OUR
STORY
It all started from our love of BAJA… as little kids, we traveled to San Felipe with our parents and grand parents to visit relatives and vacation with our dune buggies and ATC’s. Exploring off-road terrain with our parents grew, and we cherish all the memories we have made on dirt trails all over the western United States and Baja. As the years passed, we started building our own vehicles and we wanted something that was capable to take on the terrain, but it also needed to look just as good driving on road too, as these were our daily drivers.
This is when the ideas were ignited, even before the concept of BAJA FORGED began...
If you’re ready to hear the whole story, let’s dive in deeper…
Most of the options out there were square, bulky and didn’t fit our style. We loved Baja off-road racing that always incorporated tube style bumpers. In 2011, Theresa got a Gen 1 Ford Raptor 4DR 6.2L V8(important details), and she fully designed her bumpers and side steps to debut at the 2011 SEMA Show. Dubbed the “mystery bumper”, someone finally let us know that everyone wanted our custom bumper that was on the forums. So we started making our first design under our shop, LGE-CTS Motorsports.
In 2017 we turned a proposal in to Ford. Overlanding was starting to get big, and we wanted to showcase a similar look as Theresa’s Raptor, so after deliberation on names, our concept “BAJA FORGED Adventurer” was dubbed by Jason, as the name for our Ford Expedition SEMA show project vehicle that we were awarded by Ford.
Working with Ford, you sign NDA’s to not disclose any project vehicles before 9am Tuesday morning when the SEMA show debuted. The Monday before, Theresa remembers going to the bar to meet some friends. And when she got talking with a few of their friends, they started talking about a Ford Expedition that just got posted on Instagram that he really loved, and the more he spoke about it, the more Theresa thought it sounded like their Expedition. So when she finally asked him to show her the photo and realized it WAS the BAJA FORGED Expedition, she thought she would be in so much trouble from Ford.
Her reaction was a mix of being horrified of what she would tell Ford and kind of excited that people were actually talking about the build already. Everyone agreed, that we should be more excited about it getting 1,000 likes in a few hours before it’s even debuted. And really, it just blew up from there, in a good way!
It was awarded a Ford Design award, got over a million views online, and was a huge hit at SEMA. By enhancing the vehicles features, creating something that looks like a factory concept, not just a bunch of parts thrown on, people took notice. Angles mattered… contouring mattered. Not pushing against body lines, but working with them. Theresa’s design concepts, although different from the teams, proved to be something the overlanding and off-road world wanted to see more of. The Expedition was the beginning of our winning streak of getting 4 Ford design awards in a row for our BAJA FORGED signature vehicles built at LGE-CTS between 2017-2021 (minus no SEMA during COVID).
On February 14, 2020, we started BAJA FORGED on paper. LGE-CTS was our main business, but this was something we would start working on as our side hustle to grow it. Then exactly 1 month later COVID hit. Our Autobody shop literally was like a ghost town with no one coming in, but we were an essential business and we’re able to stay open. So, we had literally just started working on BF to keep us busy. Theresa and Jason started protyping products, but building a custom part for 1 vehicle is COMPLETELY different than building a product that can be taken on and off and that most people can easily understand how to do it. Then there’s shipping these big parts, but we’ll save that for another time. So we built a team and we went to work on putting some time into creating the foundation of the business. So we started building some roof racks… and that did NOT turn out good unfortunately. And it’s been a bumpy road since, with LOT’S more stories, both good and bad, that we are happy to share in the future.
In a nutshell, the past few years we have continued to run LGE-CTS and still put the side hustle into BF. Finally, for 2023, we decided to jump ALL in! We’re fully committed, so now, we’re ALL along for this ride together, so strap in! Thank you for you support. Your belief in us. For doing this with us, because without you, there is no US!
Our mission…
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create a capable off-road product/vehicle to give you a better off-roading experience
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to design a product that will enhance the look of your vehicle both on and off road
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to create a compact design to ship products all over the world with standard shipping
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To design and manufacture the products in the US or Baja
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To evolve with innovation
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To support our off-road community by teaching, taking care of our desert, and growing our love for exploring outdoors for the mental health aspects and promoting family
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Promote individuality and uniqueness
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Promote outdoor adventure
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Promote trying new things
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Promote inclusion to welcome others into this community
Go out and forge your own path,
BAJA FORGED team
THE
INNOVATOR
Theresa Contreras...
Co-Founder, CEO, and Designer of BAJA FORGED.
Yes, this is a woman-owned business, and Theresa gives her full passion and dedication to it.
For more on Theresa, AKA "DESIGNmuse", click below.
