Rollin' Thunder Monster Van Is Pure Old School Cool

Monster Van

While the monster truck phenomenon is decades-old now, our passion for these giant car crushers remains strong. But while there have been many memorable "stars" in the monster truck world, few are as cool as the 1972 Dodge Tradesman van that was once its owner's daily driver, that is, until Jim Oldaker transformed it into one of the coolest monster trucks, er, vans you'll ever lay eyes on. And he recanted the story of how it all came to be in an old issue of Four Wheeler that the rag recently revisited.

Photos: Truck Trend

Transformation Begins

Oldaker started his van's transformation by stripping down a tandem-axle water truck and shortening its frame to fit the van. He then secured a set of Boyce Equipment 5-ton military Rockwell steering axles with 6.44:1 gears and Detroit lockers, 10-ton front military springs with 5-tons for the back, along with a grand total of 16 Rough Country Mark IV shocks.

Photos: Truck Trend

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Powertrain

To fill out that newfound space, a set of 25"x36" wheels were custom-built and fitted with 66/43-25 Goodyear Terra tires. Then, it was on to finding the right powerplant. Oldaker didn't have to look far for that, as he was able to utilize the 426 cubic-inch Detroit 6-71 diesel from the water truck donor, as well as that truck's Spicer five-speed manual transmission, and Rockwell 5-ton, two-speed transfer case.

Photos: Truck Trend

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Finishing Touches

As you might imagine, the Dodge Tradesman van didn't exactly enjoy tremendous aftermarket support, so Oldaker was forced to look to custom parts makers for many of his van's parts. That includes the tubular bumpers, body mounts, nerf bars, and many others. The whole thing was then covered in Corvette orange metallic paint with gold pearl and micro-sequins, along with lightning bolts and van murals. Because why not?

Photos: Four Wheeler

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Period Correct

Capping off the look were four Hella Super Jumbo lights and some amber lighting for the tube bumper. The interior was period correct as well, with brown hi-lo carpeting, oak trim, and crushed velour. Oldaker sat in a Cerullo bucket seat and had a host of Stewart-Warner gauges to monitor things.

Photos: Four Wheeler

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Moving On

Oldaker proceeded to campaign Rollin' Thunder for some time, until advances in technology rendered it non-competitive around 1984. He sold it to someone in Japan before going on to drive a Bigfoot truck for Bob Chandler for a while. But today, for those that grew up watching his awesome old van perform, we'll always remember Oldaker as a sort of a hero.

Photos: Four Wheeler

>>Join the conversation about this very cool Monster Van right here in the Dodge Forum.

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