The original monster truck- Bigfoot
at SEMA 2017
The Hedman Hedders booth at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment
Market Association) show in Las Vegas featured a blast from the past- the
original “Bigfoot®” monster truck to celebrate the company’s nearly 40-year relationship
with Bigfoot®.
Bob Chandler who ran a speed shop, Midwest Four Wheel Drive in Hazelwood Missouri,
was nicknamed “Bigfoot” by one of his shop employees due to his
heavy-right-foot driving style, and as this 1974 Ford F-250 truck was being
built as a showpiece for the shop, the truck itself was christened “Bigfoot®.”
The
car-crushing truck which features military axles complete with four-wheel
steering, 48-inch tall tires, and a supercharged 460 cubic inch Ford big block
V8 engine made its first show appearance in 1979.
To date there have been a total of 22 Bigfoot® monster trucks
built, including a battery-powered truck and a truck built with 10-foot tires. Bigfoot®
has been named one of the “Top 5 Marketing Vehicles of All Time,” and its
worldwide notoriety led to the creation of an entire “Monster Truck” industry.
Hedman Hedders began as a one-man shop in 1954 as Bob Hedman
sold exhaust tubes to fellow racers for use on the dry lakes of the Mojave
Desert. In the years since, the Hedman Performance Group has incorporated
computer technology to ensure that its products offer the best performance
improvement possible for street, race and off-road vehicles. Hedman Hedders has
been part of the monster truck phenomenon since its start back in the mid-70’s, and
every Bigfoot® truck has been Hedman equipped.
Photos by the author
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