Projects Project "Jack in the Box" a.k.a. we gave a kid a car......

[geemann51]

This is Javier; he’s a good pal, family friend, and one hell of a chef/pit master….



Javier is one of the driving forces behind the Austin Meatheads; a bunch of car loving carnivores that are committed to driving their hotrods and customs on Fridays for the sole purpose of skipping out early or tricking the boss into an extend lunch break to hit up a greasy spoon or BBQ on Fridays for lunch.

Javier drives a really cool truck…



This is Jack. He’s Javier’s oldest boy and his running buddy. Those of you from the Austin area and those of you, who have visited down this way, would attest that they’re inseparable. Javier’s a good papa and Jack’s the kind of a son that would make any dad proud.….



Jack loves Shoebox Fords. Correction; Jack is CRAZY about 49-51 Ford cars. So much, he knows just as much about them as me (which isn’t saying much), maybe more. You might even go so far to call him a “Jack in the box”. When I briefly considered selling the 51 it was this little dude who told me “DON’T SELL THE SHOEBOX”. That’s pretty much when I came to my senses and Jack and I became pals.



This past year, I worked with Javier and the rest of the Meatheads to throw a couple of hog roasts and at some point hanging out and cooking meat, Javier mentioned that he would like to get a shoebox so that he and Jack could get an early start on building up a first car for Jack. I said I’d keep an eye out.

So hold that thought for a minute. This is my other pal Rick aka RIXREX. He’s pretty much a stinking, rotten hippy (I’m just kidding but couldn’t resist the DEADBOLT reference for this self proclaimed Doug Sahm era central Texas hippie). Rick was born in raised in San Antonio and has been a car guy since back in the day. He has built cars, raced cars, run wrecking yards, owned restoration shops, and has one of the most impressive revolving collections of car and car related junk that I have ever seen.



Rick and I were chatting one day and I mentioned Javier, Jack, and Jack’s love for all things shoebox. We both thought it was cool that a 9 year old would want an old car to fix up and agreed that interest in old cars seems to be dwindling amongst the utes’ of today . I can’t remember when, but at some point Rick said to me. “You know, I know where there are a couple of shoeboxes in a field”. “You don’t say”, I said. “I do say” said Rick. He went on, “you know they belong to an old friend of mine who’s got more projects than he’ll ever get to, maybe I should offer to trade some of the stuff I’ll never get to and see if he’ll bite”. As it goes, I kind of forgot about the conversation until a few weeks back when Rick gave me a ring and wanted to know when we could take a drive to South San Antonio.

So two weeks ago, Rick and I took off early on Sunday to do a little recon. The cars were on the back lot of his pal’s rental property. I’ll never get tired seeing a bunch of old field cars for the first time. Some of the sights:

[geemann51]

There were two shoeboxes in all, a 51 which was pretty roached out…







…and a 49 that was definitely the builder of the two.







Now the purpose of this whole mission was to determine what to offer for trade and to make sure these were worth pursuing. They were. After grabbing a couple tacos and getting bit in the throat by a big ass ant, we headed back to Austin; all the while Rick tossed around his trade ideas.

Later that day, I got the call from Rick saying that a deal had been struck and that we were on! Now I’m not not going to reveal the terms of the deal; that’s between Rick and his pal, but I will say it was very equitable for both and we ended up with both the 49 to build AND the 51 for parts. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to give Javier the word and soon we had hatched the plan for recovery and the plan to give it Jack.

Said plan was to go back down to San Antone the following Sunday to get the car, get it back to my place, give it a cleanup, and then to surprise Jack at the Strugglers Christmas party to be held at my place this past Sunday. A lot of calls back and forth over the week to plan and coordinate and we were off early on Sunday the 5th to get the car….

Rick and Javier hiking back to the 49…


Javier’s first look inside…


Assessing the interior…


The damn ants that crawled up my leg and bit my neck the week before; nasty SOB’s…


So after a little digging and putting on some rollers, the car rolled right out; backwards…




Once we got it out in the clear, we saw its true potential…




Loaded up!


Once back at home, we wasted no time cleaning it up…


Even came with an orphaned set of 16’s which I eagerly adopted for the 37 Truck…

[geemann51]

After a long day, the 4-9 was looking pretty good…..


All gussied up with some Mexican blankets, a shrunken head and a 9 ball shifter…




This past Sunday, the Strugglers C.C. got together out at my place for a little holiday cheer and a little after dinner surprise for Jack….

Cutting up and waiting for Jack to come outside…




No one was really sure how Jack would react so we ditched the temptation to trick him with one of the dozen or so gags and just called him out and gave him the car. As you can see by the following pictures, he was pretty stoked!





Rick, Jack and I


Anyway, that’s the story of Jack in the Box. Big thanks to Rick, Javier, and the Strugglers C.C. for pitching in to make this happen. As much fun as it was surprising Jack, it was hoot going to get it with Javier and Rick and saving another old piece of crap. Javier has already found a motor and some other parts and pieces, so let the madness begin.

[Tman]

So cool! you guys rule!

[zombiesnyc]

One man's old piece of crap is some kids dream. Good luck.

[ratrodder34]

That was SO COOL........love these kind of stories and JACK IN THE BOX was always my friend!!!

[Gator]

Good stuff -

[hotroddon]

That is killer dude! I hope his enthusiasm stays high and he's driving that thing before he's legal!

[40StudeDude]

Cool story... the kid will be driving in no time ...

R-

[xhotrodder]

Looks like a good time for all.

[KooDaddy]

Now thats cool! Bought a tear to my eye. Good luck Jack keep us posted.

[Triggerman]

That was a really nicely illustrated and well written story. Thanks for the holiday cheer.

[jdubbya]

That is awesome!

[Gerg]

thats really cool i am sure that is something that he will never forget

[koolkemp]

Great story and congrats to all those that helped out ! Jack will never forget this!

[racingonerobb]

Jack's got some good ole friends. Hope it comes back to you ten fold!!

[cobramerc]

Wow great story

[raengines]

kewl way to keep the game going for another generation, great move guys

[metalshapes]

I got my first car given to me when I was 10 years old.

With the words " here kid, learn something..."


I did.

It shaped me.

You guys did a really cool thing for Jack.

[rottenrods]

Excellent thread! Pictures and story and everything!