He checked out’ Simpson was arrested for stabbing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman to death. Simpson became a fugitive on June 17, 1994, after failing to surrender to authorities.
After being seen with Cowlings in the Bronco, authorities pursued him for 60 miles (96 kilometers) across Southern California. Over 90 million Americans watched in awe as TV helicopters broadcast the action. As the odd procession passed, thousands cheered the former star running back on freeways and city streets.
Cowlings said he solely cared about saving Simpson. “He was checking out,” Cowlings told AP in 1996. “O.J. and I were not escaping. I was saving a pal.” Simpson surrendered in his Brentwood driveway after being lured out of the Bronco with a family photo. Police recovered Simpson's passport, revolver, fake beard, and hundreds of dollars in cash and cheques in the car.
The vehicle's make added drama. “If it were a Jeep Wrangler, it almost could have been any of us,” said marketing professor Collins. “But the white Ford Bronco stood out. With O.J., it was a unique vehicle. Still on brand.”
Soccer moms didn't drive Broncos The chase may have killed the Bronco or increased sales. Zuercher, the auto historian, claimed the Bronco was dying. The family-friendly, popular four-door SUVs outperformed the two-door SUV. In 1990, the Ford Explorer was a superhit.
“Most 1990s soccer moms weren't driving Ford Broncos,” Zuercher remarked. There were two more model years after the O.J. chase, then the Bronco disappeared for 25 years. ESPN claimed in 2016 that three men, including Simpson's former agent, bought the car-chase Bronco. After years in a Los Angeles parking garage, it ended up in the Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
In addition to the Simpson Bronco and Bundy's Beetle, the museum has John Dillinger's 1933 Essex Terraplane and a 1934 Ford prop car from “Bonnie and Clyde”'s horrific death scene. The O.J. pursuit still intrigues people, especially the question of why it happened, according to museum marketing director Taylor Smart.
Visitors may recreate the chase on TV screens in the chamber where the iconic Bronco is parked behind a gate while taking photos of American history with their phones. “A lot of people can name the exact bar that they were at” 30 years ago, Smart added. “Many Americans shared this experience. Everyone has a story about where they were when the white Bronco pursuit started.”
stay turned for development