Lil' John Buterra

Seems to me I read somewhere that after Boyd saw the wheels that Lil' had made for his own 3w, Boyd saw some potential and wanted to work with Lil' to make more. Lil' thought they'd be lucky if they sold a dozen sets and told Boyd to go ahead and fill his boots. Boyd did and we know what a 'high rolling S.O.B. he turned out to be. Lil' aways did want he wanted, when he wanted, and for the most part stayed out of the limelight. But there's no denying he's got monstrious talent, and many giants in the industry have him to thank.

 

John also built some of the first Fuel Funny Cars with Quick-Change/Halibrand type rear ends,,early mid 70s stuff.
Shirley had one,McEwen & many others,,,trick pieces for sure.
I met John once in 84,,,cool guy & very talented mechanically and in the head as well.

 

How about some real trivia for ya? That cobra powered sedan was the subject of a Revell 1/25 scale model, very accurate, right down to the air cleaner, interior, IFS and Jag rear. Still being reissued in various looks tho basically the same. I didn't know it was his car 'til I saw the picture on here.

 

The T sedan went through Barrett-Jackson three or four years ago, and if I'm not mistaken somebody stole it for like $24K. Anybody know who owns it now, and where it is?

 

Don't know who or where it is, but I remember a figure like that too!

 

Buterra is a God.... He thinks ten years ahead of the curve and his build skills are at the top of the list....

 

Yeh...the detail you can find in the pictures is amazing. I'm guessing the front 4 bars double as the torsion bar and shock arms.
Clark

 

Was the ****era 3 window picked for that top 75 32's thing? If not that was a big screw up on their part.
Clark

 

Yes, Close to the top of the list! http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/hotnews/0601rc_75fords/

 

He practically invented the look of streetrod hardware, and reinvented (and reached new heights in!) the olde idea of stuffing an early Ford with modern luxury in that T...and then there's the "smoothy " look, certainly with roots in cars like Bonneville roadsters and the 555 but wholly reimagined by him. This stuff was fresh, innovative, and held together nicely by his racecar fabricator's aesthetic sense; only now that everyone on the planet has been copying it on an industrial cookie-cutter basis for 25 years has it become stale.
His work in HRM was inspirational.
That new car's body is so shiny I can hardly tell what the shape is! I think I'd like to examinr it on a cloudy dy...

 

For me, it went stale with the first guy that copy'd him.

But his 3W is one of my top 3 all time favorite Hot Rods.


Does anybody have any pics of that car they could post?

 

pretty much invented the independent front suspension on funnys as well....i have a pic somewhere of one of his first funny / fx car....chopped top nova ....64/65 ish ......neat piece.....brandon

 

John was a local mainstay at Union Grove, WI (Da 'Grove) in the 60's...we always watched what he did..kind of a hero to many racers.

 

I have searched and searched for a pitcure of this car on the web, because of this thread I found one.



I remember reading about this car in HR and thinking what a ride.
If I remember correctly he installed fans in the floor pan to keep the inside cool.

 

This is the a poster that I have taped to my tool box. To be honest, with the exception of the original rectangular headlights, I liked the original version better but i don't have a picture of it.

 

Yea, I liked the original paint better too. I remember seeing it at the Nats in Memphis I think. Man was it HOT that year.

 

Here's the original version of the ****era/Davis/Covell roadster.

 

Found another

 

Ron Covell is another wiz.

 

I thought I remember reading that he used aluminum to make stuff with was because he didn't want to pay for it, and he had all this aluminum laying around so... The Billet movement has it roots in traditional Rodding. Kinda ironic.

 

Here's the ****era/Robinson/Arroyo Stroh's sponsored track roadster.

 

I remember that model, anybody know her name? 'Ol Dad took the pictures, think he hit it 23 years ago?

 

Does anyone have a photo of ****era's 3 window in it's original trim?

 

Not sure but looks alot like K C Winkler...

 

This car John did in like 74-76, Boyd did a verssion around the same time. They both sent em down the road, then this car was available again. Boyd stepped up & bought it as well as the silver bullit 29.
He sold this again sometime ago & I think the silver bullit ended up going to AZ.

John is the guy responsible for doing the Boyd's Billet Wheels etc.
Boyd just capitalized on it. John nearly lost his *** going to indy in the 80's He was bumped off the grid & it cost him mucho $'s

 

So far, this is the only picture of the first version of his 32.

 

Give me a few & I'll scan some more...if I recall they are in B&W though.

 

The man himself. By the way...per the article, he originally had the slide injectors on the 340 before it was in the car, couldn't get them to work right....so he hand made an intake & bought Webers from Dean Moon. Maybe he installed the slides again before he sold it, if that was what was on the car when it burned.

That mirror just may be the original piece of "billet" (or "billit" if you read eBay ads.) Love the roll pan...592 louvers by Eric Vaughn.

 

I enjoyed the Hot Rod article about building his son's nova(?). Not the fact it was a nova, but the "spray-bomb" techniques he used to do a low budget build. I also seem to remember they did a basic article on DIY bracket making with a drill press and AL Stock.

 

Something else that was pretty cool was the tail light lens'. If you remember the early 70's Mercedes sedans used a moulded taillamp like below. John took the "ribbed portion" and sawed it off of the main portion of the lens and then shaped the rear pan to have the shape of the lens. Then he slit the pan where he could drop one rib portion down through the slit where it protruded about one inch, --and mounted lights up on top that would emmit down through the lens. It was very subtile but effective.




BTW, THAT is the same car that the Pigford brothers owned and rebuilt so I guess my memory is ****ier than I thought . I would have sworn the car was Black. Maybe it was the black color "after" the fire!!