The Hot Rod Resurrection Of A Legend

By: Brock Yates .

The Eliminator, a Ford T-bucket built from second-hand parts in the back of a garage by a mechanic from Pasadena named Frank "Duffy" Livingstone, was one of the hottest rods in the West. In its prime it gave expensive imports and factory racers a run for their money. In 1956 it made an impression on a young sailor watching in the stands. That sailor was future journalist Brock Yates, who would play a major role in the car's saga, but not until after the Eliminator was lost in a swirl of trading, selling, chopping, and junking.

Forty years later, through a set of extraordinary circumstances, the Eliminator made its way into Yates' hands and sparked a journey of rediscovery as well as a friendship between Yates and Livingstone as they embarked on the restoration of one of America's great hot rod legends.

Brock Yates, editor and columnist at Car and Driver magazine, author of Cannonball!, tells the unique story of this exceptional vehicle, the serendipitous events leading to its resurrection, and the friendship between two men seeking to preserve a piece of hot rodding's past.

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