4WD 1953 Ford Van with a Cummins 6BT

Scott Birdsall from Chuckles Garage built a 1400+ hp diesel race truck and last year set a Pikes Peak record in it. His newest creation is the “Nuke Van”, a diesel powered 4WD van for off-road adventures. The van was originally built during the Cold War for the California Office of Civic Defense using a 1953 Ford step van with a custom aluminum body by the Aluminum Body Corp. When Scott got a hold of it he boxed and reinforced the chassis and added Bilstein remote reservoir shocks, Toyo 34-inch tires (305/70/16). The van is now powered by a Cummins 5.9 L 6BT inline-six producing around 250 hp and 700 lb-ft of torque thanks to an ATS Aurora 4000 turbocharger, Dynomite Diesel EDM injectors, and 4-inch exhaust. Scott converted from 2WD to 4WD using a NV4500 five-speed manual transmission with a South Bend twin-disc clutch, divorced NP205 transfer case, Dana 60 high pinion front axle, and Corporate 14-bolt rear axle.

Source: @chucklesgarage and Hoonigan Autofocus