The vehicle featured on the Back to the Bricks 20th Anniversary Main Event logo is owned by Flint residents and longtime car enthusiasts, Bob and Jill Ayre. Both extremely active with the organization, the couple has attended and worked on every Promo Tour and helped at almost all the other events, including Dust ‘Em Off, Tune-Up Week and Main Event week. Bob even helped kick off “Hot Rod High” back in the day, a highly successful Back to the Bricks project we hope to bring back someday. To honor and thank this dedicated couple for all their hard work, their little red truck – named Phyllis – was chosen to adorn the logo for the 20th Anniversary Main Event!
Here’s a little story about the truck named Phyllis.
Bob had been in search of a five-window Chevy 3100 for almost a decade. Oddly enough, there was a nearly perfect “project-truck” located near the Ayre’s home. He would often drive past it, stop and leave his name and phone number tucked under the windshield wiper blade. One memorable Sunday morning, Bob and Jill went out to breakfast and found themselves sitting at a table across from the truck’s owner. Bob leaned over and asked him if he was interested in selling it. He told Bob a man was supposed to have come by recently to look at it, but never showed up. Bob asked if he could take a look at it, and he bought it that day! He arranged to pick it up the following Wednesday, in March of 2004.
For the next two years, with the help of many friends and family members, Bob tore the 1953 Chevy truck down and rebuilt it, one bolt at a time. In 2006, Phyllis went to her first car show – the Sloan Museum Auto Fair. Since then, she has had many updates to modernize her drivetrain.
So, how did they come up with that name? The little red truck is named after Bob’s mother, Mary Phyllis, who helped him get that old truck out of the farm field and bring it home.
Bob and Jill drive their red Chevy in the annual Back to the Bricks Promo Tour and to all other events. But she’s not a trailer princess … Phyllis is a real showstopper!
