The death of O.J. Simpson this week has led to a renewed interest in all things Simpson and one of the most infamous moments from his life involved a white Ford Bronco, and surprisingly, not only does that car still exist, but you can actually pay to see it.
Before we get to where you can see it though, let's go over the history of the car.
Back on June 17, 1994, Simpson led Los Angeles police on a two-hour chase through Southern California that didn't end until the former NFL running back surrendered himself at his home in Brentwood.
An estimated 95 million people across the country watched some or all of the car chase, which gives you an idea of just how big the Simpson case was back then. (To put that viewership number in perspective, 123.4 million people watched Super Bowl LVIII.)
Of course, if you were watching the chase at home, you didn't actually get to see much of Simpson. What those 95 million viewers saw instead was 120 minutes of a white Ford Bronco being driven by Al Cowlings on Interstate 405 in Southern California. Thanks to the chase, the white Bronco quickly became the most infamous car in America.
The vehicle has become so ubiquitous in American culture that people talk about it to this day. There was even a white Bronco joke in the movie "Shrek 2."
Say what you want about OJ Simpson but he inspired one of the funniest movie scenes in history pic.twitter.com/SnBHReEENc
— vids that go hard (@vidsthatgohard) April 11, 2024
Believe it or not, 30 years after the chase, the white Bronco once owned by Cowlings is still in nearly perfect shape.
In a 2016 interview with ESPN.com's Darren Rovell, Simpson's former agent, Mike Gilbert, revealed where the car has been and where it is now.
Shortly after the chase, a company in Minnesota offered to buy the car, but Cowlings ended up turning the deal down because of what the company wanted to do with the Bronco.
"We found out that the company was going to rent the vehicle to a company in L.A. called Grave Line Tours that visited famous graves," Gilbert said. "They were going to re-enact the chase with the Bronco and then take people to Nicole [Brown Simpson's] grave. The trial hadn't taken place yet, and we didn't want people thinking anyone associated with O.J. did this."
After that deal fell through, Gilbert and two other men decided to buy the car from Cowlings for $75,000. After Gilbert's purchase, the car ended up sitting in a parking garage for the next 17 years (1995-2012), where it was rarely used.
According to Gilbert, there's only been 20 miles added to the odometer since the O.J. chase in 1994. Gilbert did get a few offers from people who wanted to buy the car -- one offer was as high as $275,000 -- but he turned them all down, because he couldn't justify selling one of the most famous cars in American history.
"After the limo that JFK was shot in, this is the second-most-viewed car in American history," Gilbert said.
After 17 years in storage, a man representing the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas found out about the Bronco and immediately wanted to use it in a memorabilia show. The two sides worked out a deal, and at some point in 2012, the Bronco went on display for the first time since O.J.'s chase.
The Bronco stayed in Vegas until last year, when Gilbert finally had it moved back to his garage in California. However, that's not where the car is currently sitting. For anyone out there hoping to see the Bronco one day, you actually can do that right now, because the car is currently on display at the Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
"When I was working with ESPN on the documentary 'O.J.: Made in America,' I knew there would be an increased curiosity surrounding this case," Gilbert said in a statement provided to CBS Sports by the museum. "Not only would people learn details they never heard, but there would also be a new generation learning about it for the first time. This partnership with Alcatraz East has been important to me. I wanted the Bronco in a place where it would be protected, as well as be part of a bigger story, a part of history."
The car has been at the museum since early 2017 and it's still there right now.
Simpson also owned a white Ford Bronco, but that wasn't the one involved in the chase. Simpson's Bronco was seen as a key piece of evidence after investigators found blood spats smeared on the "console, door, steering wheel and carpeting." As ESPN notes, Simpson's Bronco was destroyed shortly after the trial.
Finally, if you never got a chance to see the white Bronco in action, you can relive the O.J. Simpson chase below.
Simpson died on Wednesday at the age of 76.
