Browse over 9,000 car reviews

29 November 2019

Bigfoot is real! Driving the original monster truck

By Iain KellyIain Kelly
  • Murica! (image credit: Road & Track) Murica! (image credit: Road & Track)
  • Can you hear the freedom? (image credit: Road & Track) Can you hear the freedom? (image credit: Road & Track)

Before the Monster Jam craze, where people do backflips in purpose-built 4-story-tall chassis draped with fibreglass shells meant to look like dogs and other non-car-related things, there were plain old monster trucks.

And the first proper monster truck was Bigfoot. 

Built by 4x4 shop owner Bob Chandler in the 70s the original Bigfoot spawned the car-crushing, sled-pulling, mud-bogging, hill-climbing spectacle that was monster truck competition. Based off a '74 Ford F250, Bigfoot 1 was one of the most popular vehicles in the 1980s and one lucky American motoring journalist has now driven it.

Few can say they have driven a car responsible for an entire industry, sporting association and millions of dollars worth of merchandise and toys, but Road & Track's Kyle Kinard can.