Dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of the 1966-77 "Early" Ford Bronco Serving Early Bronco owners and their families, clubs and businesses worldwide.

The Fabulous Fords Forever car show is held at Knott's Berry Farm once a year on a Sunday in April.  It has become the "go-to" place in Southern California for Bronco Owners to get together and see Broncos and Bronco modifications of all kinds.  This year we had 133 Broncos pre-registered and 109 actually attending the show.  Like last year, we were the largest class in the show.  Surprised to hear that?  Well, we all know there are a lot more Mustangs than Broncos at the show.  But the Mustangs are broken down into several individual classes, and we were larger than any of them.  The Bronco breakdown was:

Last year's winner - 1

Special Broncos - 2

Stroppes - 7

Stock Uncuts - 16

Full Size - 11

Bronco II's - 3

Other Early Broncos - 69

The Broncos park in the large grassy area next to LaPalma Ave. at the show, we like that!  It's cooler than on the asphalt, lets us have more space around each Bronco and is a more fitting space for the Broncos.

Taylor and Jill Pillsburys 1972 Stroppe Baja Bronco was honored as last year's Stroppe Trophy winner in the center grass area by the booths an DJ stand.  Jill's grandfather bought the Stroppe new andit has been in the family since.  It was re-powered with a 351W in 2003 and had a complete body restoration in 2008.  It's a beautiful Stroppe Baja Bronco.

Larry Newell brought his legendary Stroppe Baja Racing Bronco.  It's the Johnny Crean Stroppe prepared independent racer that raced the 1969 Mint 400 and Baja 1000 with a full top, which meant it had to have the fuel filler doors in the rear fender, unlike most of the Baja racers in those days that had no tops.  It has no top now and is the 2nd from the right in the front row in this picture.

Terry Marvel brought his legendary Silver Fox.  Duane Kennedy owned this Bronco and it was THE feature show Bronco that was on the Duffy catalog covers in the 1970s and 1980s.  Terry found it in a typical old Bronco condition and bought it in 2008.  He has meticulously restored it to its original show condition and better, including the custom paint job.  Willie stroppe came by and Terry got a great photo of him looking it over.  That was a sign of good things to come, because Willie chose Silver Fox as this year's Stroppe Trophy winner.  When Ford's emcee John Clinard asked Willie why he chose it during the trophy presentation, Willie said "It just speaks history", and that it does.  Terry has done an awesome job with it.

Two other beautifully restored Stroppe Baja Broncos were at the show.  Mark Fusting brought his freshly restored 1975 which is the last Stroppe Baja Bronco built.  Andrew Norton brought his fresh frame-up restored 1972 4 speed Stroppe Baja Bronco.  Ed Ghiselli brought his legendary 1977 Balloon Chase Bronco.  And Bobby Franks brought his un-restored red roadster, original condition is good too!

We've had more late-model, full size Broncos at the show in recent years, and a few Bronco II's.  This year we had the tallest Bronco ever at the show!

Dave Kunz brought his very nice stock uncut.  Dave is our Los Angeles Channel 7 ABC News car guy, and manages to sneak a drive past his Bronco into some of his Channel 7 News new car reports!  It's the one on the left in this picture.

The above are some highlights that some of you might not be aware of.  For the majority of those at the show, the big thing is not just seeing them but seeing several other nice stock uncut, highly modified, daily driver and well-used trail Broncos.  This show is for all types, the idea is to just get together, enjoy the Broncos and talk to other Bronco Owners and get ideas.

Your dedicated parking crew works hard planning, laying out the parking and getting the Bronco's in their spots.  As a reward, they attend the Ford lunch at the show with celebrities, Ford executives, media and other parking crews.  This year we met Henry Ford III there.  Years ago Joe Monroe restored an Early Bronco for Henry III's father, Edsel Ford II, when Joe had Extreme Automotive.  We asked Henry III about it and he said they still have it, love it and he drove it recently.  We also got to hear Henry III and John Force talk.  Hearing John was entertaining as you'd expect.  Willie Stroppe was there as usual.  Parnelli Jones is normally there, but he'd been at a Cobra Anniversary show the day before and didn't make it.  With their involvement in the Stroppe Baja Racing Bronco history, they're fond of the Broncos.  You'll often see Parnelli walking around in our area.  Some of us have had a chance the meet Parnellie and Willie, and that has been a great addition to our show experience.

And, there's a lot more to see than Broncos at the show.  We have 51 classes of Fords there.  Ford has a display of their new vehicles and Ford Racing, Ford Merchandise, Shelby, Saleen and Rousch have displays.  And there are the milestone Anniversary cars on display, this year it was a selection of Cougars, Cobras, Edsels and 32 Ford V8s.

Horsepower for an Hour radio show was there and took aerial photos like the milestones above and this one of the Broncos.  I didn't realize until I saw it that we had an Early Bronco there with a retractable sun roof cut into the hard top!

You can see more aerial photos here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.336920549708690.75885.142931359107611&type=3

Fabulous Fords Forever has a website (used for registration for the show) and a facebook page where you can see more pictures of the show, here:

http://fabulousfordsforever.org/

http://www.facebook.com/FabulousFordsForever

Come and join us next year!  Check out the EBR and Fabulous Fords Forever websites later on this year for the 2013 show date.  Pre-registration only!