The infamous white Ford Bronco used by O.J. Simpson to evade police is going up for sale.
The image of the vehicle is seared into the collective memory of 95 million North Americans who watched as Simpson, then a beloved football star-turned-actor, cowered in the back of the car as friend and former teammate Al Cowlings drove, leading police on a low-speed chase that had people glued to their television screens.
Simpson was charged with murder after his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death. Simpson failed to surrender to police as promised and was declared a fugitive on June 17, 1994.
He was spotted later in the Bronco with Cowlings, sparking a 96-kilometre police pursuit across Southern California. Millions tuned in, thunderstruck, as TV helicopters provided live shots of the action. Thousands more lined freeways and city streets, some cheering the former star running back as the bizarre motorcade passed by.
Clutching a family photo, Simpson was ultimately coaxed out of the Bronco and gave himself up in the driveway of his Brentwood home. Police found a gun, Simpson’s passport, a fake beard and thousands of dollars in cash and cheques in the vehicle.
Now, following Simpson’s death last week from prostate cancer, the owners of the Bronco have announced they intend to offload the SUV.
Currently, the car is co-owned by Cowlings, 76, two of Cowling’s friends and Simpson’s former agent, Michael Gilbert.
Cowlings told Cllct.com they had planned to sell the vehicle this year, regardless, as 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the police chase. Now, with Simpson’s death, the owners recognize interest has likely gone up.
“Before O.J. passed, we had always thought this was going to be the year we were going to sell because it’s the 30th anniversary,” Gilbert told the website. “Who knows if we are all going to be around for the 35th or the 40th?”
The trio claim a recent offer for the car came in at US$750,000, but they’re hoping for “at least US$1.5 million.”
The Bronco currently sits in a crime museum in Tennessee, parked near a Volkswagen Beetle that was driven by serial killer Ted Bundy. The museum exhibit also also houses a 1933 Essex Terraplane that belonged to gangster John Dillinger and a 1934 Ford prop car used in the bloody death scene at the end of the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.
“I think it’s one of those vehicles that most people have heard of,” the Alcatraz East Crime Museum’s museum artifacts and programs manager Ally Pennington recently told People.
“Most people remember the chase happening. And so it’s one of those artifacts that typically people have memories attached to. They remember where they were when the chase was happening and when they televised it.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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