I did a search and found the video segment for the Tyler Project posted here, with the last post in November of 2010.
I want to make this post, not for recognition, but to draw everyone's attention to a wonderful but bittersweet event that happened in 2009.
The post also serves a second function, to invite each and every Teardrop aficionado with their Teardrops to the 2nd Annual Tyler Shipman Memorial Car Show...
On with the story...
In October 2009, a young man by the name of Tyler Shipman from a small Northwestern Minnesota Town by the name of Frazee, was diagnosed with Synovial Sarcoma. A very rare and aggressive form of cancer that primarily affects young adults, it is difficult to treat and by the time it is found, it is usually too late.
Tyler was 18.
Admitted to the Roger Maris Cancer Center in Fargo, ND, Tyler endured numerous rounds of chemo therapy and radiation, to no avail.
His doctors gave him a choice... To stay in the hospital, and try every treatment under the sun without much hope, or go home and spend his last days with his family and friends.
Tyler chose the latter.
An avid Pontiac Fiero enthusiast, Tyler posted on Pennock's Fiero Forum asking for help with his 1986 Fiero GT. He wanted to fix it up a little bit so he could leave it for his 10 year old brother Carter.
A soldier serving in Iraq, Andrew Weigle, heard Tyler's call for help and started something that would go down in both Frazee and Fiero history.
In a separate forum post, Andrew asked for local volunteers to drive up and do some wrenching. He also asked for assistance with parts to make sure those volunteers could do some good.
Within a day, volunteers were coming out of the woodwork from all over the US.
People were donating money and parts, time and effort... Members of the Fiero community who were strapped for cash suddenly found themselves with plane tickets and hotel rooms being given to them by anonymous donors.
Businesses stepped in with new body parts, leather seats, car audio components...
During the first few days of the project thread, donations grew and people chimed in from all over.
Living in the Twin Cities of MN at the time, I found myself able to contact businesses for help. I ended up handling all of the donations and organizing the build team.
A local hotel in Frazee gave us rooms for 20 dollars a night.
The body shop in Frazee volunteered to install a new windshield in the car for cost, as Tyler's windshield was cracked...
A day later the same body shop called me back and volunteered shop space and a new paint job, no charge.
Three weeks after Tyler's call for help, 25 people showed up in Frazee, MN from all over the US. Florida, Pennsylvania, California, and more... All in one location, all with one goal.
When we arrived, the body was removed from the car, and the interior stripped out.
Working hard through the day and into the night, we cleaned the frame, replaced parts, and practically overhauled the top half of the engine.. Many of us worked non-stop for the entire 23 hour build.
There were big ups and big downs during the build. The engine would not start for several hours, when we resolved that at 5AM the despair evaporated like fog under the morning sun.
All in all the car was built in 23 hours using $4,000 in donated parts and cash and the help of hundreds of people from around the Frazee area and around the world.
During the build, we streamed the entire event on webcam, with a live chat room. We were being cheered on by hundreds of people at every hour of the day and night.
Sgt Andrew Weigle watched everything via the webcam and Skype from Iraq...
Tyler lost his battle with cancer on Valentine's Day of 2010.
His original prognosis was 3 weeks.
In July of 2010, we celebrated Tyler's life by holding the First Annual Tyler Shipman Memorial Car Show...
In a town where 10 cars was the normal total in previous years, we hit 102 cars in the first year.
47 of those were Fieros in the show, with another three around town that did not enter.
A 100% charity show, we raised $1,600 dollars for cancer research.
A phenomenal start to what we hope will become a large regional gathering in years to come.
ALL vehicles, motorcycles, teardrop campers, RVs, semi's, etc are welcome to enter the show.
This year is no different. Already, fund raising efforts have raised over $1,500 for the show, and it is still 3+ months away...
Please consider making the trip to Frazee, MN for the weekend of July 29th-31st... Bring your campers, show them off. Let's make this an event to remember...
Below are two Youtube videos...
One is the original build video that KARE11 broadcast in December of 2009...
The other is the followup that KARE11 did on the car show.
Build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg4s4CEUliA
Car show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn6DLpe8xNE
Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the show or the project..
DIY-Stu, a member on this forum from TX was part of the build team as well. I don't want a pat on the back, but feel free to give him one...
www.tylerstoy.com
daughter was having fun tonite! look for this one in frazee!