VW Bus Is Typical Hotrodder's Excess

Typically, a hot rod build involves putting a blown motor on an old chassis, chopping the top, putting some chrome wheels and then enjoying the fruits of your labor. This build is exactly that, except for a couple of minor differences. The first difference is that this is a mid-engine build, and the second is that the engine is in the middle of the chassis, a VW Type 2 bus, to be exact.

In true hotrodding style, builder Ken Prather used a mix of components that have been proven to work, such as using a narrowed Ford diff, 350 automatic, Dodge truck radiator and a 355 small-block with a 6-71 blower sitting on top of it. The yoke of the transmission attaches directly to the differential, which has been narrowed 14 inches to accommodate the 10-inch slicks at the rear. Incidentally, the whole powertrain is solid-mounted to a huge swingarm that serves as the rear suspension of the vehicle.

Prather spent four years fabricating this ride, which features a side door to give access to the engine, louvers on the other side of the body to cool the engine and a 7-inch chop from the roof. To say the vehicle is unusual is to insult the creativity and labor that went into it. While it did the requisite rounds of car shows, Ken also drove this beast 4,000 miles from Pennsylvania to the Bonneville Salt Flats, where as a warmup, he ran this bus down the flats at 130 mph.

See video here.

Source article here.

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