This is just one car I always remembered. It different and just seem like something that would be fun to with my daughter.
I was there when Jake brush painted it at Goodguy's Pleasanton Nationals. Everybody dusting off there cars and worring about driving them around, and then there's Jake brush painting a HOTROD right in the middle of the Fairgrounds. It was a special moment. The jakopauging just finished it off. I think it's great.
Here's my problem with the car. Back in the late 60's, Jim Jacobs was one of hot rodding's hero's in my teenage world. He was building the cars I dreamed of some day building...his '29 Delivery, an even neater "phonebooth" pickup and the coolest 3 window ever built. Hell, he even restored the Niekamp Roadster and was a player in the first Street Rod Nats...truely becoming a legend in "traditional Hot Rod" movement. Then he throws together this traditional looking Model A Phaeton on Deuce rails, just to beat around in...including an old school "brush" paint job...how cool is that? Next thing I know, it's Jake-apaged.... In my teenage mind, my hero just disrespected that car...disrespected the whole (newly developing) "traditional" movement by making a joke out of that car. Maybe I interpreted it all wrong at that age, but that's how it felt to me. In closing, Jitney Jake still remains one of my hero's...legend of traditional hot rods, but the Jake-apaged Tub, in my young mind, knocked him down a few pegs.
How many know the car was put together for laughs out of leftover parts laying around the shop? Customer has them put a new 350 in a rod and they are left a good running 283. Customer wants IFS, they are left with a beam axle. Customer wants a roadster body, they are left with the old touring etc etc. Eventually they had enough stuff to build this car for practically nothing. Jake put it together to drive to work and have fun with. And that is what he did. I hope it proved to a lot of people, you do not have to have a $100,000 car with blown big block and $20,000 paint job to have fun, just the opposite. That was the point. Maybe gluing old magazine pages on it was going too far but it seemed like a good goof at the time.
Exactly! My analogy( because of my era) is that everyone followed the popular "Hair/Glam",bands of the day and in comes Nirvana and makes the whole scene of over blown , one up-manship seem a little silly.
The only thing that bugged me about Jakeopage was that they killed a bunch of little pages to do it! As a 50 year magazine collector it killed me at the time. The art of it however was BRILLIANT.
Jim Jacobs was a trend setter, an early innovator of many trends that continue today. He showed us... *Jag suspension on his 29 Panel. *Getting the stance just right on his A pickup. *Building a chopped nostalgia coupe in the era of resto-rods. *Restoring historically significant hot rods *Decoupaging your hot rod...oh, wait a minute... When you are one of the hobby's early trend setters, get lots of magazine coverage, and you do something innovative to your car...that NOBODY ever wants/tries to duplicate, is it really brilliant...or just a big mistake?
For two moments in time it was brilliant. First the brush paint, second not giving AF and decoupaging it whether you like it or not
Use to read every article he had anything to do with in the rod magazines Never thought I would own a rod he helped build, I've had it 25 yrs. Not only that but I have his phone# in my cell phone!! I consider myself blessed............
I could not have said it better Myself!! Also It must of Pleased a lot of Guys as Everyone has been copying his Parts For Almost 50 years now!! Jake is a true Hot Rodder and innovator and any one who calls themself a Hot rod guy and says Negative things about his creations Should be Horse Whipped and have their Mouth washed out. Just my Opinion!
I don't know how Jake did it and I don't care what anybody else thinks about it, that was not the question asked. However, I once read about another method of moving print to paintwork in a hotrod magazine. Lay out the printed page as you want to use it, spray it with a bunch of coats of clear lacquer drying between coats . When you have a decent build up and it is dry , lay the page carefully in a tray of water and the paper will disintegrate and fall away from beneath the lacquer, leaving a transfer floating on the water, lift it off place it on your painted surface , like a waterslide and once it is dry lacquer over it with the best UV resistant material you can get. I guess you will need to be sure the lacquer is compatible with your paintwork. I have never tried it but I saw a chopper tank another guy did , it looked OK. I think the water in the tray may have been warm and soapy ...you will have to experiment.
I drive a brush painted Power Wagon daily , no matter what the weather is or what is ask of it , the ole dude is there to pull service . Everybody asks me , “ why did you brush paint it ? “ Well it belonged to the US Forestry Service as a duty truck , before it was a city truck , many bumps and bruises , it would take 4 super good body men and a Priest to make the body nice enough to paint . My answer to them is “ hey it’s not yours and you don’t mind the brush art work , when you need to haul an engine or rear axle that you don’t want to scratch up your coffee cruiser truck ! “ I dare say the old Cummins Powered rig will be blowing smoke from under a brush painted hood when most of the new ones are done and a memory . Long life Ole Jitney Jake , he is master builder in this hobby we all enjoy . He gave the plastic card built , cars the FU , in the fun factor . Hey it’s not about how much you spend it’s about how much fun you have that has true meaning in this ride we are taking known as LIFE .
My thought when I first saw the car was..... if anyone NOT famous had done this they would have flamed him from the start. Seeing how he was a hero most said..."isn't that cool". Me, it was like watching a Starkist tuna commercial with Charlie the Tuna trying to show Starkist he had good taste..."Sorry Jake"
Depends on who's Opinion we are talking about. For me, "Living room couch reality TV watching builders" Opinions don't matter too much to me. This site might not even Be here if it were not for Guys like Jake, P-Wood, Lil John and Many other Hot Rod Pioneers! Here is my thoughts, If and when you or any of the other Self appointed Critics get to the point that you have done close to even half of what "Jake" has done for "Hot Rodding" Your Criticism may hold some water here. But Until that day as far as I am concerned, You are just Trolling and might just be on the wrong site yourself! Just my 2 cents
I was in high school at the time and really into the street machine thing and I remember thinking "I just don't get those hot rod guys"
Well . . . I was one of the painters that day , there were about 4 of us with brushes . The paint was the left over paint from my deuce highboy project ! Jake rarely drinks , I on the other hand , drank enough for both of us that day . I think I remember , after finishing painting the car , I painting some gal's toe nails . . .
I never particularly like the pictures but the important thing to me is that under that paperwork was a really cool tub with the perfect stance that got the wheels driven off. This was at a time when there were contests at the lawn chair shows for the coldest air and most remote controlled junk on rods. Hated that shit Jake was way early in rejecting that. I'd bet my best "crying baby doll" that he was having more fun. Who could ask for more?