They say everything is bigger (and better) in America, which would explain the country’s infatuation with trucks – aside, of course, from the trucks’ overall reliability and functionality. With that in mind, Bigfoot #5 is the epitome of bigger and better.
Bigfoot #5 is actually an old truck, but a very special type of truck: it’s the fifth monster truck built by the founding father of monster trucks, Bob Chandler. Since 2002 (up to the moment of press), it’s been the tallest, widest and heaviest truck in the world, as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records and one of the most influential hot rods in history.
Number 5 may be old, but it’s still the best in the game. It is a historic truck that impresses both by sheer size (it literally puts the “monster” in “monster truck”) and for paving the way for a great American tradition. It also stands as proof that no dream is impossible or too big if you apply yourself. And get the right car parts.
Back in 1974, Bob Chandler was living in St. Louis, working in construction and racing in his spare time. He drove a Ford F-250 4x4 pickup and, because of the nature of his hobby, it would often end up broken or missing essential parts. In time, he developed another passion: that of fixing his truck and making it bigger at the same time.
Photo: YouTube / Barcroft Cars
As he explains in an April 2020 interview with Barcroft Cars, available at the bottom of the page, once you start putting bigger tires on your car, you need a bigger drive shaft and bigger axles “and all that.” You move on to bigger engines and it keeps snowballing from there.
For Bob, things snowballed him right into the Guinness Book of World Records. Because he saw a gap in the market for monster trucks, he and his wife and friend Jim Kramer created Midwest Four Wheel Drive, which went on to create bigger and bigger trucks, which they would take to all types of events. Or, as he puts it in the same chat, they would attend whatever event would have them, as long as they got to show off their builds.
From driving up dirt roads to crushing vehicles and performing life-threatening stunts was just a step. Bob took it, delivering monster truck entertainment to an ever-growing fanbase.
Their first monster truck had 48-inch-tall (121-cm) tires, and the team worked their way up from there. By 1983, Bob and the company had already secured a sponsorship with Ford and, in 1986, they were able to introduce number 5 to the world: a massive truck that sported 10-foot (3-meter)-tall Firestone tires previously used on an Army vehicle in Alaska in the ‘50s. The tires alone weigh no less than 1 ton, with the total weight of the truck at 38,000 pounds (17,200 kg). Changing one tire is the kind of operation that requires heavy machinery.
Photo: bigfoot4x4.com
Bigfoot number 5 stands 15 ft 6 in (4.7 meters) tall and, some 16 years after it was presented to the public for the first time, it finally got worldwide recognition: Guinness named it the tallest, widest and heaviest monster truck. To this day, despite the popularity of monster trucks and the many builders Bob’s creations have inspired to create their own, number 5 still holds the record.
“Bigfoot was the first,” Bob says. “I’ve got the best. Nobody else can top it. Still amazes me when it drives down the street. People just stare, awe at this thing. It’s just one of a kind.”
As for how he came up with the name, Bob once said it all started as a joke back when he was still in construction work. His manager at the time kept berating him for always breaking stuff about his truck, telling him that “If you’d keep that big foot of yours off the gas, we wouldn’t have to do this all the time.”
Photo: YouTube / Barcroft Cars
While number 5 is currently being kept in Missouri as a display vehicle, the other Bigfoots Bob built are still roaming out there. Bob’s lineup includes more than 22 of them, with one of the most recent actually being an electric vehicle. But only one is the biggest and meanest, and it’s truly a sight.
