Many of you experience the results of Don's efforts nearly every day. For about four or five years Don has worked on the NTBA website and serves as the official Webmaster for NationalTbucketAlliance. com. My time on the website fluctuates...sometimes I spend as much as 20 hours a week on it and other times I'm able to get by with just an hour or two in a weeks time.. In 2001, his efforts in building and maintaining the website were officially recognized by club officers Punkun, Toolman, TopHat, Ceec, and Spanky with his induction into the National T-Bucket Alliance Hall of Fame. He says of receiving the award .It was real slick! I was already on the stage as an officer. We just awarded Norm Grabowski with the honorary member of the NTBA as the Father of T-Buckets. Next, Punkun got a funny grin on his face and started to present the HOF to me. I was shocked to say the least! This was pretty tricky. I was the NTBA Sergeant-At-Arms when I was nominated. The NTBA Officers always vote on the folks who were nominated and I don't remember voting on myself. The other officers were very sneaky..

Like most club members, Don has been involved with cars for much of his life. He says about the first experience behind the wheel, Oh do I ever remember! I was fourteen years old and was left home alone. My dad had a little Ford Fiesta with a four speed and a four cylinder. It wasn't much of a looker, but it was pretty snappy! Very light weight car, four speed, fourteen years old, plenty of power for that combination. Apparently that Ford Fiesta was enough to get him hooked for life. Doesn't everybody say they wish they still had the first car they owned? Well, I wish I still had mine, too. Don's first was a .71 Impala with a 350/350. I've been modifying car interiors, engines, bodies, sound systems, suspensions, etc since I got my first car when I was 15. It's hard to believe it's already been 25 years and there still so much I have to learn about these things!. I was testing the top speed on some empty back roads that I wasn't quite familiar enough with. I noticed a stop sign way ahead in the distance and immediately stood on the brakes. I slid for a good ways and brought my speed down to about 40 mph before planting the nose of that Impala into a ditch. I didn't get hurt, but the doors were permanently closed! That was a hard one to explain to the parents, but I really think my dad understood completely. As I later learned, I'm a chip off the ol'block. Don says his dad grew up in Chicago where he raced on the dirt track against Andy Granatelli. When I came along, he was out of the racing scene, but the racing scene was still in his blood. I guess it's a hereditary thing.

Don went on to own a few more Chevys, including some Chevelles before building his T. .I.ve had two .69.s and a .72 before getting into the T. He decided to build a T because it was .affordable, radical, street legal! Don drove his Chevelle as a daily driver for about 10 years. When I started working 50 miles from home, the Chevelle just didn't cut it for gas mileage. I sold the Chevelle and bought a new Chevy Tahoe with EFI. It was better on gas and could carry the family more comfortably. Well, this was no toy and was certainly no hot rod! Hot Rodding is in my blood and my wife knew I was missing it, so we decided to build something that was strictly unreasonable. What's more unreasonable than a TBucket?

.I built my T with the frame and .glass from Spirit Industries. I did all the mechanical, electrical, and brake work myself. The interior was hired out and the paintwork was done with a little help from my friends. Last year I stitched up my own interior and possibly this winter I.ll pull the car apart and put the paint on myself. I.m proud of the fact that my car isn.t necessarily the best looking car in the group, but it.s as reliable as my daily driver, and all but the paint is my own work.. He started building his car in June, 1999 and drove it for the first time in June, 2000. .I make changes each year, some years I make bigger changes than others. These days Don spends quite a bit of time behind the wheel. I wish I could drive my T to work, but it's just not safe sitting in the parking lot there. In the past three years, we've had four cars stolen from the parking lot! I guess I drive about 500 miles a month, but I expect that will only increase since I continue to make improvements in the comfort of the car. If I.m not going to work, I.m usually in the T. Don first joined the NTBA seven years ago. I joined the NTBA in April, 1999.

I first attended a chapter meeting in North Texas back when Mark Fuess was the VP and the North Texas T-Bucket's had three members. That meeting marked the time when the NTTB more than doubled in size by adding T-Pilot, TCC, Renegade-T, and me. Don says the best thing about the club is the people. The NTBA was put together to give people from all walks of life a place to share their common interest in T-Buckets. For the most part, it has done just that! I've made friends with people with different world views, political views, and religious views all because we share a common interest in the T.

Congratulations! and Thank You! to Don "TNT" Ebert! A deserving member of the National T Bucket Alliance Hall of Fame!