The Shoe Maker

There's no bigger food icoan than Ronald McDonald and when he needs to get around, his ride of choice is the Big Red Shoe Car.  There are  a few different versions out there.  The one in the Houston metro area was created by Jason Barnett and I had the chance to talk with him about his four-wheeled footwear.

Me: How did you get involved with the creation of the Shoe Car?

Jason Barnett: In about April of 2002, a friend of mine was one of the local Ronald McDonald's that made appearances at McDonald's events. He came to me and said that the Texas Gulf Coast McDonald's were looking to have a promotional vehicle made is the shape of a Ronald McDonald clown shoe and that they were going to have some of the local art car parade guys bid and build it. My friend Bill (Ronald), told me of a meeting that was to take place the next day in Houston about the shoe car idea and if I wanted to get a bid in that I had better have something ready by that morning. I immediately did a quick sketch of my idea and built a remote control model of my idea using a PT Cruiser remote control car that I bought and removed the body from.

JB: I worked all through the night and at about 5 am the remote control car was finished. The problem was, at the time I lived in Midlothian and it was a 4 hour drive to the meeting. I drove all the way down to Houston and handed over the car sketches and the remote control model. Bill is the ultimate in presenters and showmen. He waited for the meeting to start with all of the board members at their giant table and then flung open the doors and drove the remote control car into the room. Instantly my phone was ringing and the board wanted to meet. Over the next few months we went back and forth over the design and over a year later I received a check to get started.

Me: How long did it take to design and build?

JB: The actual construction process involved about two years of hard labor and itching from the fiberglass body. I had underbid the project so badly that I had to take on other jobs to fund the project. If not for that blunder, it would only have taken about a year to complete. As I was building the car, improvements were made to its design. The first thing was that I decided to make the entire nose of the car flip forward to access the engine and I decided to have suicide doors.

JB: The car was about 8ft wide in the front and narrowed down to about 4ft wide at the rear. It would have been very difficult to get to the engine with a normal car style hood. Originally the car was to be built on a 2003 Chevy1/2 ton truck chassis with a 6 cylinder engine. When I went down to buy a truck from the dealership, they made me a better deal on a truck with a V8 and cruise control. I have personally driven the shoe car well over 100mph!

Me: What was your favorite part of the process?

JB: As far as my favorite part of building the car goes. I would have to say that was when I got the fiberglass body back in from the workshop that hand laid the fiberglass. We didn't use molds. I carved the shape of the car out of huge blocks of foam and then coated them with layers of drywall mud to fill in the imperfections. The giant mock-up was sprayed with latex paint to create a barrier from the fiberglass. Once the fiberglass was laid up on the mockup and cured, I popped the new fiberglass body off of the foam. I still had a lot of hand work to do to the body, but at that point the car was coming to life. Anytime a new part was added- doors,hood, hatchback,etc., it was necessary to drive it around to test for problems and rattles. There was nothing like watching kids and adults freak out as I drove past in the 23 ft long shoe.

JB: I had it in my head from the beginning that I was going to be able to pull this off entirely by myself. Luckily for me, I had a lot of friends and family that volunteered and spent endless days and nights to make this project a reality.

Check out Jason's website for more of his unique work:

http://www.jasonbarnett.net

He's a very talented guy and we hope to cover his upcoming projects so check back soon for more details!

Breakfast Feud

The best feuds usually have a few things in common: they are longstanding & involve two evenly matched powerhouses.  This is not that kind of feud.  This is completely one-sided and happened relatively quickly between a popular cereal mascot and an unpopular one.  And even the winner ended up losing...

If you're wasting your time reading a blog about product mascots then you've probably heard of Quisp.  He's the wacky alien mascot who always speaks in his "outside voice" about the cereal with which he shares his name.  Total solo act, right?  Sure, he has that vibe but he was originally a part of a duo.

This commercial was the debut for both Quisp (little alien guy) and Quake (big miner guy).  They were both supposed to be representative of various frontiers.  Quisp cashed in on the excitement of the growing space exploration program since his domain was outer space.  As for Quake, his stomping ground was "inner space."  So he essentially liked to dig in the ground.  Clearly he was at a disadvantage from the beginning.

Before you start questioning the legitimacy of this feud, take another look at the .gif above.  Quisp pulls a gun on Quake!  In their first appearance!  The little announcer guy throws fuel on the fire by immediately instructing kids to pick their favorite (and essentially vote with their wallets...or their parents' wallets).

And just like that, the feud began.  So to celebrate this rivalry, here are some arbitrary facts about the unlikely pair.

They Both Got Merch

Fifty cents and two box tops would have gotten you one of these sweet Quisp or Quake plush dolls that you could eat breakfast with.  Of course, again, you'd have to choose.  I mean, I suppose you could get both but that would take an entire dollar and four box tops and an amount of parental patience and interest that probably wasn't too likely back in those days. 

If you do a search on eBay today of both "Quisp" and "Quake" you'll find that Quisp easily has more merchandise.  Consider it the spoils of war awarded to the feud winner.

Quake Got a Makeover

Miners have yet to really get their due when it comes to showbiz popularity.  And since cowboys were really popular back in the day, the powers-that-be decided it was time for a change.  Perhaps demonstrating a lack of faith in the character, Quake was switched from an "inner space" guy to a "cowboy" guy.  The ad boys leaned into it and produced a commercial showing Quake hopping into a makeover machine and coming out a lean, mean cowpoke desperate to sell cereal.

The Duo Was a Trio Briefly

In that age of prosperity, cereal was selling and "more" was "better" so Quaker decided to roll out a third cereal...perhaps an eventual replacement for Quake?  So Simon the Quangeroo was born and his orange flavored cereal hit the shelves. 

Perhaps indicative of some elitism on Quisp's part, Simon was mainly paired with Quake.  There was one commercial where Simon and Quisp competed with each other in a race across the country but, alas, the fix was in and Quisp took the win.  The loss shook Simon and he inevitably disappeared joining Fruit Brute & Yummy Mummy in fruit flavored obscurity.  

The Gang Existed in the Cap'n Crunch Extended Universe

These days we're used to shared universes, with every Avenger happy to pop up in each other's movies and whatnot. But before our favorite heroes took on Thanos and even before Laverne & Shirley teamed up with Fonzie, an even more epic cross-over took place on the small screen.  

Since all parties involved were owned by Quaker, it wasn't a big deal to get them together for a special occasion.  This occasion was the giveaway of Matchbox Cars and you can even see the animosity between the boys in the .gif above as the poor Cap'n is caught in the middle.

Well, a rivalry like this couldn't last...and it didn't.  Eventually Quake went away, perhaps buried in his beloved inner space, for good.  Quisp continued his reign for several years...until he didn't.  His cereal eventually went away, for the most part, but he's had a resurgence or two over the years.  

You can still find it on the shelves of certain stores if you're lucky.  But if you decide to pick up box, spare a thought for an old friend...a long lost miner/cowboy who never stood a chance in the cutthroat world of breakfast cereals.