Jennifer Garner Surprises Her Dad with Birthday Ride in His Childhood Car, a 1948 Studebaker Champion

Jennifer Garner planned the perfect gift for her father to celebrate his birthday.

On Monday, the 13 Going on 30 actress, 51, revealed that she surprised her dad William John Garner with a blast from his past during a trip to her hometown in Charleston, West Virginia over the weekend.

“Dad’s early birthday surprise: a ride in his childhood car — [a] 1948 Studebaker Champion,” Jennifer wrote on Instagram, captioning a photo of her and her dad posing next to the black vehicle.

She added that the “kind and generous David King” joined her dad for the ride.

Jennfier’s dad’s birthday is on Sept. 21, a date referenced in “September,” Earth Wind and Fire’s classic 1971 jam. “We always knew you were the coolest, Dad!” Jennifer wrote in 2017 of her dad, who often appears with her in her ongoing Capitol One Venture card commercials.

The sweet present was just one of the highlights of Jennifer’s visit back home, which was jam-packed despite her only only being in town for “36 hours.”

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Other pictures Jennifer shared showed her taking in the September sky, driving by West Virginia’s State Capitol and giving a tight hug to her “beloved ballet teacher, mentor and second mother, Nina Lu Pasinetti. (Ms. Denton).”

The Once Upon a Farm founder also had a “multipack giveaway” of her acclaimed line of baby food and snacks at her local Kroger grocery store. “Thank you to everyone who stopped by!” she wrote.

But family definitely was the focus of Jennifer’s trip.

Her post began with a picture of her hugging her nephew after a soccer game. “I ♥️ my nephew,” wrote Jennifer, who is a middle child of her sisters Melissa Garner Wylie and Susannah Kay Garner Carpenter. She went on to share video of her nephew playing soccer while she sat in the stands with loved ones.

“What am I, suddenly a soccer expert?,” Jennifer joked.

Quality time with mom Patricia Ann Garner happened, too, with Jennifer sharing a picture of the two holding hands. “Of course we had to close Mom’s rings! ⌚️,” Jennifer wrote.

And Jennifer got to see her sister Susannah, posing for a picture with her. “I can’t imagine life without my little sister, Susannah. (We missed you, Melissa!),” she said.

The trip didn’t necessarily go off perfectly. Despite her experience in the kitchen, the Pretend Cooking Show host still found a way to apparently set off the smoke detector.

“Jen’s cooking = smoke alarm,” she joked.