I Drove The Ford Bronco Stroppe, But Probably Should Have Googled The Name On Side: Here's Who Bill Stroppe Was
This story is an effort to correct some ignorance on my part. Blasé and busier than ever, I paid absolutely no attention to the launch of the 2025 Ford Bronco Stroppe Edition, and nearly forgot the press loan was booked until it showed up in my driveway. "Another overpriced special edition," thought I, and moved on. The Stroppe Edition is expensive, true, at $75,635. But it's also a little too cool to be all blasé over. I ought to have Googled the name on the side of the car before driving it. Now that I have, here's what I learned about Bill Stroppe: the man who helped make the Bronco what it is today.
Bill Stroppe And The Bronco
Though Bill Stroppe was born in 1919, it wasn't until he was in high school that the automotive persuasion would begin to afflict him. Born in Long Beach, California, he was taken in as a sort of apprentice in the 1930s by Floyd Henderson, owner of a wrecking yard. His job, tearing down junk cars, formed the foundation for what he called his experience as a "can opener" engineer. It was Stroppe's way of writing off his own talents with a wrench. Stroppe worked mornings and weekends at the family dairy farm, but filled what was left of his time with Henderson, striking up a deal: Stroppe would get to keep the pieces he stripped off other cars for his own.
Another Floyd, his teacher at Long Beach Poly High School, worked with Bill in the auto shop at school. Floyd Nelson helped students like Stroppe totally rebuild cars, and let Bill hlep him in his off-hours hobby of choice: racing. Stroppe helped Nelson work on a racer that Stroppe would later race on California's desert lake beds. Later, this evolved into racing boats, fitting a flathead Ford engine to a boat. Stroppe and an engine builder named Clay Smith went racing, becoming friends.
Stroppe likely would have continued down his chosen track (pardon the pun) regardless, but World War II led to a detour aboard the USS Casko in the Pacific theater. A Navy Reservist, Stroppe never stopped wrenching. He developed a new fueling procedure for the aircraft aboard the Casko, earning himself a Presidential Unit Citation. When Stroppe came home, he got a job at a Lincoln dealer. Stroppe and Clay were eventually sponsored by Art Hall, the owner of the Lincoln dealer that employed him. The two built racing boats funded by Hall. By 1950, Bill and Clay were racing a 1950 Mercury in the Mobilgas Grand Canyon Run.
Bill Stroppe Goes Off-Road
That same year, the Carrera PanAmericana Mexico began. In 1952, Bill Ford Jr., through his acquaintance Art Hall, wanted someone to take the brand racing in the Pan-American race. Stroppe and Clay got the job. He helped to win the race, crewed in Indy Car, and largely spent his postwar years building a name for himself in racing. Unfortunately, Clay was killed in a 1954 accident by a crash in the pit area at a AAA Big Car race at DuQuoin, Illinois. Despite the death in Stroppe's life, he continued to work on special projects with Ford. It's good he did.
Enter: The Bronco
In August 1965, the Ford Bronco debuted. By this time, Stroppe was well established at Ford, having handled a number of special projects for the brand over the last 15 or so years. Given Stroppe's status as Ford's new "off-road guy," the brand sent him two Broncos to mess with. Seeking a baseline, Stroppe raced one at a 1966 off-road race in Riverside, California. Two years later, the inaugural Baja 1000 race was set to kick off. At the time, it was called the Mexican 1000, covering an off-road route from Tijuana, Mexico, to La Paz. Several timed runs had been done prior, but this was the first race run in earnest.
Stroppe, of course, entered the event, though his attempts didn't lead to an outright win until 1971. Using what he learned in Riverside and in previous races, Stroppe fitted the Bronco with a new chassis and fiberglass body, while also chopping off the roof and fitting a giant airfoil in its place and chucking the four-wheel drive system. The Baja was better suited to lighter, two-wheel drive vehicles at the time, and at the hands of Parnelli Jones, the Bronco "Big Oly" took back-to-back wins.
Ford also wanted to capitalize on the Bronco's success in racing and introduced a factory Stroppe package following the Baja wins. These Broncos came fitted with tires, a lift, and other off-road accessories that effectively turned them into factory-built Baja racers. Stroppe also painted them in the livery above.
2025's Bronco Stroppe Continues The Story
While nowhere near as custom as the early Stroppe-built Broncos, today's version follows the same ethos. These are essentially the most off-road-ready two-door Broncos you can buy, complete with 2.5-inch Fox internal bypass shocks, two locking diffs, huge tires, and the Bronco's potent twin-turbo V6 enigne, making 330 horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque.
Stroppe himself didn't live to see a continuation of his work, though his son William has. Bill passed in 1995 after a battle with Alzheimer's, but his legacy lives on in the litany of Bronco models that will carry his name well past the span of his natural life.
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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 1:30 PM.