The first hint was in the headline. As is common practice with pranks of this sort, a clue via an easy to find mistake such as a spelling error was prominently placed. We could have written Sails, but that would have been too easy. Any editor worth his salt would have corrected the banner to read "Figari Sells American Graffiti Coupe! Also, referring to our self in the story as "one of the worst offenders" hopefully pointed to what would have been a terrific coincidence of luck (or ego) since our blog was also the venue for this huge breaking story.
As April Fools jokes go, this was a terrific success. Within moments of posting and sharing on Facebook, traffic at My Dinner With Milner spiked and my phone lit up with all sorts of Graffiti buddies from across the country. I wasn't able to answer all the calls, but those who asked (all of them) were told of the story's origin and set straight. We certainly meant no harm and it seemed that everyone enjoyed the spirit of the prank.
We of course did not hear from Rick Figari or thankfully, his attorneys. And for the record, during the time we spent together at the recent Sacramento Autorama, he was very gracious and most accommodating. He was also extremely complimentary toward the Naked Milner and had absolutely nothing bad to say about the clone builders. Okay, that's a lie, he hates a couple of you. But he really was a nice guy and we thoroughly enjoyed our many conversations with him. In fact he was so impressed by our efforts with our bare metal tribute that he told us that when it becomes time to sale the Graffiti Coupe, he will give us first and last offer. Okay, see that's another lie, he actually reiterated to us very strongly that he will never sell the Coupe. And that's the truth.
Aloha
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