---
title: "Watch This Volkswagen Type 2 With a Jet Engine Fly Down the Drag Strip"
description: "What was once a farm truck in Oklahoma is now a fire-breathing monster."
date: "2017-11-28"
modified: "2017-11-28"
authors:
  - name: "Eric Brandt"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/eric-brandt"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/16425/watch-this-volkswagen-type-2-with-a-jet-engine-fly-down-the-drag-strip"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Volkswagen News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "Build"
  - "drag"
  - "Engine Swap"
  - "jet"
  - "jet engine"
  - "Truck"
  - "type 2"
  - "Volkswagen"
  - "VW"
---

# Watch This Volkswagen Type 2 With a Jet Engine Fly Down the Drag Strip

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/11/oklahoma-willy-2.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Just when we thought we’ve seen every possible modification to a [Volkswagen Type 2](<https://www.thedrive.com/porsche/5821/993-turbo-powered-volkswagen-bus-is-insanity-done-right>), somebody went ahead and strapped a jet engine on one. In this case, a 1958 [VW Type 2](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/14586/you-can-buy-a-fridge-that-looks-like-a-vw-bus>) flatbed truck named [“Oklahoma Willy.”](<https://www.oklahomawilly.co.uk/>)

Oklahoma Willy spent most of its life as an honest-to-goodness work truck hauling straw on a farm in—you guessed it—[Oklahoma](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/15414/vaseline-covered-oklahoma-man-in-thong-pulled-over-for-speeding>). This is a genuine USDM truck that predates the infamous [“chicken tax”](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/7158/american-trucks-rule-thanks-to-the-chicken-tax>), the 25 percent tariff imposed by President Johnson in 1964 on various goods (including light trucks) imported to the U.S. That’s why a VW Type 2 truck in the U.S. is such a rare specimen.

![message-editor%2F1511849268433-oklahomawilly2.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/message-editor/1511849268433-oklahomawilly2.jpg>)
**Perrywinkle Customs**

Oklahoma Willy, however, no longer lives in the States. It was imported to the U.K. in 2013 to the folks at [Perrywinkle Customs](<https://www.perrywinklecustoms.co.uk/>). The British shop thought it would be a good idea to rebuild a 1986 Rolls-Royce Viper 535 Turbojet engine that was originally used in a BAC 167 Strikemaster fighter jet. The [jet engine](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/10034/listen-to-the-jet-engined-howmet-tx-howl-around-track>) makes 3,450 pounds of thrust, spins at 13,760 rpm, and burns 8.3 gallons of jet fuel per minute. When Oklahoma Willy doesn’t require all of that thrust, it’s powered by a 1.9-liter flat-four engine built by Chico Performance Racing in California.

Along with full restorations, the truck and the jet engine both received lovely red and cream-colored paint jobs. Oklahoma Willy sits on 17-inch Fuchs chrome wheels wrapped in 185/35/17 Nangkang tires. The wheels look awfully small, but they’re good enough to keep all of that jet power on the track.

Watch the video below to see just how well a jet-powered VW Type 2 does on the drag strip.

https://youtube.com/embed/L1Mpeq4fym4

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/brandt004>)