Bronco Stories: K Bar S Bronco Specialties

 

Our story begins with two men, John Karp and Hal Sealund. They are the "K" and the "S" in K Bar S.

Hal Sealund bought his first Bronco from University Ford in 1968. He soon began attending off-roading events. 

Karp and Sealund met at an off-road event hosted by the Vaquero's Bronco club.

Karp was a Bronco owner and Vaquero member and recruited Sealund to the club. Soon the two became good friends.

Pearson Ford in San Diego had a Bronco that wasn't selling (a stock 6 cylinder). John offered to help by modifying the Bronco with a roll bar, Gates XT tires, fender flares, Hurst floor shifter and other items. Just as he had done on his own Bronco.

Once the Bronco hit the lot, it sold immediately, which led to requests for more Broncos to be modified for the dealership. The work was actually performed by California Racing Specialties, a shop which was mostly involved with Stock Car racing.

It's not that John or Hal couldn't do the work, but they both had full time jobs.

Soon they began selling the parts as well as having Broncos prepped by CRS.

They called their off-road prep package "El Gitano" which means "the Gypsy" in Spanish. This is a name Hal had used on his Jeep prior to getting interested in Broncos.

They also gave their company the name K Bar S and set up an office in Lakeside, CA, also the home of Viva Off-Road/Viva Broncos.

Below is one of the early "El Gitano" Broncos, note the "K Bar S Bronco" on the rear fender.

Desert Racing was just getting big, and San Diego was about as close as you could get to the Baja races without actually being in Mexico.

In 1968 Hal Sealund was at Ed Perry's San Diego area tire shop and heard that Ed's son Dann didn't want to fly back down to La Paz and drive the Bronco back home, this was after the 1968 Baja 1000 (held in November). 

Hal offered to drive Ed Perry's Bronco back to San Diego from La Paz. After that trip Hal decided then that he wanted to buy that Bronco.

This Bronco was one of the first Broncos built by Stroppe. Ford used it at the Hurst Castle for advertising. It was also featured on the first Holman & Moody-Stroppe catalog in 1967

Hal somewhere in Mexico in 1968, driving the Bronco back from La Paz.

Ed originally didn't want to sell the Bronco, but after the 1969 race season, he relented and Hal purchased it.

Hal repainted the Bronco.

Here it is at the CRS/K-Bar-S shop

The Stroppe-Sealund Bronco, notice the K Bar S on the fender, another repaint, this time at the request of the sponsor Sta-Power

 In 1973 Hal decided to return the Bronco to street legal configuration and had the six-cylinder replaced by a 351 Windsor.

In 1974 Kurt Strecker of Viva Broncos convinced Hal to hire him to build the Bronco into a real race Bronco. Hal was convinced and dropped the Bronco off with Kurt.

During the building of Hals' Bronco, Kurt was moving Viva Off-Road/Viva Broncos from Lakeside to Santee California (just a few miles down the road). Kurt failed to tie down the body of the Stroppe-Hurst Bronco and it came off the trailer, totally destroying it.

That is when Ken Rice stepped in to build the Bronco, it got a new tube cage, lengthened wheelbase (10" longer) and fiberglass body panels

This Bronco became the longest raced Bronco in history.

After being raced well into the 1980s, it was then sold to someone in Texas and after its last race it sat for years waiting to be saved. 

Ed Gudenkauf bought the Bronco in June of 2009 and restored it

Back to our story:

K Bar S closed sometime in 1972. Life, family, mortgages etc kept K Bar S closed for the rest of the decade. In the meantime, Hal Sealund kept racing his Bronco.

In 1980 John Karp was living in Las Vegas and reopened K Bar S for business working out of his garage. 

For a time, they were a retailer for James Duff. Duff's company was called James Duffy Enterprises back then.

By the mid 1980's they found their own sub-contractors to manufacture the parts designed/modified by them and others.

The business grew and they moved into a shop on Western Ave in Las Vegas. 

The 1980 K Bar S catalog had less than 30 items for sale.

K Bar S began building Broncos for customers as well as for promoting the business.

I had read that they built 12 "official" shop rigs over the years, although I have yet to see any list.

Most of these shop Broncos got a nickname and most got a custom two-tone paint job. Names like Crazy Horse, Lil' Foot, Big Horn, Shorty & Dust Devil.

The ad below shows Sealund's race Bronco and K Bar S as the sponsor. Hal was no longer part owner of K Bar S but remained close to the business and his friend John Karp.

At one point the K Bar S Bronco stable included a Ballon Chaser 1977 Bronco. I don't know if this was of those that went on the famous cross country balloon boondoggle (I believe there was one standard Bronco and one Bronco Ambulance), as there were a bunch of Broncos that got the paint scheme but didn't participate.

At some point they had to move, as the Rio Casino wanted the property they occupied for expansion. They moved to North Las Vegas off Scripps Way.

Some pictures from the new K Bar S shop

When John Karp was ready to retire, he turned the reigns over to his daughter Patty and her husband Kenny Youngblood.

The company faced tough times with dips in the economy and pressure from the larger mail order houses (who began carrying some of the same parts and selling them much cheaper). They closed the doors in 2002.

Hal and John remained friends right up to John's death in 2017, here they are at Hal's garage in Yuma with his collection of Broncos behind them. (John on the left, Hal on the right)

In the last few years Hal has begun to sell off his collection.

Steve Oligies, who raced Hal Sealund's Bronco for a few years, bought one of the K Bar S shop Broncos and restored it.

Beach City Broncos is also restoring a former K Bar S Bronco

So how do you identify a K Bar S built Bronco? There are no official records that I know of, but there are clues that help. Supposedly they only built 12 Broncos, I do not know who came up with that count and why they know there are only 12 but yet no records exist, so take that with a grain of salt. They did modify plenty of customer owned Broncos.

Here is a list of 11 items that would help you identify a K Bar S built Bronco.

1. They always used their own suspension products, although early on they used James Duff components as they were a dealer for them

2. 1/2 door inserts, not present on every rig, but they were located in Las Vegas and built a lot of the rigs for their environment.

3. Smittybilt roll cages, K Bar S was a dealer for Smittybilt and thus they almost always used the Smittybilt cage, but then so did a lot of people (including me).

4. Lecarra steering wheel, for some reason they preferred the Lecarra.

Options were limited in the 80's and Lecarra did build (and still do) a nice steering wheel. I believe K Bar S was also a Lecarra dealer.

5. Fiberglass hood or hood scoop. Most of the K Bar S trucks had performance upgrades and needed the extra hood clearance, the hoods were originally from Duff, but I think they copied them with a local manufacturer.

6. 4 Speed conversions, K Bar S preferred the Ford Top Loader 4 speed over the stock Top Loader 3 speed and because they were in the desert, there wasn't much need for a slow crawling granny low in a truck 4 speed. Also, the Top Loader conversion was an easy swap.

7. Grote stainless mirrors. K Bar S was the only shop selling these mirrors as far as I know, they were present on most of their builds that got the 1/2 doors.

8. A nick name, while lots of people nicknamed their Broncos, K Bar S would paint the nick name on the hood scoop or somewhere conspicuous like the dash

9. Any one of these items would not identify your Bronco as being built by K Bar S, but these last touches might seal the deal.

K Bar S almost always lettered the Fenders with "Powered By Ford" on the front

and "Performance by K Bar S" on the back

10. Many of the K Bar S Broncos got a custom speed o meter cluster that was etched with the K Bar S logo

11. And K Bar S had these metal decals made up to cover the Ford emblem on the driver's side seat riser.

This El Gitano (the gypsy) sticker is also a giveaway. 

Again, any one of these would not identify your Bronco as an official K Bar S built Bronco, but if all of these were present, chances are good that it is one.

Here are some tributes and possible real K Bar S rigs:

This Sea Pine Green '72 Bronco was built as a tribute to K Bar S, see the story of The Rattler here 

This one (built by Rocky Roads) was also inspired by the K Bar S roadsters. Smittybilt cage, 1/2 doors, the Grote mirrors, desert runner front bumper, fiberglass hood with Duff bubble, Beard seats and the coup de gras, the "Powered by Ford" on the front fender.

This "Crazy Ass Bronco" is owned by Ed Gudenkauf and was built to look like a K Bar S Bronco. Note the El Gitano sticker on the fender. Ed's family owned a label company that made the stickers for K Bar S

I found this 1968 for sale and wondered briefly if it was built by K Bar S, it has many of their signature touches. For starters there are the 1/2 doors, mirrors, dual shocks front & real along with the Smittybilt roll cage are almost always present on the K Bar S rigs. Throw in the 351W swap and the nick name: "Sea Breeze" and anyone would wonder.....

Here is another one, Smittybilt roll cage, desert front bumper, Beard seats and 1/2 doors. Again, these are items anyone can buy.

And another one, this one has the paint job, Powered by Ford lettering, hood scoop, 1/2 doors, Smittybilt cage, racing seats and mirrors. If this Bronco wasn't built by K Bar S, the owner sure wanted it to look that way.

Time Line

1965 - In August, Ford announces the new Bronco

1966 - Broncos arrive at Ford dealerships

1968 - Hal Sealund makes the return trip from Baja in the Stroppe/Hearst Bronco

1969/1970 - Hal buys Ed Perry's Stroppe/Hearst Bronco

1969 - K Bar S opens for business in San Diego

1972 - K Bar S closes

1980 - John Karp resurrects K Bar S in Las Vegas

2002 - K-Bar-S closes its doors for the second time.

2009 - Ed Gudenkauf buys the Stroppe/Sealund Bronco

2017 - October, Hal Sealund starts selling his collection of Broncos

2017 - October 10th, Patti Youngblood (Karp) passes away

2019 - October 29th, John Karp passes away

Sources:

Interview with Hal Sealund on Bronco Talk 

Truck Talk Media - Ford Bronco, Automotive Discussion

Classic Bronco Forum

Back yard find! The HMS/Sealund race bronco | ClassicBroncos.com Forum