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Parnelli Jones won at Baja three times behind the wheel of this purpose-built Bronco nicknamed 'Big Oly' after Olympia Beer.
Welcome to Off-Road Legends, a new series from HotCars where we will take a closer look at some of the most iconic and successful off-roaders of all time. From the most reliable pickup trucks we know and love to the most hardcore, Baja-prepped racing machines ever seen, Off-Road Legends highlights everything that allows vehicles to keep right on running when the pavement ends.
Our inaugural episode focused on a Chevy Nova muscle car that a couple of absolute maniacs built up for Baja and nicknamed "Snortin' Nortin" after a t-shirt shop. Rumor tells that Snortin' Nortin even ran on tequila at times, instead of high-test race gas, though whether that urban legend rang true when the Nova returned to race in the Norra 1000 in 2011, 2012, and 2013 remains a mystery.
The next Off-Road Legend we turn our attention to now is a Ford Bronco that also raced at Baja, in both the early years and modern era, but truly turned heads this past year when it sold for a whopping $1.7 million dollars courtesy of Mecum Auctions. Of course, we mean the Bronco built for Parnelli Jones and nicknamed "Big Oly" thanks to the sponsor whose logo appeared on the doors, Olympia Beer. So how can a beat-up vintage Bronco not driven by OJ Simpson ever command such an insane price? Watch our newest episode of Off-Road Legends to learn all that and more about this iconic truck.
FOLLOW HERE: HotCars Official On Twitter Big Oly recently emerged from the swirling dusts of Baja memory when Mecum Auctions sold it for an absurd $1.7 million dollars—not including auction fees, which upped the price to nearly $1.9 million. For context, that sum easily covers 20 of the recently unveiled Bronco Raptors or even eight of the 50 available Bronco DR factory race trucks. Leaving the Blue Oval behind, Big Oly fetched more than a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss Edition! But while Stirling Moss might have etched his name in stone racing all over the world, Big Oly scratched a name into the sand by winning one of the most grueling endurance races of all time, the Baja 1000.
Big Oly won the Baja 1000 in 1971 and '72, plus the Baja 500 and Mint 400 in 1973, all with famous racer Parnelli Jones behind the wheel. At the time, Jones decided he wanted to enter and win Baja to prove his off-roading abilities after a career on the tarmac racing IndyCars. The Bronco—if we can even call it a true Bronco—began life as a 1969 model year but almost lost all of its Bronco DNA given all the massive modifications necessary to transform it into a worthy desert racer.
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The build began with inspiration from another Baja Bronco nicknamed "The Pony" that won the Baja 500 in 1970. Jones had builder Bill Stroppe start with what was essentially a two-wheel-drive kit car that came with an MSRP of $2,945 at the time, plus a Ford truck's I-beam front suspension and a four-link rear end with a panhard rod. Stroppe built a lightweight tubular chromoly chassis and dropped on a fiberglass body molded from a Bronco but sectioned and narrowed by three inches all around. Coil springs and internally mounted shock absorbers helped to smooth out the rocky Mexican terrain, since Stroppe needed to make the truck "Parnelli Jones Proof" given the infamously hard driving that made Jones so successful on the tarmac.
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Under the hood, Stroppe installed a 351ci Windsor V8 cranking out 390 horsepower—not bad for the time, but nothing compared to the four-figure power stats of modern Trophy Trucks today. Keep in mind that with all the weight savings, Big Oly tips the scales at only 2,620 pounds, though! The V8 employed Holley 650 double-pumper carburetors and a high-rise Ford Cobra intake manifold, plus an Isky racing cam and custom tubular headers.
That grunt routes through a C6 automatic transmission to a nine-inch rear end equipped with a Detroit Locker diff. But hold on, shouldn't a Baja racer have four-wheel drive? Well, much like Snortin' Nortin, Big Oly actually sticks with the simpler, more reliable two-wheel-drive layout—which most Baja-winning trucks employ, actually. And the recipe certainly worked, given that Big Oly now claims the title of "The World's Most Famous Bronco" (even if 1990s kids might claim the white fifth-gen that OJ Simpson drove around Los Angeles truly wears that crown).
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Other unique details that Stroppe used to help Big Oly dominate the dirt included an air filter intake mounted directly between driver and passenger in the dash, plus radiators for the engine and transmission oil mounted high and behind the passenger compartment.
One item of the build Stroppe probably never imagined Big Oly might desperately require to finish at Baja had nothing to do with the engine, drivetrain, or suspension at all. Supposedly, only 15 miles from the finish line of a grueling Baja race, Jones ran out of gasoline. In a fit of desperation, urban legend tells that he siphoned gas from a stranded Volkswagen Beetle by tearing off Big Oly's windshield wiper hose and repeatedly filling a tequila bottle—presumably, feeding the Windsor V8 with some of the spirit mixed into the gasoline.
RELATED: Ford Is Making A Bronco Desert Racer For Hardcore Off-Roading Enthusiasts
A Baja-winning truck running on tequila might sound improbable enough to help cement Big Oly's status as an Off-Road Legend but perhaps the most incredible chapter of this Bronco's story actually happened much more recently. See, rather than shelling out well over seven figures for a piece of automotive history and then parking it in a museum for the foreseeable future, Big Oly's auction winner decided that this truck needed to go back to its natural habitat. Then, in the middle of the 2022 Norra 1000 this past May, Big Oly ended up rolling over and coming to a stop fully upside down.
Nobody involved suffered any injuries and Big Oly simply flipped right back over—with minimal damage to the striking aero wing mounted up top in place of a roof—and just kept on keeping on. But that's the exact kind of rugged build quality that Stroppe and Jones required to fight through the worst that Baja can throw at man and machine all those years ago, showing that even five decades later, the spirit that made Big Oly a winning race truck and an off-road legend in the first place still lives on today.
Sources: mecum.com, youtube.com, iskycams.com, facebook.com, and norra.com.
Michael Van Runkle grew up surrounded by Los Angeles car culture, going to small enthusiast meets and enormous industry shows. He learned to drive stick shift in a 1948 Chevy pickup with no first gear and currently dailies his 1998 Mitsubishi Montero while daydreaming about one day finishing up that Porsche 914 project. He's written in various media since graduating from UC Berkeley in 2010 and started at HotCars in February 2018.