Last Update on : March 7, 2008
Man's wish becomes dream truck: 51 hot ride a monster
 Justin Lilly stares at his 1951 Ford F-1 pickup and can't help but be a little afraid.
The truck has more than $130,000 worth of upgrades, sounds like a growling demon and is "murdered out" -- slang for the truck's all-black rims, paint job and tinted windows.
"It's a monster," said the 20-year-old Jackson resident. "That all black just makes it look scary."
Lilly, who has bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic respiratory disease due to his premature birth, received help in the truck makeover in part from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
He asked the Ann Arbor Make-a-Wish chapter if they could line up someone to paint his truck and a crew of Washtenaw Community College instructors, students and community volunteers spent the past 18 months raising the funds and tracking down the parts to upgrade it.
The tricked-out truck will be on display starting today in Cobo Center at Autorama, the oldest hot rod show of its kind in the nation. The show is a love fest for those who love muscle cars, cool trucks and all the after-market goodies that make them so sweet.
"I've junked better vehicles than this," said Gary Sobbry, chairman of Washtenaw college's auto body program, of the truck's condition when he first saw it. "It was worth less than $500."
Not anymore. The truck has been displayed in Las Vegas and is part of a 10-page spread of the March edition of Truckin' Magazine. Lilly has not yet driven the truck and is waiting for lessons on what to expect from a vehicle with a 600 horsepower engine.
"I've been for two rides in it," Lilly said. "Everybody is going to be looking at me."
Lilly's grandfather bought the truck more than 30 years ago for Lilly's father. Lilly's parents went to the prom in the truck and after a few years it sat idle on the family's property in Jackson.
Justin Lilly began tinkering with it and asked only for a paint job because he did not think it would be good to take in the paint fumes and other chemicals because of his lungs. He had no idea that thousands of hours of work would be put into the truck for free once people heard about his story.
"I'm really grateful to anybody and everybody who got involved," Lilly said. "It is like Christmas, only the presents never stop. I don't know if I can ever tell these people thank you enough."
Make-a-Wish officials said they do not encourage pricy gifts for the people the nonprofit helps but went along with the truck upgrades because donations covered the work.
Sobbry said local businesses and corporations donated money, experts or parts.
The Ford Motor Co. donated a $30,000 drive-train that was essential to the project, he said. Ford also sent one of their top mechanics who donated hundreds of hours of work on the truck.
"There were no questions he asked," Sobbry said. "Without them we never would have been able to do the build."
"We don't do 'Pimp My Ride' (an MTV show in which people's cars are customized for free) and put a blender in the dash," Sobbry said. "That makes for great TV. We build from the ground up."
|
