Restored car surprises family of dead son at memorial

Frankie Chavez Jr., who died 25 years ago, made it to his memorial on Saturday. His father said he did.

Brawley resident Frank Chavez said, “I look up at the sky and he’s’ smiling at me, like, see, dad, everything works out.”

Chavez said his son Frankie joined the celebration in the form of his car which Frankie had been working to restore before he died, and never had a chance to complete.

“Is a surprise to us because we weren’t expecting that, this Volkswagen to be ready. They rebuilt the engine. They upholstered it. I mean from top to bottom, they painted it – everything, ” Chavez said referring to the work that friend Martin Zamora and community did on the car.

“We asked him what the kid’s dream was, how he wanted to finish the vehicle. We took the notes on all of that. And we slowly worked on putting it together the way he wanted it,” Zamora said.

Chavez remembers the terrible moment when his son Frankie was killed.

“He was involved in a car accident. He and his friend Nathan Mata were killed back in December of 1993,” Mata said. He explained that he remembers little of the accident details, but he said alcohol might not have been related. He said he remembers the other driver having made a wrong turn by accident having been lost on a road near Calipatria. Frankie and his friend Mata were returning after a school event.

The family turned tragedy into a foundation and have already raised over $200,000s for local high school kids since 1995. Chavez hopes to raise over $10,000 today for kids that remind him so much of his own son.

“He’s right there in that banner. Look at his face. He’s right there. He got that smile on his face. He’s right there looking at his car. Yeah. Makes me very emotional,” Chavez said choking back tears as he looks at a banner with his son’s image and his son’s restored car nearby.

The website www.asirt.org states that over one million people die in car crashes each year.