Do you remember "BIG AL" ?

[Greg Myers]

BIG AL

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/01/18/rip-jim-lytle-a-power-crazed-genius/?refer=news

[george 53]

Yes, late 60's Orangeish 34 sedan. had a V-12 cylinder Allison aircraft engine. Nice car.

Edited January 18, 2012 by george 53

[slantasaurus]

Nope, don't remember it at all........just saw it a few weeks ago in Garlits Museum.

[John Goschke]

Jim Lytle, the builder of "Big Al" passed away only recently, on January 8. Here's a link to the H.A.M.B. thread in tribute to him... http://www.jalopyjou...light=jim+lytle

Big Al was cool, but my favorite was the 5-window Deuce he built...

[Chuck Most]

Big Al pre fiberglass and when i think it looked cooler. once it got chopped again IMO it looked too weird.

Ditto.

Either version would be cool for a model project though. I think Hot Rod or Hot Rod Deluxe did a full feature on this car a few years back- lots of cool chassis and engine shots in it. I'll have to dig around and see if I still have it.

[dodgefever]

RIP. Interesting that it says he scored a rare Allison that rotated the same way as an auto engine... there was a feature on Lytle in R&C about 20 years ago with some good photos of Big Al and in there it said he'd got a Pontiac rearend turned upside down to compensate for the Allison's reverse rotation.

Edited January 18, 2012 by dodgefever

[Scott Colmer]

Here's my Jim Lytle Story.

The first time I saw a picture Big Al as a kid it stuck with me as one of the coolest cars there was. Imagine my surprise while attend college in Sacramento I saw the body upside down on the back of flatbed headed down the freeway.

About a year later I started building a model of a heavily chopped VW bus with two Allison's. I painted it like a Nike shoebox and thought I actually had a chance of getting Nike to use the idea for a commercial. I read in Rod and Custom that Jim Lytle was living in Hawaii.The articale also said he was building an allison powered VW bus. I called information got his number and called him up and asked if would want to participate. He was a very nice guy and wished me luck. The whole Nike Air bus thing fizzled, but it was neat to talk to a hero of mine.

RIP Jim. You were a visionary, a showman, and a good guy.

Scott

[Joe Handley]

Sorry to hear he passed on.

BTW, that Deuce 5 window is sweet looking too!