Photo: Who needs Bigfoot cars (wikimedia.org) Author: Konstantin Shirokun
We see scary cars on giant wheels from time to time in movies, TV shows – and as children's toys. But what is the point of them, actually? Auto journalists from rbc.ua looked into the origin and purpose of the cars called Bigfoot.
Read about the types of spare brakes available in a car in the RBC-Ukraine article.
From the point of view of a serious adult, this is some kind of nonsense, but after all, they are built for something, spending money and production resources? In fact, there is an explanation for everything, including this extraordinary phenomenon.
How Bigfoot Was Invented
First of all, these cars on huge wheels are not intended for public roads. They are part of either a technical sport or a show, and they are built specifically for such spectacular events. But it all started by accident: at first they were just pickups, maybe a little lifted – with a raised body.
Once upon a time, in the early 1970s, an American named Bob Chandler bought himself a standard ¾-ton Ford F-250 pickup truck. Ford F-series pickups are still the best-selling vehicle in America, so Bob's purchase was the most common thing to do in the United States. However, Bob himself was not a common citizen: he drove the pickup not only to work (he was a builder), but also on risky off-road country rides.
Apparently, the 1974 F-250 wasn't very successful off-road, and Bob Chandler turned to such an exciting business as tuning. He forced the engine, improved the 4×4 transmission, strengthened and lifted the suspension… In the end, it came to huge (as at that time) wheels from a dump truck with an outside diameter of 1.15 meters (46 inches). And it turned out that the car began to attract people's attention on the streets. Thus, the pumped-up car became an advertisement for Bob's workshop.
The Birth of the “Big Foot”
Because of the significant ground clearance and large wheels, the car was named Bigfoot. Bob got bored of driving around the prairies around his hometown, and he tried to run over an old car borrowed from a dump on a dare. Then another one – it turned out just as impressive. Consequently, the builder abandoned construction and opened a tuning studio to improve SUVs.
Along the way, Bob earned money by performing at various auto shows and automobile competitions: in between the main events, he warmed up the audience by demonstrating the amazing capabilities of his four-wheeled monster. In front of the amazed spectators, he jumped from ramps, smashed fences and walls, and, of course, mercilessly rammed old cars into the ground. And then Bob Chandler and his cars were invited to a movie – in an adult way, straight to Hollywood. And spectacular chases on Bigfoots suddenly became an advertisement for a new type of transport throughout North America. Bob had to turn his attraction into a big Bigfoot show, which worked within the borders of the entire large country.
How Bigfoot works
A large-scale show with continuous tours required more and more new examples of four-wheeled monsters. It was necessary to set up a whole production, so the design was improved. First of all, the cars increased in size, and more complex tricks required more engine power. Accordingly, a more capable transmission was installed, which would digest more torque and power.
For example, Bigfoot-1 had a serial and at that time quite usual automobile V8 with a volume of 7.5 liters and 370 hp, but new modifications began to install supercharged engines with a capacity of more than 1000 horsepower, and later – 9-liter turbo “eights” with 1500 hp. Such engine output was needed for rapid acceleration within a small performance area – so that a heavy car could jump and tumble spectacularly, it needed speed.
Experiments with wheels dragged on: at first they reached 3 meters in diameter, but then a slightly smaller size became the standard for Bigfoots – about 66″x43″x25″ (1676 mm x 1092 mm x 635 mm). Smaller wheels turned out to be more convenient for tricks, because it was easier for their engine to spin up during acceleration before a jump.
Finally, these show cars stopped being pickups in terms of body type. In fact, the layout of the cars became special back in the late 1980s – with a central engine, lever suspension and axles from army trucks.
In brief
In the case of Bigfoots, we are dealing with a bright, large-scale show, and calling these creations cars is somewhat of an exaggeration. After all, whether on the road or in rough terrain, their transport utility is close to zero. True, no one will deny that as an element of the show, these cars were super successful. And toys for kids cannot be discounted.
In preparing this article, materials from Autobild and Autocentre were used.
Let us recall that RBC-Ukraine recently reported why pedestrians are not always right.