"LIL' JOHN" BUTTERA -- DEAD AT 68

[GET THE LATEST "TRUTH WITH SPEEDZZTER" HERE]

"LOS ANGELES (AP)—“Lil’ John” Buttera, an innovative creator of hot rods, dragsters and Indy cars who was praised as much for his artistic designs as his engineering, has died. He was 68."

FoMoCo hot rodders who grew up in the '70s and '80s remember Buttera as one of the legends and innovators of the resurgence in street rodding and the emergence of "billet" parts. His small block Ford-powered Center Door Model T wowed millions of Hot Rod readers in the early '70s. His hand-built billet creations in the late 1970s and early 1980s set the standards that inspire high-end pro shops even today.

Buttera was an artist with machine tools. Speedzzter recalls that Buttera once told a magazine writer that making parts out of a chunk of aluminum billet is just cutting away everything that doesn't look right.

Buttera brought a racers sense of lightness and efficiency to his creations. He was a leader in the "smooth" movement which included his friend Boyd Coddington and, of course, ex-Coddington designer Chip Foose, as well as many others.

Buttera lived to see "billet" trim become both a mass market item in street rodding and development of a huge "billet-proof" retro backlash. When Buttera started, "billet" represented high art and creativity. But now it's often seen as "credit card/catalog rodding" by its detractors.

Buttera and his artistry, of course, transcended the "billet" controversy.

While the "greatest generation" of post-war hot rod pioneers are passing at an increasing rate, the deaths this month of Boyd Coddington and now "Lil' John" hopefully really bring home how fragile and brief our lives are.

May God bless the Buttera family. And thanks "Lil John" for inspiring millions of hot rodders and racers across the globe.