raced it, and it was heading back to Baja.

The Build

After stripping the vehicle, rebuilding frame mounts, floorboards, and roll cage, project manager Alex Baker drafted a dream list of products that would survive the rigors of a 1,300-mile desert race. The first call was to Ford Performance for a 347 crate motor, which was capped with a Holley 650CFM Ultra XP carburetor and K&N filter. Due to the lack of high-octane race fuel in Mexico, the fact that the 347 could run on pump gas was a welcome benefit.

The 9-inch Ford rear axle was fitted with new 4.56:1 ring & pinion gears, shafts from Currie Enterprises, and brakes from Wild Horses 4×4.

A full array of Auto Meter gauges keeps track of engine vitals.

An MSD ignition and Carter fuel pump would bring it to life, and spent gases would be channeled through Hedman headers and Flowmaster mufflers. A 4-core Griffin radiator was installed and a Milodon oil pan was utilized to allow for up-travel of the front axle. Legendary transmission builder Steve Culhane worked his magic on the C4 automatic, adding a 2800 stall torque converter. Bayshore Truck rebuilt the Dana 20 transfer case and drivelines, which fed power to the original Dana 44 front and Ford 9-inch rear axles.

The spooled 9-inch rear differential (which had Stroppe’s name still engraved on it) was fitted with Motive Gear 4.56:1 cogs and 35-spline shafts from Currie Enterprises. The front Dana 44 received the same treatment but with an open diff and disc brakes from Wild Horses 4×4. Adhering to the “original as possible” premise, the old steering box was shipped to Lee Manufacturing, who had been the go-to steering guys since this Bronco rolled off the production line.

left. To retain a period-correct look, a pair of KC HiLiTES HIDs were mounted to the original front brush guard.

When it came to the suspension, Hall said in jest, “We knew exactly how to build trucks back then. Use the stiffest springs we could find and add a bunch of shocks so the suspension didn’t flex at all.” The original configuration was retained, but they opted for more compliant springs from Wild Horses and Fox Performance Series shocks.

As pallets of parts began to arrive, Baker and his crew rewired and replumbed the entire vehicle. Summit Racing fittings and lines supply petrol from a custom Pyrotect 36-gallon fuel cell, new Auto Meter gauges replaced the dysfunctional units, and KC HiLiTES HIDs were fitted up top and on the front bumper. The OE steering wheel complements Ford Blue accents, and MasterCraft Safety provided Pro 4 seats, five-point harnesses, and window nets. Back in the day, the grooviest wheels on the market were aluminum slot mags. After searching the Internet, Baker was rewarded with a nearly perfect match from American Racing Wheels, which were wrapped with 33-inch BFGoodrich KM2 tires.

The original hood was sanded, repainted, and given the Ford Performance graphic treatment.

Back to Baja

The crew was applying the graphics when we arrived for a photo shoot in the Black Rock Desert, home of Burning Man. A few hours after we stowed our cameras the ORMHOF/Hall Bronco was on a trailer and heading home, to Baja that is, for the 2015 NORRA Mexican 1000. Hall said, “I’m excited to drive my old Bronco in Baja again…hell, I’m an old guy and this might be my last chance to be famous.”

“I’m excited to drive my old Bronco in Baja again…hell, I’m an old guy and this might be my last chance to be famous.”
— Rodney Hall

The interior was stripped and refitted with MasterCraft Safety Pro 4 seats, harnesses, and window netting.

The original mill was replaced with a Ford Performance 347 crate engine capped with a Holley 650CFM Ultra XP carburetor and K&N air filter. Other mods included an MSD 6 ignition, Carter fuel pump, Hedman headers, and Flowmaster mufflers.

Seldom do we see a pedigreed car of the muscle era back on the track, and even less often is the original pilot at the controls. When the dust settled in San José del Cabo, 78-year-old Hall and co-driver and granddaughter Shelby Hall were on the podium with a 2nd-in-Class trophy. Rod, Shelby, and the Bronco landed another podium finish in 2016, and Shelby went on to run Rod’s old steed in the Mint 400. At the time, Rod had been battling an adversary he could not beat, Parkinson’s disease. With the help of his son Chad, he was back to Baja in 2017 and became the only person to compete in all 50 NORRA/SCORE Baja 1000s. He passed away in 2019, but we are certain he is looking down from above and smiling behind the wheel of a dusty old Bronco.