It’s hard to initially comprehend how a teenager, classic cars and trucks, organ donation, California and Trigg County might fit together in one puzzle on the silver screen.
But Erik Light has done it.
This upcoming Friday night at Erlanger’s Sauerbeck Family Drive-In, just outside of Cincinnati, his long-awaited “Heart of the Motor: The Wyatt Eddy Story” will finally have its first public screening — after 18 months of an emotional, heartfelt passion project highlighting how tragedy can lead to triumph.
The film has support of non-profit Donate Life Kentucky Trust, and attendance is expected to be in the hundreds — as classic cars fill the aisles for a long night of fellowship and entertainment courtesy of live music from Bourbon Revival.
But the true hope, Light said, is to share this tale at drive-ins across America, because every day 17 people die waiting for transplants on the national list.
And this is a tale, he added, that underscores the life of a 14-year-old, his appreciation of family in this community, and a 1966 Ford F100 Eddy named “Elmer” — who saw it, instantly fell in love with it, and then proceeded to buy and tune it up some in Cadiz before the unthinkable became reality.
Not long after his purchase, Eddy died tragically in fall 2021 — a surfing accident in southern California claiming his life — but not before spending summer after summer after summer near Land Between the Lakes, hanging with immediate relatives and a family friend, Stassin Sexton, whom he considered an uncle. The two spent considerable time working on the three-speed-on-the-tree rust-bucket at Classics and other driveways, after purchasing it from Evan Conrad earlier that summer.
It was eventually going to be Eddy’s first vehicle, one he quaintly named for the brand of whiskey bottle that still collects water near the condenser and radiator.
As a producer and videographer from Colorado, Light tells the stories of classic cars and the families who cherish them. At the time of Eddy’s death, he was working on another video about a 1958 Ford — at one point using social media to search for parts needed in a partial restoration process.
Naturally, he joined a few Facebook groups and started the scouring, and while surfing one of those pages, “F100 World,” he noticed a large following of enthusiasts chiming in on one particular story.
This post was from Conrad himself, alerting thousands of Eddy’s death.
Light said he waited for some time before reaching out to the Eddy family — hoping to tell a story. In the exchange, he shared his 1958 Ford episode with them, looking to bridge a connection.
Light called the entire process of filming, editing and production “a life-changing story and experience,” one that continues to grow and evolve in real time.
Eddy’s lungs went to an unnamed man in his 60’s. His right kidney went to an unnamed young woman. His left kidney and pancreas went to an unnamed man in his 50’s. And his skin, bone and tendon tissue has helped different patients through 11 states.
As a proxy of Eddy’s parents, Light said Wyatt’s gift only keeps giving, as the family has connected with those who have since received his heart and liver.
Several scenes in the film include interviews done at Classics, as well as drone shots of the truck winding through Trigg County roads and overpasses — areas Eddy may, or may not, have perused with some adult supervision in his new ol’ Ford.
Driving the vehicle and chatting in the scenes, however, is Sexton, who not only has spent lengthy time with the family on the west Coast, but also helped Eddy shop for and repair the truck.
Late Wednesday afternoon, he was hitching his truck with a trailer — preparing to head to Erlanger with “Earl” in tow.
Light said the experience should be a film that families talk about “on the car ride home” from the theater — experiences that are “pretty rare these days.”
Perhaps fittingly, Eddy is buried in Trigg County.
WEBSITE: Home – Heart of the Motor
Extra Notes
From Light:
From Sexton:
