![]() Rollin’ Thunder was in high demand and Oldaker toured the country for exhibitions. The van wasn’t fast but it was powerful and popular. Oldaker rebuilt the engine and converted the bright orange van to a monster circa 1984-85. Actually the truck wasn’t abandoned as much as it was torched during a union labor dispute at a nearby construction site. The engine was swapped out for a 600hp Detroit Diesel from an abandoned water truck. He was going to make it a four wheel drive but then saw a picture of Bigfoot and went in a different direction. He had already put a hundred thousand miles on it when he decided to convert it. The owner / builder Jim Oldaker used the van to transport dirt bikes in Southern California. It started its life as an ordinary 1972 Dodge Tradesman Van. ![]() Rollin' Thunder was the world’s first monster van. It proved that it was no slouch in the performance department. Mud bogs, tractor pulls, hill climbs and car crushes. Everything that Bigfoot could do King Kong could do as well. It was an eye catcher on the show circuit. The truck belched huge plumes of black smoke when it ran. A large silver smokestack protruded from the side of the hood. It generated about 600 horsepower and enough torque to move the massive truck up and over anything. The majority of monster trucks ran on heavily modified gasoline, or alcohol racing engines. What made King Kong unique was actually the power plant. History certainly would have been different if a certain promoter had walked into Dane’s shop and saw video of what his truck could do. According to Jeff it was Bob that asked him for advice on how to crush cars when promoters wanted to see Bigfoot do that in events. Many witnesses would testify that Dane was actually the first to start crushing cars, at least half a year before Chandler if not earlier.
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