The Eliminator, a pieced-together hot rod built by Duffy Livingstone, the founding father of go-karting, has an impressive history. Brock Yates’s book, The Hot Rod: Resurrection of a Legend, follows his purchase and subsequent Pebble Beach win with the Eliminator. Currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer, with bidding open through May 1, 2023, this historic hot rod is a cobbled-together Ford Model A frame wearing bruised Model T bodywork and housing a patched-up small-block Chevy V-8 engine.
Livingstone, who gave go-karting its name and popularized it as a mainstream activity in the late ’50s, also raced a full-scale go-kart in the form of a Ford T-bucket body mounted on a Model A frame before purchasing the pile of Ford from another racer, Jay Chamberlin. Initially, the Eliminator was powered by a flathead, later replaced by a bored-out Chevy small-block. Livingstone raced in SCCA and USAC competitions, often pitting the Eliminator against open-wheel single-seaters or fields of exotic Ferraris and Porsches.
As his kart business grew and race car development advanced beyond the cast-off Ford frame of a home-built hot rod, Livingstone moved on from the Eliminator, which was passed around in the scene and eventually ended up in a garage in Southern California in a state of stalled restoration. It was here that Brock Yates saw an ad for the Ford and took on the responsibility of making it road-worthy while protecting its unique history.
Yates worked with custom car builders Pete Eastwood and Pete Chapouris at So-Cal Speed Shop until the Eliminator eventually ended up on the lawn at Pebble Beach. Whoever places the winning bid on the Eliminator will get more than the triple Strombergs and Halibrand quick-change rear. They’ll be the next name in a long list of influential and radical automotive trendsetters.
The Eliminator’s history connects Formula One, land speed racing, and the Pebble Beach Concours all in one car. It has touched greatness all along its journey, often surprising even Livingstone. The winning bidder shouldn’t turn the Eliminator into a piece of garage art, as Brock and Duffy would frown upon it. Instead, they should cherish its unique history and continue to showcase it at car shows and events for generations to come.
