So while the monster truck-lovin' folks dent-side crowd gets to hoot 'n holler about BIGFOOT #1 and #2 (both 74's with updated 79 grilles), there's a pair of BIGFOOT trucks from back in the day that rocked the bullnose look, and rocked it well.

Ok, lemme back up a sec and explain the reason for this whole mess. You probably didn't read the thread I posted in the newbie section, and I don't blame you one bit. The long and short of it is, I work for BIGFOOT 4x4 Inc as a driver and I'm essentially the defacto historian. Combine that with my love for Ford trucks in general, and you can see why I'm trying to share a bit more of the detailed history of the older Foot trucks, that still wore real Ford sheetmetal before the changing nature of the industry made steel obsolete and fiberglass the norm.

Ahem....carrying on now....



BIGFOOT #3 was finished in 1984. It was the last of the Foot trucks to be built before the team moved into the big facility we have on Interstate 270 in Hazelwood (north St. Louis) now. #3 holds a neat niche in Foot history, as it was the last Bigfoot truck to use a stock F-250 frame as its starting point, and was built to be as much about show as it was go.

In 1983, Bigfoot first formed their relationship with FoMoCo, and while #1 and #2 were sharp, well-performing trucks in their own right, they represented a bygone styling of F-Series truck and they by all rights lacked a little bit on the "show car" side of things. Enter BIGFOOT #3.



#3 was a bad *** hot rod of a monster truck. A stock Ford frame kept it surprisingly light for the time (around 12,000lbs, give or take) and a 429ci "hemi" Ford V-8 topped with a 6-71 blower and dual Predator carbs gave this baby some bite. Since monsters were not yet the high-flying race machines that they became in the later half of the 1980's, #3 (like its predecessors) was equipped with non-planetary 5-ton Rockwell military top-loader axles, which were lighter than the hybrid planetary hub/5-ton center axles that would later become the staple of 80's car bashers.



The Bigfoot shop crew didn't stop at making things mechanically correct. They nailed the look too. After countless hours of re-working the truck's 1983 F-250 body to look as proportionate as possible to the giant 66" terra tires the truck would use, including expanded fender wells and hydraulic tilt-hood, they laid down a beautiful coat of traditional "Bigfoot blue" which was then complimented by hand-painted graphics by the late great Dan Patterson. Attention to detail reigned supreme on both the interior and exterior: tonneau cover, chromed double-hoop light bar with KC Hi-Lites, Warn winch bumper, and plenty of chrome trim and modified OEM body moulding dressed up the outside right, while the interior featured a custom console, racing seats, roll cage, and color coordinated headliner, carpet, door panels, and the like. The cherry on top of the entire thing, for me and many other 'Foot fans, was the use of polished aluminum Midwest wheels for the truck's 66" rubber. Although the aluminum wheel fad was short-lived due to their inability to handle brutal car-crushing sessions, the aluminum Midwests were an absolutely gorgeous finishing touch and helped give this truck it's incredibly iconic look.

All of this was accomplished in an amazing 66 days. To put that in perspective, BIGFOOT #18, one of the team's newest race trucks, took several months to complete.



#3 debuted to great fanfare at the Pontiac Silverdome in early 1984, sporting not four but EIGHT massive 66" terra tires, dualed out on each corner with custom wheel spacers/adapters. No doubt this was quite the strain on the truck's factory 5-ton Rockwell axle shafts, but with Bigfoot creator/owner Bob Chandler behind the wheel, the truck successfully navigated its way over a sea of junk cars without issue, making its maiden voyage seem quite easy.



Before having its Bullnose sheet metal updated at the end of the '86 season to reflect the new '87 F-Series styling, #3 appeared in a variety of Ford TV and print ads, Motorcraft ads, and graced the covers of prestigious automotive mags like Four Wheeler, 4-Wheel & Off-Road, Hot Rod, and others. #3 was also the first Bigfoot truck to wear the now-famous 10ft-tall Firestone "Tundra" tires. Add to that numerous TV appearances and a cameo in the film "Police Academy 3" (the truck was arguably the best actor), and you've got yourself one star-studded beast.



With '87 styling update, the truck was soon on its way to upgraded planetary axles, improved safety gear, beefier suspension, and the like, all in an effort to help round out the team's on-track assault on the competition. Despite these efforts, however, #3 was in many ways past its prime at this point and had been succeeded by newer trucks like 4, 6, 7, and 8, and was soon relegated for the most part to exhibition-only events. In the early 1990's #3 was converted for use as a ride truck, outfitted with seats and a rollcage in the bed to give fans a toned-down version of what it is like to ride along in a real monster truck.



Sorry for the long-winded story, but I'm pretty into this stuff and I feel like there's a lot of un-told information to be shared by someone in a unique position such as mine. I hope everyone enjoys this lil bit of trivial history. I'll get around to touching on the other Bullnose, BIGFOOT #4, but that's a whole 'nother thread in and of itself.

-KD

 

Awesome shots and story. I got to see Bigfoot, at the Bicentennial center in Salina Ks many years ago. Even got an autograph from Andy Brass, who was driving it at the time

 

By far my favorite Bigfoot, monster truck, & "celebrity vehicle" ever. Awesome story and great pictures. Very jealous, by the way. I want your job haha!! LOVE that black and white with the 48" super terra grips. Bad *** truck, for sure.

 

Very cool! Love the story behind year trucks!

 

Do ya mean this one?

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ke-trucks.html

 

Very cool thanks for posting.
Charlie

 

Thanks for sharing pics and history.

 

Bigfoot has many mentions in "Ford trucks in movies" FTE threads.

We are fortunate that Bigfoot made it to Hawai'i in the 80's and this is

Something I will remember forever.

BTW, kyledms

How is the FORD relationship holding up? I can't bear to see another Chevy

Body on one of these trucks again.

Ford better get back behind the Bigfoot camp!

Thanks for this thread!

 

I wish Foot would go back to Hawaii...I'm down!

We currently have no OEM relationships. Of the last 3 trucks we've built, Bigfoot 18 (late 2011), #19 (mid 2012), and #20 (Fall 2012), two of them carry Ford bodies (18 & 20) and one as a Chevy (19).

19 is a Chevy because we partnered in the deal with Robby Gordon. Basically we took an existing truck he had that was 85% complete and re-did it our way, but kept the 540ci Merlin because it wasn't cost-effective to build another Ford when it already had a motor.

18 is Ford-powered and has an F-150 trophy truck body.

20 wears a 2011 SD body and is electric-powered, not because we're turning totally green, but because longtime sponsor Odyssey Battery challenged us to do it for the 2012 SEMA Show. Plus, if we didn't do it first, someone else would. So why not? If you're gonna make an EV, give it some cojones!

 

Awesome info! I remember seeing #3 in person at an event when I was a kid. Very beautiful truck.

Which truck was it that got nosed over at an event around '89? I still have the story on that in an old copy of 4-Wheel and Off-Road I think it was where they had the sequence of events in pictures. Also, in a box somewhere I have an old VHS tape of monster trucks from like 1986 and it has Bigfoot 1 or 2 crushing cars along side USA-1, along with a ton of old school monster trucks like Gravedigger 1, and one I think called the Lunch Box? It was an orange van monster truck. Pretty awesome. Now I want to go find that tape lol

 

#6 endo'd at the old Hoosierdome in Indianapolis in the fall of 1987 with Jim Kramer driving. At that time, that was the most violent crash the sport had yet seen, and immediately after that crash Foot spearheaded an effort to improve driver safety equipment, including beefier cages. #6 had the 87-91 F-Series body style until 1992, when it received a fiberglass 92-96 nose.

The VHS you speak of is likely "Battle of the Monster Trucks" or "Return of the Monster Trucks". Both, along with the third video in the series, "War of...." are available on Amazon on DVD. Search for " Monster Truck Classics".

The videos showcase classic Foot trucks, focusing mainly on BF1 (74/79) and BF4 (the better known of the two Bullnose Foots). The van you speak of is "Rollin' Thunder", an orange Dodge Tradesman van that had a 2-stroke Screamin' Detroit. The reason you're probably thinking of the Lunchbox is because one of the big RC companies at the time, Tamiya if I recall, made a mini-monster RC called "Lunchbox", but it resembled Rollin' Thunder. The RC industry is very fond of knocking off real monsters in lieu of licensing agreements.

There are some other lesser-known Fords that appear in the videos, I'll post shots when I have some more free time.

 

That's right! Tamiya had the Lunch Box and the real truck was Rollin' Thunder. Thanks for clearing that up.

And I remember the big article write up with pictures talking about the #6 crash and how that really changed the way teams looked at safety issues. Very much like how the two fatal crashes in NHRA of Eric Medlen ('06) and Scott Kallita ('07) forced teams to rethink and reengineer safety issues in drag racing.

And it's cool to see that they re-released those videos on DVD. I have the original on VHS somewhere.

 

Thanks for posting this. Very Nice!

 

Great read. There for a minute I thought it might have been Chuck Norris behind the wheel.

 

So, where are these early Bigfoots kept nowadays?