I understand it is now confirmed that Lil John passed on this morning. He has been battling a brain tumor (I believe) for some time now.

For any who might not know John, he was one of the premier chassis builders of drag cars and built some of the finest street rods ever. He and Boyd were two of the first to use lots of aluminum in the contruction of car parts, and supposedly he and Boyd developed the first billet wheel process.

One quote that always stuck with me was when someone asked him in amazement one time "how in the world do you make a car mirror out of a block of aluminum????" His answer was " you start out with a block of aluminum and remove everything that doesn't look like a mirror !" I'm paraphrasing here, but it shows how simple all of this fabrication stuff seemed to him. A true artist in metal, he will be missed.

RIP John.

Don