Autorama

Car fans pitch in to make young man’s wish come true

Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News

DETROIT — Justin Lilly stares at his 1951 Ford 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,” the 20-year-old Jackson resident said. “That all black just makes it look scary.”

Lilly, who was on a ventilator as a child and now has only 23 percent of the lung capacity of someone with healthy lungs, asked the Ann Arbor Make-a-Wish chapter if they could line up someone to paint his truck.

The group came through and he and a crew of Washtenaw Community College instructors, students and community volunteers spent the past 18 months raising funds and tracking down parts for the truck.

The tricked-out truck will be on display this weekend at the annual Autorama in the Cobo Convention Center, 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 the college’s auto body program, of the truck 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 just sat 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. He had no idea that thousands of hours of work would be put into the truck for free once people heard about his story. He also did not know how much money and parts were raised until a reporter told him.

“That is just insane,” he said. “I’m really grateful to anybody and everybody who got involved. 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 his classes are the only one of their kind in North America that focus on high-end customization jobs. He said local businesses and corporations donated money, experts or parts without being begged to do so.

The Ford Motor Co. donated a $30,000 drive train that was essential to the project, he said.

“There were no questions he asked,” Sobbry said. “Without them we never would have been able to do the build.”

Ford also sent one of their top mechanics who donated hundreds of hours of work on the truck.

“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.”

Lilly said he will never forget the kindness everyone has shown him.

“It really shows you what kind of integrity they have,” he said. “Beforehand, I didn’t know any of these guys and they did not know me. It makes you step back and say people do care.”

You can reach Santiago Esparza at (313) 222-2127 or sesparza@detnews.com.