Rodding and motors****ts pioneer Lil’ John Buttera dies
Rodding and motors****ts pioneer Lil’ John Buttera dies
Hot rodding legend John “Lil’ John” Buttera died March 2.
photo courtesy www.liljohnsplace.com
The godfather of street rodding has died.
John “Lil’ John” Buttera died March 2 at the age of 67 after a lengthy
battle with cancer.
Among the many accomplishments to his credit, most in the street
rodding world know of Buttera as the man who pioneered the use of
billet aluminum in the construction of street rods — in everything
from wheels to rearview mirrors — in the late 1970s.
But beyond that, Buttera left his mark in a wide variety of
motors****ts and rodding circles. He moved from his native town of
Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Southern California specifically to work on one
of Mickey Thompson’s land-speed racing streamliners and built the
chassis for Thompson’s blue Mustang Funny Car before opening up his
own chassis shop. His designs for Funny Cars set the standard for that
class of drag racers in the early 1970s, and many people still recall
his shoestring Indianapolis 500 entry in 1987 that represented the
last time an independent hot rodder could successfully compete at Indy
(his driver qualified 8th in an Eagle-based car that Buttera assembled
in his own two-car garage). The Deuce that he built for John Corno won
the 1980 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award, and his custom
motorcycles became well known in that scene. He also had at least a
working relation****p with Boyd Coddington, who died just four days
prior. Buttera at one point worked in Coddington’s shop, but according
to legend, it was Buttera who taught Coddington how to machine billet
aluminum.
- By Daniel Strohl
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