Cool transformation
Abandoned van becomes ice cream truck
Knoxville News Sentinel
When P.J. Burchett takes to the road in his retro-inspired ice cream truck, people are so excited to see him they swerve toward him.
“I’m a lways whiteknuckled,” he said. “I look out of the corner of my eye and they’re taking pictures and smiling, not realizing they’re running me off the road.”
Burchett said he is a “man with a plan and a Metro van,” speaking of the fully restored, completely tricked-out 1950 International Harvester van, which he has turned into an ice cream truck he calls Cruisin’ Cone. It’s also his new business.
Burchett works alongside his father building hot rods, but he decided to build the Cruisin’ Cone in his spare time to take to car shows and to rent out for special events.
“I was on one of those county back roads two years ago, and I saw the van sitting in a field,” he said.
“Everyone tried to buy this old thing, and no one could get it from him,” Burchett said of the van and its owner.
So with a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Burchett set out to approach the owner and make a deal.
“He refused to sell it at first because it was being used to store hay for his animals,” Burchett said. He offered a trade — he would build a shed for the hay in return for the old truck.
“We had to have a tractor pick it up out of the mud; it had sunk down a good 10 inches,” Burchett said. “Then I brought it home and began evaluating how rough it was. I was going to do something quick and cheap, but then I realized that I had to make a whole new truck from the beltline down. P.J. Burchet t rebuilt a 1950 Metro van into the Cruisin’ Cone to hire for special event s. He will hand out ice cream treat s and even play music through the van’s speakers when he arrives.
“I wanted to do something that my family can have fun with,” Burchett said of the decision to restore and modify the Metro van, a new kind of project for him. In the past, he’d only built two-seater cars and hot rods, he said.
“He came home and he said, ‘You’re going to think I’m crazy, (but) I want to turn it into an ice cream truck,’ ” said his wife, Cheryl Burchett.
“It’s perfect for us because I’m a teacher,” she said. “It’s something we hope to take to parties and weddings during the summer. It’s something the whole family can join in with.”
The price to rent the truck is $100 an hour, plus the cost of any chosen treats. The couple will also offer face painting, balloon animals and even ice P. J. Burchet t found the vehicle he transformed into the Cruisin’ Cone sit ting in a farmer’s field storing hay. cream-themed art projects for an additional cost.
The Burchetts see the van as a photo background for events, a “getaway vehicle” for weddings, or even a unique way to make a Valentine’s Day wedding proposal.
“We have been contacted by schools and assistedliving facilities for events,” Cheryl Burchett said. “It’s got lots of potential.”
Burchett has unearthed a little of the van’s history. The last time it was legally driven was 1964, according to the license tags. And he discovered a sign for Jewel Tea, a company that used to drive around supplying housewives with everything from grocery items to cleaning supplies, linens and cookware.
Using extra parts lying around his shop, Burchett sta rted rebuilding the frame and motor. Then he decided that since he had come so far, why not take it to another level? A Corvette suspension and fuel-injected engine were added, and he lowered the whole van.
A year into it, word had spread about his project. Axalta Coating Systems offered to donate the paint if Burchett would take the finished van to SEMA, the premier automotive specialty products trade event held each fall in Las Vegas.
“I was going to finish putting it together across the states,” Burchett said.
He loaded it on a trailer and headed for Nevada. In Texas, a wheel came off the trailer, forcing him to replace all of the wheels. In an Albuquerque, N.M., hotel parking lot, his tools were stolen. Then he spent the entire night before the show finishing the van.
“It was phenomenal, and everybody went mad about it,” Burchett said of the response to the van on display at the Las Vegas show.
The paint company even arranged for Burchett to hand out ice cream treats; in one day he gave away 3,000 in just three hours, he said. On his return to Knoxville, there was a flurry of people inviting him to car shows and benefits.
Burchett even dresses the part of an ice cream truck man.
Unable to find a vintage costume, his mother made him a white jacket, then at Christmas she made one for his 3-year-old son, Joshua, and had them embroidered with the Cruisin’ Cone logo. She also made matching aprons.
Retro, ice-cream-themed jewelry has been handmade for Cheryl Burchett’s Etsy store, as well as branded children’s and adult’s Tshirts they can sell at car shows.
Cheryl Burchett suggested a t wo-foot ice cream cone for the top of the truck, but P.J. Burchett had his heart set on something a little bigger. They finally found it on Amazon, and a FedEx driver delivered the seven-foot cone to his door.
P.J. Burchett is rebuilding a 1946 Coca-Cola refrigerator to serve as a freezer later. They hope soon to begin making their own “Rocky Road” ice cream.