Few other Frankenstein vehicles are as innocuous-looking as this stylish, fully-restored 1958 Volkswagen camper van – from the front.
Business in the front, party in the back, as they say – and this camper van has plenty of the latter. Called the Oklahoma Willy, this is actually a jet-powered classic camper, able to reach a top speed of 300 mph. In theory, at least. For this reason, Oklahoma Willy is perhaps the most ridiculous and totally awesome ride you’ll see this week.
It took Perry Watkins, owner of Perrywinkle Customs from Buckinghamshire, UK nearly six years to complete the construction of this monster vehicle. The idea came to him as most good ideas do: on a night out drinking with his mates.
“We sit at the pub and come up with stupid ideas,” Perry says in an interview with Barcroft Cars from earlier this month. “I'll then lock myself in the garage for five years and build it.”
Oklahoma Willy took him more, but the result is truly an impressive one. The VW van has been restored faithfully, except for the back, where it had a refurbished Rolls Royce Viper 535 fighter jet engine and an afterburner added. Additional controls were added on the dashboard, as well as a “dead man’s pedal” that cuts off the jet engine, should anything go wrong.
The jet-powered van is road-legal, to boot. Perry has kept the original engine in place and it is fully functional, so he can take the van to run errands, provided he doesn’t fire up the jet engine.
The jet engine delivers 5,000 HP that would take the van to a top speed of 300 mph – in theory. However, Perry hasn’t taken it above 175 mph, saying driving past the 160 mph limit tends to be “a bit hairy.” Even at half the estimated top speed, the experience is “like riding on top of a firework” and “one of the most incredible things you can ever experience.”
Perry calls this van an iconic vehicle, and his pride and joy. It’s not the only one he’s made that’s gotten international media attention, though. In 2009, he won a Guinness World Record for the world’s smallest road-legal car with Wind Up (which was the size of a washing machine), and in 2010, he won another for world’s fastest furniture (by creating a car from a dining table and chairs).
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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