The Papa John Camaro!
 

This is a pretty cool story. The owner of Papa John's has been searching for the first car he owned, a 1971 Z28 Camaro. He put up a $250k reward for it and someone brought it to him. In honor of this glorious moment Papa John's will be giving free pizzas to Camaro owners, today I think. Would you want to buy back your first car? I wouldn't mind getting my '87 Camaro back :)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/...apa_john_s_car

Nah that 95 Lumina gave me nothing but troubles.

Stupid 3.1 :P

I still have the truck...As for the first car that I actually bought, my Cavalier...well, I didnt choose to get rid of it, stupid accident...LOL.

meh 99 neon 4 door ill pass wish i would have bought the 4 th gen monte i originaly looked at but it had a cracked block & i didn't have much money or experiance back then so i passed it up

I think it's great he got his first car back that he sold 2 start his papa John's Pizza, but for $250,000.00 I would have got a new ZR1 & used the rest of the money to party : )
I've never had a Papa John's Pizza, but it's cool that he is giving away a Large Pie with one topping to camaro owner's.
Do you think his Camaro is worth a 1/4 million ? It's amazing what rich people do with there money & there are millions of kids starving on our planet ????? I would respect him more if he gave free pie's 2 the hungry : ) 4-Sure....

I call descrimination...just cuz i dont have a camaro doesn't mean i shouldn't get a free pie..space im hungry..i don't gave a camaro but i've got on B/A monte where is my pie..ill settle for a slice

wait scratxh that he can discriminat other wise we'd all be fightin with the ricer kids for a pie

:rolleyes: I think all of us Bowtie boys and girls should get a free pizza! :D

But then they would have FREE pizza box spoilers.

I can kind of understand being a little nostalgic about your first car if it was a cool car... but I can think of a lot of other things to do with $250K!! I've seen the Papa John's commercial where he pulls up in the old Z28; it's an OK looking car, but not worth that kind of money for sure. Like KidSpace said, why not buy a nice new Vette? Give what he had left over to a charity.

I wouldn't want my first car back. It was a Toyota Corolla sport coupe with a 5 spd. It was kind of fun to drive, but not the best looking car out there (it was brown and had a tri-color tape stripe running end to end across the middle).

When you are stupid rich, maybe $250k is like $250.

AAAAAhahaha, don't give them ideas!

I don't want my first car back. It was a 1978 ford granada 2 door with worn out struts and 5 out 6 cylinders that worked.

Serves him right for selling the car. Bet he did it to keep the business running?

(wish I was the one who sold it back to him) :(

If it was in good shape, I'd pay $250 for my first car, a '95 Chevy Beretta.

My 1st was a '64 Impala SS. SURE I'd like it back! Not for what he's paying, but yes. And my 2nd, a '65 Mercury Comet 2dr hardtop, 189 HI-PO 4 sp. AND a few others.

My first car was a 1971 cutlass, two tone rust/metal w/ no floorboards, or trunk!

it's only saving grace was the 350 rocket engine ( i do wish i saved that part...)

this is what she would have looked like new (minus the convertible top)

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/images...0719580f44.jpg

I think it is more the meaning the car has to the company. The story is he sold the car in order to raise the money to buy the equipment needed to make pizza's and sell them. This is symbolic of the company having made enough money to "buy back" its loan! I'm glad he finally go the car... I wonder if he's going to take it back down to the way ti was when he sold it or have it completely restored? I would be happy to undertake the restoration of this car for him once I finish my own dream car... 2 Dare ~ 2 Dream!

I don't think he's going to do anything to the car but keep it in a showroom.

probably pay a professional to detail it, and that's how it will sit.

According to the article, the guy he bought it from had restored it and even put a bigger engine it and wider tires.

bet he wasnt happy about that lol

i would love to have my 95 ram 5.9 v8 back, i would do anything for it

I still have my first car, and I will keep it forever my 96 Z34! :D

1984 Subaru Brat, fk yeah I'll have it back that thing was a tank (before i got my hands on it) not sure if i would want to deal with the mechanical issues of a old foreign car again

Here's a pic for anyone who does not know what it is

http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...001_medium.jpg

and here was what it was supposed to look like when it was brought back
http://offroadingsubarus.com/images/new_brat.jpg

what it actually came back as

was the Subaru baja
http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:...ubaru_Baja.jpg

I had a 89' Mercury Sable station wagon. No thanks that can stay where it is now. lol

my first car was an 89 mercury cougar and if i wouldnt have blown the moter and trans i would want it back even tho it was a hooptie

Well, my fiance had a chance to buy one of his cars back. He bought a 92 Z28 Camaro with the 5.7L brand new but sold it a couple of years later when he got laid off of his job. Through the grape vine the guy that he sold it to wrote my fiance last year (I have know idea how the guy found our address - he moved twice since the sale) asking if he wanted to buy it back. And that he did in a heartbeat!

LMAO That's funny! :D:D

I can't get my first car back since the person who bought it ran it into the ground and sent it to the crusher. But even if it was in mint condition, I still wouldn't want it back.

It was a 1985 Cavalier Trype 10 hatchback. No A/C. 2.0 litre engine. 90 horsepower. Yes ninety horses. WEEEEEEEEE! Feel the wind in your hair! Oh, wait. That's just the defroster fan.

I was trying to find the commercial where he pulls up to a house to deliver pizza in the Camaro, but I couldn't. I did find this one though... you just have to wait 'til the end of the commercial to see the Camaro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXiBiP9wBEQ

hmmmm well if i had the kind of income he has i would buy it back in a heartbeat :) why not?

oh, its too bad we missed out on the free pizza, i coulda called my dads friend, he has a 1st gen camaro shell for sale ( nice shape, btw) no glass drivetrain or interior, but we coulda loaded it onto a trailer & pushed it into the lot for some free pizza :D :D lol.

taz there is one of those godawfull cavilears in the woods on my friends property, his uncle used to use it as a woods buggie :)

http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/...filiate.56.jpg
In this August 24, 2009 handout photo released by Papa John's Pizza, John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John's pizza, is seen Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009 outside his home in Louisville, Ky., with his beloved 1971 Z28 Camaro, which he sold in 1983 to keep his father's tavern afloat and ultimately launch Papa John's Pizza. Schnatter launched a nationwide contest this summer to find the car, and Jeff Robinson of Flatwoods, Ky. came forward with the car and was given a $250,000 reward. Papa Johns Pizza / AP Photo

i saw more camaro's out yesterday than ever...like every body and there sister had one out....even the one down the road from me that hadn't moved in 4 years had been

The car in the commercial's is one he bought that looked like the real one.....

Well... it looks from the aerial shot of Papa John Schnatter's house - he has one
hellva udnerground garage compound! He probably has a whole stable of cool
cars. When your worth $ 750 Million you can drop $ 250,000. + $ 25,000. finders
fee on something like that...

I still think it's a cool story! Who is talking about Pizza Hut right now ?
I got Pizza in my '82 Belinetta! Don't know if it was worth the 12 mile
round-trip drive though??

Wonder what Papa John will pay to get the Original motor back? $ 100,000?
maybe we'll get more Pizza ??? Cool.

Now if I were him, I would not worry alot about that original motor. The way you really had to tell was the date on the block and if the serial tag for the block hasn't fallen off. OR, you can check the heads, which can easily be replaced... I think he should either leave it like it is or just turn it back to the way he had it with a replica engine.... the car is what matters. Another thing... that engine could have spun a main bearing, thrown a rod though the side of the block... and ruined it. It happened a bit in the day... not a big deal to not have the very engine that came with the car, but rather, to have the same TYPE of engine in the car....

Where did you see the aerial shot of his house? I didn't see that anywhere in this thread.

Aerial Shot...
 

Here is a link. Check out the tunnels on each side of the house....

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/36744/

Sorry. I meant to include this...

The salvage yard can keep my 93 cavalier, and it's 2 leaking injectors, seized engine, and complete lack of interior light bulbs.

Having the engine seize going around an uphill corner is not an enjoyable experience, sudden loss of power steering is a bit disconcerning in that situation...

That's Wierd..
 

Yeah, I had an '86 cavalier that had 180,000 on it an I had just got
to the top of a large hill & a connecting rod gave way & trashed the
block! No more 4-bangers 4 me!