I’m not much a fan of April Fool’s Day, but some carefully laid out jokes just hit the right spot. Robert Emslie asked what the best automotive April Fools’ Joke was and 24 Hours of LeMons and King of Hammers competitor Matt Adair responded with a doozy of an Internet prank. Follow the jump for the story.

It all started innocently enough. A group of now-somewhat-Internet-famous 24 Hours of LeMons nuts built a turbodiesel-powered Porsche 911 and they extended an invitation to Matt Adair, mastermind behind the roadracing Team Petty Cash Jeep Cherokee and an occasional 24 Hours of LeMons judge, to drive the Porsche. Waiting for his flight in Seattle’s airport nearly two weeks ago, Matt posted the above status to his Facebook page, keeping the details scarce and getting a chuckle from those who got it but hardly intending to troll a few hundred unsuspecting people with it.

He carried on the joke once he arrived in California, posting photos of the “Towncar” sent to pick him up at the airport to head to Sonoma Raceway, where the “Porsche Big Wigs” would be. Adair’s chauffeur coincidentally happened to be automotive journalist Murilee Martin, known in LeMons circles as Judge Phil. Several crapcanistas put two and two together, but Matt’s friends, family, former college professors, and a sundry of Facebook acquaintances have no idea who the hell Murilee Martin is, missing the big clue.

 

And that’s where Matt got the idea to extend the joke to April Fools’. As it turns out, Adair secured a sponsorship deal with Falken Tires for all of Team Petty Cash’s vehicles: two different LeMons Cherokees, a LeMons E30, and an Ultra4 Cherokee. He attended the 2012 SEMA show, where he presented a Team Petty Cash shirt to Falken, whose representative asked him to sign it. The Falken Tires Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from the American Le Mans Series was the closest solid surface, so Matt signed on its hood. The resulting fortuitous photo of the autograph provided all the fodder for a tremendous April Fool’s Joke:

The congratulations came rolling in yet again as those same hundreds of friends, family, and acquaintances—including Internet grassroots racing wizard Bill Caswell—took the troll bait hook, line, and sinker. To seal the deal, Matt made his cover photo this tremendous Speedhunters.com capture of the #17 Falken Tires Porsche.

The irony in all of this, however, is that Adair had gone to Sonoma to act as LeMons judge and never actually had a chance to drive the “Porsche Big Wigs” diesel 911. Nevertheless, he executed the well-laid-out plan and even if he’s had some rotten luck lately with the LeMons Jeeps, he can take solace in knowing that he won at April Fool’s this year. 

Did you top Matt’s April Fools’ joke this year? I sure didn’t.

 

[Photos: Murilee Martin (Lead); Matt Adair]