Before There Was One...

If you read no further than this first paragraph, then take nothing more away from it than this:  BIGFOOT #1 is The Original Monster Truck®.  That being said, there is far more to that statement than meets the eye.  Holding the title of “the original monster truck” is no doubt prestigious, but achieving such a notable first wasn’t something that simply happened overnight.  Quite the opposite, in fact, for the world-famous monster truck started life as a 1974 Ford F-250 work truck for St. Louis-area carpenter/contractor Bob Chandler and his wife Marilyn. For the back-story, keep reading for the story of BIGFOOT #1 that really predates the “official” creation of BIGFOOT.

The roots of BIGFOOT #1’s creation can arguably be traced back to a Ford truck assembly plant in 1967, where a particular F-250 4x4 rolled off the line in pristine condition, eventually finding its way into the hands of Chandler, with 13,000mi on the odometer.  Equipped with a near-nomadic soul and a constant desire to explore, Chandler decided that in addition to being a suitable work truck, this new truck should be able to take him and his family on a small road trip. 

To Alaska

Sporting OEM running gear and tires, and equipped with little in the way of “aftermarket” accessories (primarily a pop-up camper in the bed), Chandler and his family set off for Alaska with their new ride.  Alaska, the largest state of the Union, is a sizeable chunk of mostly frozen land purchased from Russia in the mid 1800’s for the discount-store worthy sum of $7.2 million.  Much to his dismay while on this journey to “The Last Frontier”, Chandler discovered that parts of the truck, namely its less-than-capable stock tires, weren’t quite up to the task of tackling the Al-Can highway.  Out of necessity, new tires were purchased along the way and the Chandlers were able to finish their Al-Can journey and make a safe return to St. Louis.  Upon returning to St. Louis, Chandler was convinced that his truck needed a laundry-list of modifications to suit his adventurous needs.

While most people consider the Midwest (and St. Louis specifically) to be the birthplace of monster trucks (and rightfully so), few realize that Chandler’s early expedition to Alaska in his 1967 F-250 would help set the stage for what was to come.  The seeds that would later grow into the monster truck industry may not have been planted in Alaska, but that rugged parcel of land had a hand in fertilizing those seeds in addition to helping create the genetic makeup of BIGFOOT #1.

The Early Days

While the late 1960’s and early 1970’s were a turbulent time in the United States for many, Chandler and his family continued to carve out their place in the north side of St. Louis, working during the week and tinkering with automobiles and camping on the weekends.  When the weather was fair, you could often find Chandler intentionally seeking out (and without much trouble) discovering mud holes, river crossings, and hilly areas with his friends.  One of those friends was a young heavy-equipment mechanic by the name of Jim Kramer, whose burning interest in four wheel drives rivaled Chandler’s.  Kramer was a partner in Chandler’s winter snow removal business, and had an affinity for trucks that wore bow ties rather than ovals.  Because of their shared interests, Kramer became a frequent off-road companion of the Chandler family, and, before long, the two were breaking just about anything that could be broken on their trucks. 

Before long, Chandler’s ’67 had gone under the knife plenty of times, receiving upgrades that were, if not aesthetically pleasing, at least practical in nature.  Kramer oftentimes followed suit with his truck, possibly in a friendly game of one-upsmanship, but more likely in an effort to simply make it possible for their trucks to go to places generally unheard of for a four wheel drive truck.  The friends’ reputations for being savvy “modificators” spread quickly, to the point that Chandler’s driveway and home garage could barely be navigated due to the number of “customers” seeking help with their own off road machines.

As often happens, fate likes to play tricks with our lives, and one could say it played a heck of a trick on Chandler.  About the same time that his four wheel drive pseudo-shop was beginning to blossom, Chandler suffered a rather nasty motorcycle accident and was told he wouldn’t be able to use a hammer again, seemingly putting an abrupt end to his contracting/construction business.  After his recovery, Chandler ordered a blue 1974 Ford F-250 Ranger XLT 4X4, and started modifying it immediately. He also proved his doctors wrong by jumping right back into construction (Chandler is one of those people who don’t know the meaning of “can’t”). While adding beefier tires and upgrading the drivetrain, suspension, and powertrain on his new truck, Chandler also continued to work full days in construction and many more hours in his garage working on all of the 4X4s in his driveway. It soon became apparent that something had to change, so Bob & Marilyn partnered with Jim Kramer and opened Midwest Four Wheel Drive & Performance Center in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, MO.

The Birth of an Icon

Chandler’s truck became a moving advertisement for MW4WD, but also continued to be the family pick-up, transporting Chandler’s kids to school and 4-wheeling on the weekends. His particularly aggressive nature behind the wheel drew the usual comments and pointed jokes from his friends and shop employees, but it was Midwest’s general manager, Ron Magruder, (no doubt with input from other early employees like Bob Palfreeman and Roy Hooser), who bestowed the nickname “Big Foot” on Chandler, citing his “heavy right foot on the gas pedal” as the inspiration.  Not ones to let a good joke go, Chandler and his crew hung the name on the truck, and “BIGFOOT” was born. And, although the Midwest Four Wheel Drive lettering still remained the most prominent graphic on the truck, the BIGFOOT name started to take on a life of its own.

BIGFOOT quickly began to enjoy a meteoric rise to “stardom” in the Midwest, seeming to becoming a thing of legend almost overnight.  The truck’s massive (at the time) stance and off road prowess made it a feared competitor at local mud runs and hill climbs and proved its worth daily as a promotional tool for Midwest Four Wheel Drive, which was now building up some serious steam.  Not one to sit idle, Chandler decided to try to enter his beloved ’74 into the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas in 1977.  His formal application was rejected, no doubt by some junior staffer who had decided that a 1974 F-250 couldn’t possibly be a show vehicle worthy of SEMA.

Undeterred, Chandler and his wife drove the truck from St. Louis to Vegas in a calculated gamble that exemplified the confidence he felt in his big blue Ford, not to mention the steadfast determination for which he’s known.  Suffice it to say, parked just outside the convention center where the SEMA show was being held, BIGFOOT attracted a constant stream of visitors, to the point that the event organizers willingly conceded and brought BIGFOOT inside the show. At that time, BIGFOOT was the only work truck to ever be part of SEMA and has continued to make appearances almost every year since, now being joined by 100s more.

The year after the big SEMA debut, Chandler outfitted the truck with 48” agricultural tires, which at the time were simply mind-boggling to those who saw it.  Pickup trucks simply weren’t meant to be this big!  That same year, BIGFOOT made its first of many appearances at the annual Gravelrama hill-climb event in Cleves, OH.  Gravelrama is home to “The Big Eliminator”, a very high, 70-degree-slope man-made hill composed of sand and pea-gravel.  Although he did not make it over the hill that year, Chandler would finally make it over the hill in BIGFOOT some years later after even more truck modifications.

Big and Bigger

By 1979 word had finally spread to the point that BIGFOOT’s popularity and demand amongst 4x4 fans could no longer be ignored.  A car show in Denver, CO would become BIGFOOT’s first paid gig, and soon thereafter the truck could be found appearing for a fee at tractor pulls, mud bogs, and various other automotive events as a sort of “half-time” or “finale” act.  Later that same year, legend has it that, while at Gravelrama, a former Rockwell engineer approached Chandler and noted that the Rockwell-built military axles under BIGFOOT featured a sort of modular construction that allowed a degree of parts interchangeability between steering and non-steering axles. This technical discussion in turn led to a discussion of how a steering axle could be “locked straight” and used in the rear of a vehicle in an emergency.  As one can imagine, it wasn’t long before Chandler’s tinkering mind led him to install rear steering on BIGFOOT, only adding to the truck’s mystique and crowd appeal.

Despite the flourishing popularity that BIGFOOT was beginning to enjoy, everything was not always peachy in the early days.  It is often noted that “fan” is merely a shortened version of “fanatic”, and at the Truckarama event in Pontiac, MI, a particularly ambitious “fanatic” decided that stealing BIGFOOT from the hotel that the Chandlers were staying at (at the time, BIGFOOT was still street-legal…barely) would be a good idea.  As Truckarama promoter George Carpenter was pulling into the parking lot, expecting to meet the Chandlers for dinner, he saw BIGFOOT leaving with someone other than either Chandler behind the wheel.  The ensuing chase finally ended up on the side of an interstate in Iowa, where the truck was driven off an embankment and into a tree stump.  The wannabe-BIGFOOT driver escaped on foot, and was never apprehended or identified.  The truck was recovered, but unfortunately the damage it sustained prevented it from being driven back to Missouri under its own power.  A broken front hub and spindle, destroyed tire and wheel, and plenty of sheet metal damage left the Midwest crew with plenty of work on their plate for the coming week.  And for once, it wasn’t directly related to Chandler’s “big foot”!

By the end of 1979, BIGFOOT had received updated sheet metal styling in the form of an entirely new front clip, showcasing Ford’s current grille/headlight treatment for the ’79 model year.  Not one to leave anything alone though, Chandler eschewed the stock plastic grille inserts in favor of a square tube grill that helped establish the truck’s iconic look as the seventies gave way to the eighties.   1980 would be more of the same for the BIGFOOT: growth in popularity and growth in size.  But in 1981, everything would take a turn for the bigger.