The Boyd-built Silver Bullet...
The Boyd-built Silver Bullet appeared in Street Rodder, featuring Lil' John 'rails, and was called, "The new breed of street roadster."
Artist, designer, and builder Chip Foose on Lil' John and Boyd
"Two things I think of first when it comes to John are: He was one of the funniest people I knew-his one-liners were the best-and his general lack of tolerance for inactivity. If John asked you to do something and you didn't get around to it, he'd be furious. He wanted the best out of you.
"His impact was immense. He revolutionized drag racing, influenced Indy cars, and look how he changed hot rods and influenced the motorcycle industry. When I first started at Boyd's, I worked there for three years part-time. It was back in January of 1993, about the same time John was finishing his first bike. Boyd introduced us, and John lit into me because he thought all I did was push a pencil and didn't work on cars, but he didn't know me.
"Along with my dad, Art Center, and ASHA, Lil' John was one of the major influences in my life. He'd say, 'Don't try and make it the Mona Lisa. Learn from it and move on to the next one.' He always said if you could make one part out of two, then design it that way. Simplify. I loved to brainstorm with John. If you could challenge him, then you made a friend for life.
"In the end, he asked me to make him a promise that I would go and get myself checked out by a doctor. He said he didn't want my friends to stare at me the way his friends stared at him.
After completing Nick Matranga's...
After completing Nick Matranga's ultra-smooth black '32, (left to right) Boyd, Tom Vogele, and Bob Bauder pose with the car at a STREET RODDER photo session. At the time, Bob wired and plumbed almost all of Boyd's projects, and he was Boyd's longtime friend.
"With Boyd, I had always known of his work, because I had been working in my dad's shop for so long. But, Larry Erickson introduced us at the '90 SEMA show. Boyd looked at my original Hemisfear model and asked me to finish the Aluma Coupe model (a job I never finished).
"After two years of part-time I was finally hired. I loved it when it was just a hobby. It was over at the Monroe shop when Chezoom was done and the Aluma Coupe was being finished. CadZZilla had been finished.
"Early one day, Boyd and I were just driving around. He wanted to bet me he could spot more Boyd wheels on cars parked on the street than I could, and whoever saw them would get $100 for each car. I took the bet, and he wasn't even trying. I was catching them everywhere. When we pulled up to the shop, he asked what the total was, and I told him $2,000. So, he reaches over into the glovebox and pulls out exactly $2,000-a stack of $1 bills. He had wanted to give me a bonus but thought I had to earn it.
"Boyd was also strange about money. When I was part-time with him, it looked like I was going to go work for Ford. So, I asked Boyd if he wanted me to fax hot rod designs to him, so he could still use them. He offered me $5,000 more than Ford, so I ended up working for him. For the first four months, I never asked him for what I was owed. I had 600 hours of overtime, and worked 16- to 20-hour days, seven days a week. But, when my wife, Lynne, started law school, it was going to cost $1,300 a month. When I told Boyd that, he said I'd made his life easier and gave me a raise-$1,300 a month.
Boyd developed his own version...
Boyd developed his own version of IRS and IFS, loosely based around a Vette center section with inboard discs (i.e., Jag) and billet aluminum spindle uprights. Here he is shown "hands on" removing a chassis from his jig.
"I loved my time while there. The way I look at it, if we were all spokes, then Boyd was the hub. What I learned from Boyd was getting the right people for the job. He wanted everyone to enjoy the process and the experience.
"It was tough when Hot Rods by Boyd closed; the management team drove wedges between Boyd and me. He was the closest thing to a second father I had. We used to have breakfast every morning and play liar's poker. After the bankruptcy, we had gotten together probably 10 times, and it was always friendly. He'd say, 'We made a good team, didn't we?' and we talked about working together again.
"Boyd was a shy person, and some people took it as arrogance. But, once you got to know him, he was the life of the party."
Lifelong friend Bob Kolmos on Lil' John
"I knew Lil' John for some 50 years and was 15 when I first started hanging around him. In fact, I left Kenosha, Wisconsin, a week after John and headed west with him. It was quite a sight to see John and his '64 Chevy pickup loaded with his Top Fuel car leaving the driveway.