Lil John Buttera T-Bucket - Restore or sell?

[VfromD]

Hi all...I have an issue with a car in my garage. It's a Lil John Buttera built 1923 Ford T-Bucket. (On the cover & centerfold of the 1980 Hot Rod mag) My husband and I owned the car for quite a while, then my Dad bought it. Unfortunately, he's suffered an accident which left him paralyzed. I need the money to take care of his expenses, but my husband and I are way too busy with other obligations to spend time restoring it. It has fallen into disrepair & needs some TLC. The question I have is do you think it would be worth it to have it restored professionally to get top dollar or should I just sell it as is? My husband keeps saying we would have to spend too much to restore it & wouldn't get our money back, but when I see some of the stuff going in the Barrett-Jackson auction, I'm wondering if he's right...

What it needs:
New upolstery (basically a seat & carpet - very small inside)
New paint (faded & a few chips)
Needs help with the water pump - has always had an overheating problem)
LOTS of polishing - lots of custom polished aluminum parts.

Any input would be appreciated!

[BA.]

Lil John takes us way way back, to when I was only just getting to into the hobby.

I don't suppose your T would be in this picture would it? I'm not exactly Lil John nor T-Bucket savvy.

[vanzuuk1]

Any photos?

[paul67]

Pics please as I'm sure I remember this also it might be worth giving john a ring as he might want to buy it or know someone and he also has a son who might want to buy it.

[VfromD]

I have a few pics, but I'm having trouble posting them to my reply. It keeps "failing"...I could email them to you if you would like.

[VfromD]

No, it's not in that picture. I have a few pics, but I'm having trouble getting them to attach to my reply. It keeps failing...I could email them to you if you would like...

[Madspeed]

your pics mightbe to big you would need to edit them and make htem a smaller size
When I first posted pics that was my problem

Hope that helps

[TonyL]

or go to www.imageshack.us and follow the prompts then copy and paste the "IMG" code here.

[VfromD]

Thanks, I'll try that after I get some better shots this weekend. I need to get it out of the garage in order to get some decent pics.

[BA.]

Here's the pics of the L.J.B. T from VfromD, via me!

[Steve68]

Neat, someone will want it,

[ProdigyCustoms]

Wheres Bob?

[Restomod]

Car dont look bad at all!! I say give it a good detailing,get it running /driving and put it through Barrett Jackson. Dont change any more than you have to.

[wick]

Is that a Buick V6?

[Bob Johnson]

I have a few pics, but I'm having trouble posting them to my reply. It keeps "failing"...I could email them to you if you would like.
email me some pix...it almost never pays to have something redone..hard to recover your cost...I'm friends with Lil John..The black and silver pick-up in the pictures of Johns cars was mine. I finished the car after buying it at Boyd's bankruptsy sale..I'm not a big T bucket fan but since it's Johns, it may be of some interest.
[email protected] Bob Johnson...770-853-1119 Cell work is 770-539-9111

[paul67]

Being as Lil john built it ,it will be well made and drive well, as he does not build trailer Queens .

[Bob Johnson]

Is that a Buick V6?
capri V/6 kinda strange

[Bob Johnson]

Hi all...I have an issue with a car in my garage. It's a Lil John Buttera built 1923 Ford T-Bucket. (On the cover & centerfold of the 1980 Hot Rod mag) My husband and I owned the car for quite a while, then my Dad bought it. Unfortunately, he's suffered an accident which left him paralyzed. I need the money to take care of his expenses, but my husband and I are way too busy with other obligations to spend time restoring it. It has fallen into disrepair & needs some TLC. The question I have is do you think it would be worth it to have it restored professionally to get top dollar or should I just sell it as is? My husband keeps saying we would have to spend too much to restore it & wouldn't get our money back, but when I see some of the stuff going in the Barrett-Jackson auction, I'm wondering if he's right...

What it needs:
New upolstery (basically a seat & carpet - very small inside)
New paint (faded & a few chips)
Needs help with the water pump - has always had an overheating problem)
LOTS of polishing - lots of custom polished aluminum parts.

Any input would be appreciated!
is the front grill and enclosure damaged? I don't see it in the pix...that was the best part of the car...the good news is it was built by lil John..the bad news is it's a V/6..and worse yet a Capri V/6 which is way queer..T's are just so small, they are not able to sell for much...A's are bad enough but T's are a tough sale...get me some more detailed pix and a price. if that puppy was a 32 it would be worth 5 or 6 times as much..

[romar 02 SS]

That black and silver truck is one of my favorites, wasn't it built out of a Blazer? I would think anything built by Lil' John would have decent value. To bad it's a V6 from a Crapie.

[VfromD]

The front cover piece is in perfect shape, we just didn't have it on. It's in storage so as to not get damaged. There's also a belly pan made out of louvered aluminum that spans the entire length. I will try to take more detailed pics this weekend when we have time to get it out of the garage. I'm not sure what it's worth which was the reason for the post. If it's not worth much, my husband wants to keep it, but if it will bring a decent buck, we would have to sell it to better be able to care for my Pops. It's suprizingly quick for a V-6 & very fun to drive. (If your not a big person)

Here's what the excerpt from the article in the Oct, 1980 Hot Rod article reads:

According to L'l'John Buttera, "This is the closest thing to a T-Bucket I'll ever throw together." So starts our story on Lil's latest rodney - a Harry Bradley-designed, Buttera-built (with a host of talented friends), Steve Davis-shaped hybrid. Essentially, it's a Poli-Formed combination that features the front half of a '23 grafted onto the back half of a '27.

"Most track roadsters tend to be nose-heavy." offers Lil' John from Los Alamitos, California, "so, I used the narrower '23 cowl to allow Stevie to bend up a smaller aluminum hood and nose." Naturally, the Magnuson-blown Capri V6 fits that concept too. The narrow, Art Chrisman-assembled bent 6 is basically stock, but it does us a Crower cam, Hilborn "squirt", one of Lil's aluminum intake manifolds and a 60-percent-over Magnacharger. The exhause system is strictly a Lil' fabrication, as is the chassis. The fram was constructed from 1 1/2x3 inch rectangular steel tubing fitted with 1 5/8 inch chrome moly tube crossmembers. Its front suspension is based on a Brisio-built three piece tube axle sporting a set of double adjustabel Koni coil-overs and a pair of quad-link radius rods. The rear suspension is attached to a set of '36 Ford axle housings fitted to a Halibrand "quickie". Rolling stock is comprised of prototype Center Lines supporting both BR78-14 and LR78-15 radials. Vic Kitchens stiched up the "Hyde-and-wool interior, VDO supplied the gauges and Nardi whipped ou the steering wheel.

If you ask Lil' John about the roadster's finish, he'll just tell you that Boyde Coddington, artist Kenny Youngblood, painter Terry Finch, striper Dennis Ricklefs and louver-lover Eric Vaughn put the ragtop on the right track. HR

Thanks for your input!

Vera

[Bob Johnson]

I don't think you'll get Lil to say anything positive about Boyd..so I wouldn't even go there...lot of neat stuff done..if it was a 50's -60's car done like this in the day it would be a real treat. Unfortunately the70's- 80's cars fall into the out of date category..see what you want for it...like I said, if it was built by nearly anyone else but Lil, it wouldn't be worth squat..

[Bob Johnson]

That black and silver truck is one of my favorites, wasn't it built out of a Blazer? I would think anything built by Lil' John would have decent value. To bad it's a V6 from a Crapie.
yes the 67 Chevy truck was originally a Blazer...it needed to be to get the proportions of the bed to go with the size of the cab after the chop/section etc. The standard short bed would have been too long. It was one fine piece of engineering. It drove absolutely fantastic and rode like a Cadillac. The man absolutely understands suspension geometry and chassis set-up. We had to redo much of the body work as it had bondo just smeared over the problem spots..(Work that was done at Boyd's as he was on the way out as Boyd's.) In my eyes, it was the best pick-up truck ever built..end of story...beautiful, clean, understated elegance...I loved it..

[harshman]

You may want to buy a case of Krylon flat black spray paint and spray the body. Then take it to a Goodguys show and sell it for more than a full custom job.

I had a buddy of mine who took an old beat up junk yard '52 pickup put air bags on it and an overdrive transmission in it. He kept the original paint including the rust. He turned more heads than the orange ford pickup parked next to it that the guy spent well over $500k on it.

Just my two cents.