let's see some pics of 'lil' john butera's cars...

And how it looks today, But I still cant get anybody to give me any pics or info about the original car or owners

 

Funny, I was just talking about Lil' John the other day. I think the thing that impressed me the most about his work was, he had this ability to create things that had a natural, almost organic look while still being a functional mechanical thing. I remember seeing the Bank Americar dragster at Goodguys Indy back when it was still the orange Georgia Peach. I went to the pits to see it up close, just because I thought it was the nicest looking, well proportioned rail there. Only after talking to the then owner did I learn it was a Buttera car. I just said "That figures". The thing just looks right. He was a true metal artist.

 

My favorite was the '26 T sedan. I guess because I got a ride in it at Memphis in 1975. Plus, I thought the chassis and details were over-the-top!, especially at that time.

 

I met John at Lions in the '60s. He was way beyond talented and my favorite of all his builds was the '33 Willys for the Mr. Gasket owner. Have wondered what happened to it after all the years.

 

I did the restoration on that one too

http://cacklefest.com/Bankamericar.shtml

 

I have a picture somewhere, taken on the side of the highway, where we loaded up the Dixie Flyer/ BancAmericar chassis on the rooftop of Rick Stambaugh's truck for the trip west.

 

Here it is with a small block and original 3 point cage, and a few after it was updated to race. The original cage went back west with the chassis

 

It was redone by Pinkees Rod Shop and is currently for sale in the goodguys site. Barely recognizable from when it was white.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

You all need to give a little credit to the R in R and B.He was a craftsman like no other.

 

Yes now I remember . Chris was the sons name. I had a 1962 Chevy 2 at the time. If I recall that was a slick Chevy , but the paint would be too street Roddy for this site.

 

Thanks for the pics and history lesson fellow hambers. Love it.

 

Every sport has a guy that changed everything. Li'l John was that guy.

 

that was my fav of what i've seen as well. i bet i built that model at least a dozen times in my youth.

 

Yep, me too!

 

Credit where credit is due, it won the AMBR after a rework by Mike McKennett, I don't remember what all was changed, but it wasn't just the color.

 

This is the Typical Lil'John

In early May 2003, John Ewald took the car over to John Buttera for a damage assessment. We can't print what John said about his last FED, but the bottom line was it was well within the salvage range. John no longer has a shop but offered to do the "small stuff" and said he'd advise Bruce Dyda (who's next door to Lil John's buddy, Don Long) on the cars restoration.

 

Great stuff!!!

 

Really nice to see that current caretaker Karpo Murkijanian has returned the exposed rear 4 bar setup.
At the risk of being accused of posting O.T. material the people who weren't there should know Lil' Johns' impact and he should always be kept in the conversation for his innovation.

 

I've not been a regular reader of car magazines for nearly 15 years so I may have missed some of the later articles about John Buttera but there are some pretty good storys to be read on the internet about John.
There are some especially entertaining ones done by automotive journalists who were lucky enough to have been let into Johns' "inner sanctum", he definitely was involved in a wide range of projects, not just street rods.
Whether you liked his personality or not or didn't care for some of the things that he was well known for, like Uncle Ronn said above, John Buttera had no equal when it came to innovation.

 

During the build of the silver roadster in the early '80's, Gray Baskerville conned Lil' John into a series of articles for Hot Rod about how he went about doing things. I've read and re-read all of it. Priceless little tidbits about his mind set, and a demonstration of his capabilities. He offered a lot of hope for guys with not a lot of dollars, 'cuz John did all his magic with very little money.

 

I agree.. His quips come to mind often for me.
When I need to tackle somthing I've not attempted I always remember...
"it was easy when I didn't know I couldn't do it."

 

Can't recall the exact details but I especially like hearing how he got a new CNC mill by only putting down 5k.
Aparently John had a job that really needed to get done and he figured if it had to be repo'd it would be ok as long as the job was finished.

 

John was asked how he'd gone about making a mirror out of (god forbid) billet aluminum.
He said something to the effect "I just carve away everything that doesn't look like a mirror".

 

That came about when he decided to run INDY, he had money for the "TUB' and figured "BY RENTING" the CNC ,he could make the other stuff cheaper then to buy it.

John also had a side of him, that if he, for whatever reason you displeased him, your name went on the wall known as the "LEUKIMIA" list. your name on this list was his hope that you would just die

 

That’s almost like karma if you believe in that but at the very least it’s ironic considering that he died at 67 after a battle with cancer, complications of a brain tumor.

 

One day Lil' , Tom Hanna, and Bob Critze came into the shop, I hardly recconized John. Spoke with him a few days before his passing