Boyd began his long and storied...
Boyd began his long and storied career with Street Rodder with his '26 Model T sedan, photographed by Frank Oddo at Disneyland-an early home to Boyd as he learned his craft.
"Indeed, who would have considered it possible for a car enthusiast from obscure Idaho to become such a television power? Truly, Boyd Coddington helped put street rodding squarely on the living room screen, in America and many foreign lands.
"Lil' John Buttera quietly appeared in Southern California, but his reputation as a race car fabricator preceded his move from Wisconsin. Here, all agreed, was a craftsman several steps above the norm.
"In street rodding, he can be credited as single-handedly opening the hobby to the era of 'high-tech' construction techniques. He deserved the title of Billet John, but this was because of his penchant for making one bracket do several jobs at once, not as a means to win show trophies. John was not about trophies; he was about getting a job done. Lil' John never needed to talk the talk-he always walked the walk. What a privilege to have known him so long."
Builder and metalman Tom "The Tinman" Hanna on Lil' John
"I'll leave it to others to inventory Lil' John's life achievements and anecdotes. I offer instead a perspective of the person as I believe I understood him.
"When challenged to explain John Buttera to those present and future who know, or may come to know, only the art but not the artist, my first impulse is to surrender the podium to Twain or Lincoln. Neither (obviously) knew him; both (if you haven't heard) are long dead and I fail utterly the barest qualification-save for having known him and marveled at his talent, I hope I understand a little of what made him tick.
"This man was as complex a genius (and doubt not, he was a genius) as ever created anything on wheels. Aside from his extraordinary creativity, he was beset by a peculiar set of personal demons. He could be most verbally cruel to those who loved him without reservation, and simultaneously, wildly generous, caring, and blindly forgiving to those who used him mercilessly. He could relegate you to his 'Leukemia List' at less than the slightest provocation, real or perceived, leaving little distinction or room for reason. He worshiped those few he respected, some nowhere near his true equal.
This Thom Taylor drawing was...
This Thom Taylor drawing was originally drawn for Lil' John, and Boyd later received permission to use it, but Lil' was never too happy about it!
"We are each the product of our family of origin, and John's emotional structure was most assuredly imposed by circumstance, not choice. I don't believe he could help himself at his worst and, at his best, could not suppress his soft and caring, deeply emotional inner core.
"He had a burning need for recognition and approval and found it not by erecting a nice-guy faade but through his incessant drive to advance his artistic expression. Beyond the sheer determination to chisel the hardest stone long into the night, he had the limitless vision and inner drive to leap with total abandon off the next cliff blindfolded. Or, so it appeared forehand. The principal difference between John and the rest of us was that he could see beyond the horizon and went for it while we were carefully adjusting our blinders.
"To me, he was fun and deeply entertaining, with a razor sense of humor. We had a ton of laughs that have left me some unforgettable pearls. On those rare and thankfully brief occasions when he was drawn to the dark side, you longed for the three monkeys.
"If you wish to know him, he can perhaps best be understood in the elegant detail and design that was his signature. Leonardo da Vinci wrote backward for a very practical reason, though most observers missed the point. The same fate awaits those who try to find the real Buttera by looking at a roadster he built 30 years ago.
"His version of the Cosworth pump, the Hawk 'Y' block-Spice installation, his first Indy Eagle, his first bike-these were the essential Buttera.
"He died too soon, leaving perhaps 10 good years on the table. Not that he owed the world a millisecond more, but for those of us who lived off his scraps, they would have been enlightening."