Inventor Built The World’s Most Famous Red Shoe

Inventor Built The World’s Most Famous Red Shoe Jason Barnett has earned a living for more than 20 years by creating and building his wild ideas Some of his creations are giant yard art from plane parts and furniture from old vehicles but his real claim to fame is building the iconic Ronald McDonald Big Red Shoe Car That project began when a friend told him the company was looking for bids to produce and build a vehicle in the shape of Ronald’s red clown shoe Bidders were supposed to present ideas the next day in Houston so Barnett says he quickly sketched his idea on a napkin Then he spent the next 12 hrs building a rough model on top of a PT Cruiser remote control car “I worked all night and finished at 5 am then delivered it 4 hrs later in Houston and handed it off to my friend Bill ” Barnett says “When the board meeting was assembled Bill opened the door and drove the remote-controlled shoe prototype into the room The rest is history Within minutes my phone was ringing and the board wanted to meet me ” Barnett says he and the company worked two months on design details and about a year later he received a check to start the real work Originally he’d planned to mount the body on a 2003 Chevy pickup with a V-8 engine He removed most of the truck’s body then formed the shoe shape out of large foam blocks to fit on the chassis His mockup measured 8 ft wide in the front 4 ft wide in the back and was nearly 23 ft long “It was a tough job to get everything carved out After I coated it with drywall mud to create a smooth surface Then I applied latex paint so the fiberglass could adhere ” During construction he made design improvements such as having the entire nose of the shoe open forward to access the engine The driver and passenger seats are accessed through “suicide” doors that open from the front to the back Throughout construction which took nearly two years Barnett would drive the shoe vehicle around and test it for squeaks and rattles “Kids would freak out whenever I drove by so I knew the idea was going to be a success ” Barnett says Initially he’d planned on doing the whole project himself but soon realized that wasn’t possible Friends and family volunteered their help spending many hours and long nights bringing the car to life Barnett even had to take a part-time job because he’d drastically underbid the actual cost of producing it “I hadn’t built something this large before and really underestimated the time but the project was definitely worth the effort ” he says His famous Ronald McDonald’s Big Red Shoe Car has been in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jason Barnett Alvin Texas cjasonbarnett@gmail com; Facebook: Artist Jason Barnett

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