Photos and Text by
Gary Rosier
Bill Kinstler of Holly Hill, Fl owns and built this 42 Chevy pick up. Bill likes to be different; as he has built a 50 Buick Special “Jet Back”, is currently working on a 47 Ford Cab-over powered by a 427 side-oiler, owns many different Harley motorcycles and has always been working on various projects since he was a kid. He likes to “push the envelope”!
Originally, as a student in high school, he participated in a state apprenticeship program that allowed him to go to school half a day, then On-the-Job training and work the rest of the day back in the 60’s. It was a trade school (tool and die-machinist) in Pennsylvania where he lived at the time. Vietnam was in full swing and while he had a deferment, he felt he needed to sign up and so off to the US Army he went, serving ’68-’69 in Vietnam with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and eventually completing his service after 3 years.
He then went to work for Clark Fork Lift company soon after his service duty and thats where he learned about forklifts and conversions from gas to propane. It was a natural fit since this 42 Chevy had been lying around his shop for several years in bits and pieces and needed a power-plant.
Tired of the winters, he moved south in ’81. While searching the internet, he came across this 1940 Caddy flathead that wasn’t too far away in Tampa Fl. He had the knowledge and the skill so felt that this was the perfect platform for the conversion that he had been wanting to do. Bill assembled the motor (it actually wasn’t in to bad of shape he says but gas powered), making the adapter plate to connect a ’79 Dodge One-Ton “new process” 435 4-speed with a granny gear (a very low first gear). The build was on!
As if you couldn’t tell, Bill was a master at the swap meets and especially the Daytona Turkey Run. Always on the lookout for various parts and pieces, he had assembled quite a stash around his shop. His good friend helped him in making the frame, “z” ing the back half pretty radically to get her to sit right and to his liking (its not on air bags).
He acquired a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer 8.8 rear complete with the disc brakes so that was installed next. The 42 Chevy Bed was mounted, hinged to make it tilt, and because of the motor/trans position in the chassis, the driveshaft was coming right through the cab! He had a custom Plexiglas cover made for it for “protection” of the elements/safety and used a 56 Ford steering box to link up with the GM Tilt column with a Singer sewing machine belt drive wheel as his steering wheel. To round out the chassis he next contacted Speedway Motors for their disc brake conversion up front and he suddenly had a roller but no “go Juice” ….yet!
He mounted up two propane tanks out of a forklift (8 gallons each, worth about 140-150 miles he says with a laugh!), making the “Y” pipe intake himself to mount the twin “mixers” (instead of carbs). It took him a total of two years to get it all put together but really he says because of his work with Propane Folklifts wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle as parts are still available at Fork Lift dealers.
It rolls on a set of old Weld wheels and the tires up front are Good-Year Eagle P195/65R15’s with Mickey Thompson (ET Streets) P295/55R15’s out back. The tail-lights are 59 Caddy lenses mounted in Harley Davidson exhausts. A LOT of Harley Davidson parts are used throughout, including the “Fish-Tail” crash bars.
To dress her up he says he had Jillian from Hellcats Pin-striping do some artwork, including the Rolling Stones item on the roof as well as many NASCAR Drivers signed all around it to include Ricky Stenhouse, Sterling Marlin, and Joey Lagano to name just a few. (He’s a NASCAR Fan, camps out in turn three for most every race). In the comfort department he mounted two Armored Personnel carrier seats over the partial plexi see-thru floorboards along with some Simpson safety 3 point seat belts.
He enjoys getting her out and about and drives it quite regularly. He enjoys the looks from so many and just meeting all the people that take such a keen interest in his vehicle. You can stand around and look at it for hours, the longer you look the more you see but as it says on the door, its “CHEAP THRILLS” but one that wows the crowds where-ever he goes.
As an added “Thrill” he made some caps to fit over the exhausts, fitted with spark plugs, that he lights up occasionally. The flamethrowers if you will, thrill the crowds at shows, they’re fed by gasoline stored in that old AC Kleen oil bath filter with a fuel pump mounted up under the dash and fed via copper tubing up to the custom exhausts. Pretty well thought out and much more than a “Cheap Thrill”, its one cool ride (or “Hot” ride if you stand to close)!
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