Best cause for donating parts and time? Making a 32 roadster to tour, raise awareness, and auction to provide scholarships to kids of fallen soldiers

The IronMen Foundation has pledged its efforts to raise funds for these scholarships. Their first effort is to build a hot rod and auction it. They call it the Metal of Honor.

The IronMen Foundation http://ironmenfoundation.org/ was founded in 2007 to Provide Scholarships to the Children of Slain and Disabled Soldiers. We are simply a group of American Patriots, from all walks of life, doing something significant to support American Heroes' Families.

"We invited businesses in the Hot Rod industry to partner with us to build an automobile in which we could:
1.Capture the Attention of the American People;
2.Dramatize the Educational Dilemma of the Children of our American Heroes;
3.Tour a Car made from the Excellent Products of our Donor Partners—the Manufacturers who make the best products in the Hot Rod industry;
4.Create a desire to own this car;
5.Raise as Much Money for Scholarships as Possible in an Auction.

Our Board of Directors all serve voluntarily. We invite our friends, fellow church members, acquaintances, hot rod lovers, business owners, civic leaders, military personnel, government officials and celebrities to join us in this cause.

http://ironmenfoundation.org/ has this 1932 Ford Roadster, honoring our Fallen Heroes, is being built by The IronMen Foundation. It will tour America throughout 2011 on its way to the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ in January 2012. All proceeds from the auction will fund scholarships for the children of slain and disabled soldiers.

Built from brand new parts generously donated by American companies, it is being built in Island Lake, IL totally by the hands of IronMen Foundation volunteers. Stunning, in shades of green, the car honors the men and women who have stood in harm’s way to defend our freedoms. It will be on tour throughout 2011 at car shows, civic events and military installations. You will be able to follow the tour’s progress by visiting our Tour Schedule page. Details will be posted as the schedule dates are finalized "

Valspar paint is lobbying Ford to get the duece into the Ford exhibit area at SEMA in 2011. Damn good idea, lets hope the Ford honchos make it happen.

Thanks to Chuck Caswell for telling me about this noble cause! It's what is great about SEMA, you meet such great people!

Ron Pratte car collection

Tere posted a whole gallery of photos of Ron's collection: http://justacarguyswife.blogspot.com/2011/01/ron-prattes-prized-collection.html

for the Jan 2010 update: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/update-to-ron-pratte-post-darryl-gwynn.html

Ron Pratte of Chandler, Arizona, multi-millionaire who sold Pratte Development, one of the nation’s largest wood framing and concrete foundation companies to Pulte Homes at the peak of the Arizona housing boom and cashed out just in time to avoid the slump. Known in the car world for the $5 million winning bid for Carroll Shelby’s 1966 Super Snake AC Cobra 800hp 427 dual quad, dual supercharged. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/01/carroll-shelbys-personal-cobra-sells.html

Ron is the brains behinds the Pratte Development Company, Inc., which builds one of the nations largest wood framing and concrete foundation companies. To top it off, he has his business located in one of the fastest growing areas of the country.

Most of the other car aficionados know Ron Pratte from his last years purchase of Futurliner bus (he brought it for over 4 million dollars), and he bought the first Shelby GT500 last year for nearly $650,000.
http://www.techbanyan.com/3221/ron-pratte-car-collection/
http://theronprattecarcollection.blogspot.com/

When Pulte Homes Inc. last month announced it has entered a 50/50 joint venture with its largest trade contractor in Arizona and Nevada, eyebrows went up across the American housing industry. A high percentage of them belonged to GIANT production builders who compete head to head with the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based colossus.

Pulte and Phoenix-based carpentry trades mogul Ron Pratte are equal partners in the new company, Pratte Building Systems, formed to replace Pratte Development Co., one of the nation's largest wood framing and concrete foundation companies. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
http://www.housingzone.com/topics/giants/giants/pbg04ba003.asp

Philanthropic: Ron Pratt appears to have spent nearly as much on charity as on cars. In a single auction on the Tony Stewart race car, Ron Pratt increased his own bid to $300K, inspired others to throw in additional funding of $80K, had previously donated $100K independent of the BJ auction and helped to achieve another $20K from an auction for a couple of $20 posters.
And then? Donated the car back to the Gwynn Foundation that sold it to raise money a second time by selling it again at Barrett Jackson auction Jan 18th 2009. And it sold for 165 thousand to go directly to buy electric wheelchairs for kids.

Do the math. That’s $500K, yes 1/2 million, raised for the foundation that supports those afflicted for Muscular Dystrophy.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2007/01/22/who-is-ron-pratte/
Buying the 2006 Jeff Gordon Monte Carlo for $500,000. The proceeds go to the National Marrow Donor Program.

In February 2009, the Arizona Classisc Thunderbird Club may be touring the collection..... So look to their website after that to see if any of their members post photos or talk about the collection: http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/actc/events.html

http://ratevin.com/story.php?title=Ron_Pratte_Car_Collection

The Futurliner bus from Barrett Jackson http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2006/10/vintage-modern-concept-buses.html
Carroll's personal 427 AC Cobra dual supercharged, 800hp
1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special Motorama concept car.
Oldsmobile F-88 show car
the One-Millionth Thunderbird
1924 Ford 4-AT-E Airplane, that was shot in Pearl Harbor's attack in 1941
1945 P-51 Mustang "Ped Dog"
The Cosmonaut retrieval boat
Tony Stewart’s 2007 Home Depot Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Jeff Gordon's 2006 No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
The Beverly Hillbillies Woody
the first 2008 Shelby GT500 KR Glass Roof
Carroll’s personal 1969 GT500 convertible
The last Sting Ray
The first T-bird off the assembly line
he started his private car collection at B-J 2003 by buying 52 cars (http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/184760/page/0/fpart/3/vc/1 )
http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/nevt/PrattGallery.html
http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/survivors/pages/44-74469.shtml