I had a great conversation with Paul, the owner of Lil Ebony, a couple weeks ago. He said he had read my thread here on the HAMB. While a few of the details in my posts are a bit off he was amazed and thanked me for writing what I did. He told me that reading the thread got him fired up to possibly do something with the truck again. He said he's not ready to sell at this time, but that the time may come sooner or later and that I am at the top of the list to be a good caretaker if it does leave his family. He did say that he'd work on getting me some good current pictures of the truck sometime soon. It was cool to hear more stories about the truck and compare notes about its history. I was happy to hear that the truck is still virtually the same as it was in its glory days - except for some wear from time and being exposed to the elements. Pretty cool to know that its been the same kick ass little hot rod pick-up since the early 60's and hasn't turned into some pastel colored easter egg bilitized street rod. I hope I can one day bring Lil Ebony back to my family, but until then I'm happy to hear that Paul is fired up about hot rods again.
The moment you've all been waiting for . . . or at least I've been waiting for most of my life - and certainly more so the last few years. I knew Marcy and Titus would be on their way from Back to the 50's in St. Paul, MN to Spokane, WA this week. After talking to them last weekend at the show and to Paul this morning, I was able to arrange a time for Titus and Marcy to stop in and take some pictures of Lil Ebony for me. Paul had told me that the truck had been sitting outside for a long time, but was basically unchanged since the 60's. I could hardly contain my excitement as I waited for the pics. I had goosebumps as Titus sent me the pics. The first pic he sent: The trucks name is still intact! Even still wears the MN license plate. Original rear shot for reference: Side shot: The belly burner pipes still shine! She's a little worse for the wear after being exposed to the elements all these years, but still extremely solid. The interior looks great considering. I can just picture my uncle behind the wheel rowing the gears and my dad riding shotgun. The engine bay still wears the chrome yellow it did in the 60's, but the blown up flatty has been replaced. I still have the motor and all the speed parts in my possession as my uncle removed them before selling the truck in the late 60's. Early engine bay pic for reference: Difficult to make out here, but Titus also took a pic of the dropped axle: Although Paul wasn't quite ready to send the truck back to me in MN with Titus, I am grateful to finally have current pics of Lil Ebony. Thanks again to Marcy, Titus and Paul for taking time out of their busy schedule to help make this happen.
Another neat bit to add to this story is that as a result of my search I've gotten to become friends with the original builder's grandson, the painter's son and the pinstriper's son. They are following along with my search/saga as well.
This is what Auto-erotic should mean! That car is so hot that it naughty, and it needs to get re-done! Awesome that you found it.
that dude is killing that truck slowly but surely, I'd bet by the looks of it that it stays right there w/o even as much as air be added to the tires, much less driving again. I sure hope he lets it go to you sooner than later to be saved. great thread and search story.
Still trying to get the current owner to sell it to me. He's owned it since about 1970, so he's got some attachment to it as you might imagine.
It's still there, drove by it yesterday... what a shame, he still says his boy wants to build it with him.
Titus and I would have it on the road within a few short months -- looking pretty much as-is for now but mechanically "restored." I have the flatty just waiting for its home! I really hope I get a shot at bringing the truck back to MN before it's too late.
I "chased" an OT car with a similar situation FOR YEARS... YEARS. Always the same. "I've owned it for so long.... my son wants to build it with me." Finally, after....God, I think 16 yrs of chasing the car, I gave up. About, 10 yrs ago, I heard the dad died suddenly. The current owner will do nothing more with that car. Every day it gets more expensive and more challenging to get it back. He's had his time, he's made his decision.
I've mentioned earlier in this thread that I've had the engine from Lil Ebony for many years - 20+ actually. I disassembled it in my high school auto shop class over 20 years ago and quickly found myself in over my head in terms of budget and timeline. The engine sat in my dad's garage disassembled since. Fast forward to a couple months ago. @titus knew I had the engine and contacted me about using it for a part of his display at our local Gopher State Timing Association Show. The plan was to "restore" it and put it in an old timey speed shop display he had planned. It turned out to be a really neat deal. Lots of locals knew Lil Ebony and it's builders and owners well. I got to hear some more stories of the truck and got to share the pics that Titus and Marcy took of the truck in its current condition. All agreed that it needs to come back to MN to be re-united with it's heart. Until then, here's some pics from the show and Titus' killer display.
It is really so sad the current owner won't sell the car. Is there anyone here, or in his family, that isn't sure he'll never do anything to that car but let it slowly rot? As an aside, I met a guy once who owned EVERY car he ever bought. He just drove each dying ride out to the back fence and parked it. I think there were 30+ in his back yard when I saw them. Regardless of how much he could have received in trade-in or salvage value, he simply wouldn't part with them once they were his. Dumb ass. I sure hope you get it back in the family, and soon. Good luck, Gary
What you need to do is buy another 36 ford pickup and start on it and it will come up for sale.I had one guy who had a car I wanted and told me he was leaving it to his kids. A few months later he called me and offered to me.You never know.
Sorry man. Keeping that one under my hat as the owner seems like a fairly private guy and I don't want a bunch of hooligans showing up at his place.
I didn't realize that was your flatty in Jeff's display. I remember taking that thing apart all those years ago..... We really had no idea what we were doing!
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