Every paneltells somebody's story.
John Stewart takes Corvettes that most people would walk away from, rebuilds them by hand, and turns the paint into a rolling memorial — service emblems, POW/MIA, the eagle, the flag, and the names of people who never made it home.
Sample figures — this site is still being set up. The totals and names shown here are placeholders, not real contributions.
One man. One car at a time.
Start to finish.
There's no crew and no outside vendor. The metalwork, the mechanical rebuild, the primer, the base coat, the airbrush, and the clear all happen under one roof, by one set of hands.
Metal & mechanical
Rust cut out, panels straightened, the car made roadworthy again — brakes, suspension, drivetrain. A tribute car that can't be driven to the event isn't much of a tribute.
Primer & base
Block-sanded, sealed, and laid down flat. The base coat has to be right before a single line of artwork goes on top of it, because the artwork can't be masked and redone.
Freehand airbrush
No decals, no wraps, no vinyl. Every eagle, emblem, helmet, and name is sprayed by hand, then buried under clear so it survives weather, highway miles, and thirty years.
The first one
Callsign "Sentinel"
| Car | Chevrolet Corvette, C6 coupe |
|---|---|
| Condition acquired | Non-running, collision damage to right front |
| Build time | Approx. 14 months |
| Tribute | POW/MIA · all five service branches · fallen from John's unit |
| Artwork | 100% freehand airbrush — no decals or vinyl |
| Status | Road ready · available for events |
People who put paint on the car
Every supporter goes up here by first name. No last names, no amounts you didn't approve, no email addresses — ever. You choose exactly what shows.
Want the car at your event?
Veterans' ceremonies, funeral processions, parades, car shows, school assemblies, VFW and Legion posts, first responder events. John has taken the car to 11 states and the goal is all fifty.
Travel costs are the only thing that limits how far the car can go, so the request form asks about that up front. No event is too small.
Submit a request
See where the car goes next
Build progress, shop video, and every event stop. #ROLLINGTRIBUTE
Where most veteran and car-show audiences actually live. This block becomes a live feed of the page.
Build photos and airbrush close-ups. This block becomes a 6-photo grid pulled from the account.
YouTube / TikTok
Time-lapse of a panel going from primer to finished artwork. Best performing content type by far.
These three blocks are deliberately empty. Once you tell us which accounts you actually want to keep up with, they turn into live feeds and every event photo posts to all of them at once.
The cars
Build 01 is finished and on the road. Build 02 is in the shop now. Everything you see below was sprayed freehand.
Build 01 — "Sentinel"
| Base car | Chevrolet Corvette C6 |
|---|---|
| Tribute subject | POW/MIA · five branches · names to be listed |
| Completed | Spring 2024 |
| Events attended | 37 |
| Miles for the mission | 9,400 |
Available for events. Trailered for long hauls, driven when it's close.
John — send a shop photo of the car as it sits right now, even in primer. Work-in-progress photos raise more money than finished ones.
Build 02 — callsign pending
| Base car | To be confirmed |
|---|---|
| Tribute subject | To be confirmed |
| Stage | Bodywork |
| Funding | 61% of $30,000 |
The artwork, up close
We wrote a placeholder caption under every photo. Tell us what each panel actually is and who it honors — that's the part people read, and it's the part that makes them donate.
John Stewart
U.S. [branch] veteran. [Years] of service. Body man and airbrush artist for [number] years.
This is where your story goes, in your own words. Two or three paragraphs is plenty. What people want to know is simple: what you did in the service, who you're doing this for, and why you decided a Corvette was the right way to do it.
If there's a specific person — someone from your unit, a family member, a friend who didn't come home — say their name here. That single detail will do more for this project than anything else on the whole website.
Then tell people what the goal is. Fifty states? A car for every branch? A permanent memorial someone can walk up to at a ceremony? Say it plainly and people will help you get there.
Don't try to write it perfectly. Record yourself talking about it on your phone for five minutes, send the recording, and we'll turn it into the page. It'll sound more like you that way.
Caption / portrait of John needed. A photo of you with an airbrush in your hand, in the shop, works better than a posed one.
Primer to clear coat
This sequence is the single best thing to post on social media, because people who don't care about cars still can't stop watching a panel get built up one layer at a time.
Teardown
Glass, trim, and interior out. Everything that can hide rust comes off.
Metal & body
Cut, weld, straighten, fill, block. The part nobody sees and everything depends on.
Mechanical
Brakes, suspension, cooling, drivetrain. It has to make the drive.
Primer & seal
Block-sanded flat. Any wave left here shows up in the artwork forever.
Base coat
The color the tribute gets laid over.
Airbrush
Freehand. Eagles, emblems, helmets, names. The slowest stage by far.
Clear & cut
Buried in clear, then cut and buffed so the artwork survives the road.
Reassembly
Back together, aligned, detailed, and driven.
Where the money actually goes
Donors give more, and give again, when they can see the line items. These are placeholders — replace them with your real numbers.
$8,000
Paint, clear, primer, reducer, abrasives, airbrush supplies.
$11,000
Panels, glass, trim, mechanical and suspension parts.
$6,000
Fuel, trailer, lodging for out-of-state events.
$5,000
Acquiring the next Corvette to build.
Where the car will be
Come see it in person. Bring your family, bring your unit, bring your kids. Nobody gets charged to look at it.
| Date | Event | City | Car | Status |
|---|
Sample events — replace with your real schedule.
Bring it to your event
Fill this out and John will get back to you personally. The more notice you can give, the better — six weeks is ideal.
| Cost to you | Nothing for the appearance itself |
|---|---|
| Travel | Covered by donations, or by the host for long distances |
| Space needed | Roughly two parking spaces, hard surface preferred |
| Time on site | 2–6 hours typical |
Fifty states
11 down. 39 to go. Every state the car reaches gets marked here.
11 states
OH · KY · IN · MI · PA · WV · TN · VA · NC · GA · FL — replace with the real list.
6 states
Events asking for the car that aren't scheduled yet.
Travel funded
Anything past 800 miles needs the trailer and a fuel budget. That's what donations pay for.
Put paint on the car
Every dollar goes into materials, parts, and the fuel it takes to get the car to the next ceremony. Build 02 is 61% funded.
We're still setting this up. If you want to help with the next build, email rollingtribute@gmail.com and we'll tell you how. The form below shows what's coming.
Sponsor a panel
$1,000+ sponsors get their name in the back office records and a thank-you at events. Not on the car — the car is for the people it honors.
Donate parts or materials
Paint, clear, panels, glass, a trailer, a place to park it. Materials help as much as money.
Cover a trip
$250–$900 gets the car to a ceremony that can't afford to bring it in. Request a visit.
Hand out a card
Every card has a code on it. Scan it, and John can see which events actually bring people to the site.
First names only
Public: first name, the amount if you allowed it, and who you're honoring. Private and never shown: last name, email, ZIP, payment details.
Sample names for the demo. Your real donations replace them.