Disastron13, is THIS the Roadster???

[Fat Hack]

Thought the 'clean white roadster' you mentioned in the Pete Eastwood post might actually be the one built by Lil John Buttera back in the mid 70s. Here's a shot of it with the top up, and one of several sets of wheels it would wear in it's travels!

[wingnutz]

Lil John's car alright..., I followed a lot of his work.

Did someone on the HAMB buy it?

Mark

[alchemy]

Is that the Corno roadster? AMBR winner or something like that? I remember when one of Lil John's white roadsters was used on the Waltons. They put Moons over the Centerlines I think.

alchemy

[fab32]

Corno ended up with Buterra's A. Buterra wanted it back. Corno agreed if Buterra would build him another one only with a rumble seat for his daughter/kids. Buterra obliged and a trade was made. That roadster ended up being AMBR and I believe he still owns it. OK Hack, rip this scenerio apart your the historian.

Frank

[NealinCA]

Is this the Corno car? Thanks to DRD57 fir the pic...

http://drd57.hypermart.net/MarchMeet04/P1010146.JPG

I have been a fan of Buttera's work since I was kid. He was way ahead of his time.

Neal

[alchemy]

Nealin, that's not the Corno car. The Corno car looks just like the other white one, except now it's bright red.

Your pic looks a little like Boyd's Silver Bullit (one of his early cars).


alchemy

[NealinCA]

[ QUOTE ]

Your pic looks a little like Boyd's Silver Bullit (one of his early cars).

alchemy


[/ QUOTE ]

Except the Silver Bullet doesn't have the nice proportions that the dark red car has...

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/events/0303SR_Sac10zoom.jpg

When I first saw some of Boyd's cars, I thought...who is this Buttera wannabe?

Neal

[disastron13]

Yeah man that's the car. Saw some magazine article about it, made me buy a car mag for the first time in years.
At a time when American cars were about as miserable as could be, and cheap imported European cars had been forced off the US market.
I was driving my bone stock 46 Ford pickup.
And hot rods were pretty bad then to, what we used to call "East Coast junk wagons", or fad Ts that were far from the pure hot rod idea. Brass carriage lamps had a lot to do with the dry lakes, right?
That car influenced the bikes I built-
"Keep it simple"
"Each part does three things"
"A clean look"
"Old is usually better"

Thanks for diggin it up, man

[wingnutz]

Wasn't "Lil" John from Kenosha Wisconsin...?

I heard he used to work for American Motors in the R&R division before leaving for California!

Just wondering if brought that roadster down to So-Cal with him or if he just abandoned all the rust repaired wrecks before leaving!!!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Last I saw him was on one of the episodes of monster garage!

Mark

[metalshapes]

[ QUOTE ]

Lil John is about CARS and CRAFTSMANSHIP...and Boyd is about MONEY and HYPE.


[/ QUOTE ]

Fat Hack, thanks for the explination.
It always kinda seemed that way to me, but I was not in this country at the time, so I was not getting the info like you were...
I was trying to read everything I could about what Lil John was doing, Like the V6 Roadster you mentioned and the '32 3W Coupe.
I have a lot of respect for the man, because of what he built.
Its just to bad that every dork with a Bridgeport thinks he can do it too.

[Unkl Ian]

[ QUOTE ]
I just wonder why Boyd never tried to capitalize on Buttera's brief stint building custom BIKES?

[/ QUOTE ]

After Lil John's Speedster bikes were developed,they were actually built under licence
by Boyd's for a short period,before Boyd's went bankrupt.

Production reverted back to Buttera's after that.

[river1]

any pics of lil john's bikes?

later jim

[Unkl Ian]

By using coilovers on the front,John was able to push the front axle out in front of the grill.
Boyd's "Silver Bullet" used a typical transverse leaf spring over the dropped axle so the wheels are back further.The rear wheelwells were also moved forward,to get the proportions he wanted.
http://autohobbypage.com/photo/28-29/28frd6.jpg
http://autohobbypage.com/photo/28-29/28frd5.jpg
His '27,featured Jag suspension front and rear,air,power windows,
all the stuff that is common now.
http://www.hotrod.com/hotrod/featuredvehicles/p23745_image_small.jpg

[metalshapes]

[ QUOTE ]
By using coilovers on the front,John was able to push the front axle out in front of the grill.
Boyd's "Silver Bullet" used a typical transverse leaf spring over the dropped axle so the wheels are back further.The rear wheelwells were also moved forward,to get the proportions he wanted.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it also doesn't have half the front X member showing. And those Shocks ( looks like he got them of a MGB ) look totaly out of place on Boyds car. ( They could look great on a Trad car though... )

[wingnutz]

"Thanks Fat Hack"!

Great info...!