Bill Bennett is able to see something cool, when others see only junk. Bill and his wife, who live in Tillamook, Ore., are hot-rodders from way back. “We aren’t addicted to cars or anything like that,” said the retired fishing boat captain. “In fact we only have eight cars in the yard right now, down from 13 a few months ago.”
Bennet’s latest creation is called “Death Trap Motors.” He explained: “This rat-rod was a brainstorm that started six years ago when I started amassing parts. I knew it was going to be something different. I just didn’t know exactly what is was going to be.”
Bill Bennet. (Photos by Bradley Berman)
Bennet grew up working on cars, by necessity. “My brother and sister and me, we never had new cars,” he said. “We had old ones that you had to work on. It wasn’t about going fast. It was about basic transportation.” But it’s a different story when it comes to his rat-rod. “In the case of this car, it was flat-out about making it as cool as it could be,” he said.
The heart of his rat-rod is a 1936 Dodge pickup truck. The cab had already been chopped when he got it, but since then, a tree fell on it. It took months to get that straightened out.
The original ’36 Dodge frame is still under the cab, but Bennet grafted on a Chevy S-10 front suspension and brakes. Another Chevy donated its 10-bolt differential. A 1998 Suburban provided the 6.5-liter diesel engine, and a Chevy 3500 heavy duty pickup donated its 4L80E automatic transmission.
The Death Trap Motors is 6.5-liter twin-turbo diesel. The vehicle was on display at Hot August Nights in Reno, Nev., in August 2015.
Inspired by the Pharaohs
The diesel was originally a single turbo setup, but Bennet always envisioned the Death Trap as a twin-turbo. The problem was how to connect the headers to the turbos, and keep them up above the engine. “One evening, the wife and I were watching a National Geographic show about Egypt, and on the screen came a picture of the pyramids,” said Bennet. “As soon as I saw that, I knew how I was going to solve this problem.”
Bennet’s answer was to fabricate a pyramid-shaped header collector to power the turbos, and then exhaust that into huge straight side stacks. “The drivetrain has been a massive engineering trial and error effort, with lots of error,” Bennet quipped.
He kept the original frame, but notched it in the back to accommodate the bagged suspension. Bennet’s approach to keeping the suspension inflated is unique. Rather than use an electric air pump, he re-worked an old air-conditioner compressor into a belt-driven air-compressor.
The cab was channeled to lower it below the frame. Suicide doors were added. And a bait tank from Bennet’s fishing boat became the gas tank.
The body is raw rust. Bennet has plans to add a clear coat, but is leaving his creation as-is for now. The interior is Spartan, with everything in the open. Bennet said that the shifter “doesn’t easily come to hand,” but works just fine.
If you want to see the Death Trap in person, it’s easy to find Bennet’s place near Tillamook. “Just follow the trail of black burnout marks on Highway 101,” he said.
