That's not as scary as my dad's VW Vanagon which had a gasoline heater. Lighting gasoline with a flame for that booster heater could be disasterous if corrosion hits any of the parts
My father had one of those as well (and in fact I learned to drive in it), and if I remember correctly, it's got a electric igniter of some sort, I THINK a resistive coil like a normal furnace or a glow plug. Which is one of the reasons it took a couple of minutes to fire up once you set it to go. That thing sure could put out heat though.
