36 AmericanCarCollector.com Horsepower Colin Comer Easy to walk by and dismiss ... HUNCHES ODDS and THIS HOLMAN-MOODY/STROPPE BRONCO IS AN INTRIGUING MYSTERY I HOPE TO SOLVE Gambling on a Bronco said was special and could be for sale for the right price. To be honest, I didn’t pay it much mind when I walked in as, well, it was beat up and cut with fender flares and big tires. But then I was shown the special part: its original Holman-Moody serial-number tag. Oh boy. Those $250 wheels just got a lot more expensive! The Holman-Moody/Bill Stroppe and Associates (HMS) Bronco race team won more than their fair share of off-road races from the late 1960s through early 1970s, including the Mint 400, Baja 500 and Baja 1000. In 1969, the year of this truck, HMS entered no less than six race Broncos in the Baja 1000 — which they won. And the team’s drivers? How about Parnelli Jones and James Garner for two of them? These Baja-racing Broncos became the inspiration for Ford’s own “Baja Bronco” option, available from 1971 to ’75, which is now the most collectible of all early Broncos, with just around 500 of the famous orange/white/blue and flat black Bobtails ever built. But this rig I was looking at predated the factory option package by a full two model years — and more than that, it had an H-M serial number rather than a Ford one. Real or not? But hey, I’ve been around this game a while and I’ve seen my fair share of bogus VIN tags and tall tales. However, the more I dug, the more the H-M tag on this truck jumped out as being the real deal. The serial number was in the right format and was also stamped T he Ten Commandments of Gambling say, “Thou shalt trust the odds, not the hunches.” Now, I realize this is a car collecting magazine, but who among us could deny that this is a hobby based on gam- bling? Heck, we probably roll the dice more than most of the guys getting their rooms comped in Vegas. We wager when we buy a car that the numbers really do match. We pass that last gas station betting that our gas gauge sitting on “E” is probably just broken. And, as we push an engine toward redline, we play the hunch that the last guy to rebuild it didn’t take a phone call halfway through torquing the rod bolts and forget to finish. Thankfully, these things usually work out. Of course it’s no secret the smart money is on the odds, not on the hunches. And yet when it comes to cars, I keep playing hunches like they are lead-pipe cinch odds. Hey, what can I say? I like cars, not Vegas. Discovered at a junkyard The latest hunch I’ve gone all-in on started as an innocent trip to a Bronco junkyard in Phoenix to buy a $250 set of used steel wheels for my 1989 Bronco. This yard is a regular stop, and I previously bought a pretty incredible ’74 Bronco through the owner, so no visit is complete without asking him if there are any cool Broncos around for sale. Within minutes he walked me over to a red 1969 Bronco that he ... until you see this serial-number tag
Transcript
36 AmericanCarCollector.com
Horsepower Colin Comer
Easy to walk by and dismiss ...
HUNCHES ODDSand
THIS HOLMAN-MOODY/STROPPE BRONCO IS AN INTRIGUING MYSTERY I HOPE TO SOLVE
Gambling on a Bronco
said was special and could be for sale for the right price. To be honest, I didn’t pay it much mind when I walked in as, well, it was beat up and cut with fender fl ares and big tires. But then I was shown the special part: its original Holman-Moody serial-number tag. Oh boy. Those $250 wheels just got a lot more expensive!
The Holman-Moody/Bill Stroppe and Associates (HMS) Bronco race team won more than their fair share of off-road races from the late 1960s through early 1970s, including the Mint 400, Baja 500 and Baja 1000. In 1969, the year of this truck, HMS entered no less than six race Broncos in the Baja 1000 — which they won. And the team’s drivers? How about Parnelli Jones and James Garner for two of them?
These Baja-racing Broncos became the inspiration for Ford’s own “Baja Bronco” option, available from 1971 to ’75, which is now the most collectible of all early Broncos, with just around 500 of the famous orange/white/blue and fl at black Bobtails ever built. But this rig I was looking at predated the factory option package by a full two model years — and more than that, it had an H-M serial number rather than a Ford one.
Real or not?But hey, I’ve been around this game a while and I’ve seen my fair
share of bogus VIN tags and tall tales. However, the more I dug, the more the H-M tag on this truck jumped out as being the real deal. The serial number was in the right format and was also stamped
The Ten Commandments of Gambling say, “Thou shalt trust the odds, not the hunches.”
Now, I realize this is a car collecting magazine, but who among us could deny that this is a hobby based on gam-bling? Heck, we probably roll the dice more than most of the
guys getting their rooms comped in Vegas.We wager when we buy a car that the numbers really do match.
We pass that last gas station betting that our gas gauge sitting on “E” is probably just broken. And, as we push an engine toward redline, we play the hunch that the last guy to rebuild it didn’t take a phone call halfway through torquing the rod bolts and forget to fi nish.
Thankfully, these things usually work out. Of course it’s no secret the smart money is on the odds, not on the hunches. And yet when it comes to cars, I keep playing hunches like they are lead-pipe cinch odds. Hey, what can I say? I like cars, not Vegas.
Discovered at a junkyardThe latest hunch I’ve gone all-in on started as an innocent trip to
a Bronco junkyard in Phoenix to buy a $250 set of used steel wheels for my 1989 Bronco. This yard is a regular stop, and I previously bought a pretty incredible ’74 Bronco through the owner, so no visit is complete without asking him if there are any cool Broncos around for sale.
Within minutes he walked me over to a red 1969 Bronco that he
... until you see this serial-number tag
37March-April 2016
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“BRONCO HUNTER.”Pulling the Marti Auto Works report made
it even more interesting. Listed as a Ford Test Vehicle, with the “Dealer #” listed as Ford Motor Company, it also showed unique options such as front and rear limited-slip differentials and 8.25x15 8-ply tires. Looking at the truck, there was also a very stout PTO winch that appeared to be original, a Stroppe roll bar inside, and a Baja Bronco-style steer-ing wheel.
And this is where playing my hunch and the odds come in. Truth be told, this old truck is about as rough as a night in jail. If it weren’t for that H-M serial number, or the Ford Test Vehicle order code and Ford Motor Company being listed as the sell-ing dealer, I wouldn’t have given it a second look. But clearly this was no ordinary Bronco.
I rolled the dice and paid nice Bronco money for a crappy Bronco with a hell of a VIN tag. The Bronco community has known about this very truck for years but it remains a mystery — despite the forums lighting up again lately on the subject since it is no longer a secret that it was just dragged out and sold.
Hunting the history of the Bronco HunterSo what do I have? The short answer is I still don’t know. It’s an
HMS-built Bronco that they called the “Bronco Hunter.” It falls in a period of time where H-M and Bill Stroppe were at odds more than they weren’t. I still don’t know if it was built at H-M in Charlotte, NC, or at Stroppe in Long Beach, CA. And what exactly was its purpose?
Does “Bronco Hunter” mean it was a chase truck for the Baja team? Was it a prototype for a special Bronco model that later became what we now know as the Baja Bronco? Was it built for known hunting and Bronco enthusiast (and Detroit native) Ted Nugent, who was enjoying his fi rst moments of superstardom in 1969? Well, okay, that last one is a stretch.
The odds that it is a special Bronco are 100% based on the facts, and the hunch is that I’ll be able to know more at some point so I can restore it properly. I’ve been collect-ing early Broncos for a long time and have
never seen, or heard of, another H-M tagged Bronco. It is clear that this was a “dollar car” given to H-M for some reason by Ford, hence the Ford VIN tag being knocked off of the glovebox and an H-M VIN tag being used to title it since Day 1. So my plan is to keep digging.
I have located a few former employees of Stroppe whom I hope to quiz, and I will darken my friend Lee Holman’s doorstep soon and also reach out to Willie Stroppe. I’ll be raiding the Ford archives and the Internet for photos of the Baja team in 1969 to see if I can spot a truck that looks anything like this one. In other words, a lot of stones will be turned.
But most importantly, unlike the “barn-fi nd” Daytona elsewhere in this issue that took no sleuthing to determine what it is, this “out-side the junkyard fence fi nd” is an intriguing mystery I hope to solve. And, knowing that ACCers are an informed bunch, I’m hoping one of you can help me determine if this was a good bet — or not. Have any info or advice? You can reach me at [email protected]. A
truck for the Baja team? Was it a prototype for a special Bronco model that later became what we now know as the Baja Bronco? Was it built for known hunting and Bronco enthusiast (and Detroit native) Ted Nugent, who was enjoying his fi rst moments of
