Ed Hartman, or “Eddie” to those who still grieve his tragic loss after 40 years, needed to pay off the wedding ring he purchased for his then-upcoming wedding to his high school sweetheart.

So he sold his 1971 Pontiac LeMans to his Meridian neighbor, Dave Fox, for $500 in March 1983.

Two months later, the Butler High School Class of 1979 standout multisport athlete and committed Christian was killed shortly after graduating from Geneva College and the day before his wedding, when a drunken driver struck a car that spun into the vehicle carrying Hartman and his groomsmen on Route 28.

Fox stood in for Hartman in 2010 when he was elected a Butler Football Hometown Hero, and at the dinner later that day, Hartman’s mother, Ruth, told the crowd Fox had bought the LeMans and was keeping the car in tiptop shape to honor Eddie’s memory.

The truth was, Fox drove the car from 1983 to 1987, but put it on blocks in his carport after that to concentrate on his new roles of husband and father.

Fox said Mrs. Hartman’s words really worked on his conscience.

“It was then I knew I had to restore the car,” he said.

Fox built a garage for the Lemans and began raising funds for the ambitious restoration, which included rebuilding the engine and transmission, completing significant body work and painting it in a shade as close to its original green as possible.

The Butler Area Vocational-Technical School stepped up in Hartman’s memory and took on the daunting task of completing all the body work needed on the car, which Fox has named “Lenny LeMans.”

Fox’s friend, Gary Cygan, who Hartman drove to then-Butler County Memorial Hospital in the LeMans when, at age 12, he broke his nose in a sled-riding accident, also helped restore the car.

Fox said finances were the greatest challenge in reaching his goal of Lenny’s complete restoration, so he reached out to the community for help in raising the funds.

“A lot of Eddie’s friends, teammates, classmates and even (athletic) opponents, donated,” Fox said.

Today, the car is completely refurbished, but it no longer sits untouched on Fox’s property.

Fox spends his time during the temperate months taking Lenny to car shows and other events to spread the word on Hartman’s life, achievements and the purity of his intentions in all he did during his short stay on Earth.

He displays Hartman’s mementos, like his Bible, athletic letters, trophies and Butler High letterman jackets, with the car as well.

“There are a lot of tributes and memorials done for people at a stationary place, whereas this is a literal moving memorial,” Fox said.

He most recently took Lenny to the Autumn Leaf Festival in Clarion.

“People like the car, but the story behind the car and the story of Eddie is what really gets people,” Fox said.

When those who recall the tragic circumstances of Hartman’s death happen upon the car, like those who graduated from Butler High in 1979 or Geneva College in 1983, they always have an emotional response.

“A lot of people cry,” Fox said. “It’s sad in a way, because people still reminisce about their times with Eddie and what a great guy he was.”

Fox took Lenny to a car show in Chippewa, Beaver County, this summer that was not far from Hartman’s collegiate alma mater.

The president of Geneva College, Calvin Troup, happened past the car and was astounded when he learned it was Hartman’s.

Troup was a classmate of Hartman’s at Geneva and slated to serve his friend as a groomsman in the wedding that fate cruelly snatched away.

Troup was in the passenger’s seat on that fateful night in 1983.

“He was not able to go to Eddie’s memorial because he was in the accident and he was recovering,” Fox said.

At the Chippewa car show, Fox showed Troup Hartman’s Bible, in which Hartman had scribbled notes and underlined certain verses.

The chance encounter left Troup emotional as he no doubt relived his friendship with Hartman and the events of May, 1983.

“Seeing the car is kind of like going to a grave site,” Fox said.

Asked the simple question of what kind of person Hartman was, is quite a complex one for Fox, as it is hard to describe the Christian goodness and kindness Hartman demonstrated every day.

“He was my idol,” Fox said. “He was 4 years older than me.”

He recalled that Hartman’s late father, the Rev. Edwin Hartman, was pastor at Meridian United Presbyterian Church, and the family lived in the church manse.

“Eddie was super good looking and very athletic, but he was very humble and full of integrity,” Fox said.

He laughed when recalling his first encounter with Hartman, when the two were involved in a game of baseball.

“He threw me a curve ball and I missed it,” Fox said. “It hit me in the nose. I went home and told my parents ‘The new pastor’s kid hit me in the nose with a baseball.’

“That was my first interaction with Eddie. He gave me a bloody nose.”

Fox said he had been working at the former Thorofare grocery store at Point Plaza, so he was able to save up money to buy a used car.

“I like Pontiacs and that was the car I was looking for,” he said of his decision to fork over $500 for the LeMans Hartman’s father had bought him in 1977 and that he had driven all through his years at Butler High and Geneva College.

Fox said he has no plans to slow down in his mission to honor Eddie Hartman through his restored 1971 LeMans.

“Everyone is very complementary about what I’m doing to keep the legacy and memory of Eddie alive,” he said.

One of those is Tom TenHoeve, a Butler High classmate and good friend of Hartman’s who took the 40th anniversary of the accident pretty hard.

“Although Eddie is gone, his impact on the world is not,” said TenHoeve, who is associate dean at the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Pharmacy. “The LeMans is a good example of that. I know Eddie would be proud to know that what he stood for continues to be made known.”

More on Fox’s odyssey with the car and friendship with Hartman are available by searching “Lenny LeMans” on Facebook or on “Eddie Hartman LeMans Project” on Youtube.com.

Donations toward the car’s restoration are being accepted. Find the fundraiser by searching “Eddie Hartman Memorial” on gofundme.com.