Papa John's - $250,000 1971 Camaro
Update (Sept 3, 2009): File this under "No Cool, Wacky Deed Shall Go Unlitigated." John Schnatter, Papa John of Papa John's Pizza, put out a $250,000 A.P.B. to find his long lost 1971 1/2 Camaro Z28 . According to the folks at Papa John, the person who won the money was the one whose name was on the title of the car – that is, the owner of the car was paid the dosh for selling the car back to Schnatter. Kentuckian Jeff Robinson came forth with the car and took home the cash.
The Papa John's folks say the rules never said anything about finder's fees. But when the Sloanes of Indiana helped point Schnatter to Robinson, Schnatter offered them $25,000 for the assist. How did the Sloanes know about the car? They had owned it previously and sold it to Robinson.
Now the Sloanes aren't happy about "only" getting $25,000. Billie Sloane wants more of that quarter million, and will sue Papa John if he doesn't pony up the cake. Her evidence is "advertisements and a press release that promised the money to whomever could 'reveal the car's whereabouts.'" Jeff Robinson chimes in, though, and says Sloane came to him and said the original owner would buy the car from him for $125,000, and says that she didn't mention the contest nor the full amount of the reward.
No matter. Now it's between Sloane, Papa, and potentially the courts. If only Papa John had listened to the late M.J. about another famous Billie: "So take my strong advice, just remember to always think twice..." Um, yeah, never saw this one coming. Good luck, Papa John...
Update (Aug 25, 2009): John Schnatter, the Papa in Papa John's Pizza, has been looking for his 1971 1/2 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 for nearly 20 years. He sold it in 1983 for $2,800 and used part of that to rescue his father's business and the rest to begin the pizza chain that has gone global. He has spent more than 100 times that much trying to get it back.
Starting off with a FBI agent, then a web appeal and a $25,000 reward, he got nowhere. The reward swelled to $250,000, and then he got on television and talked about trying to get the car back. Some Indiana readers heard about it, and a web engine search led them to Schnatter's story on Jalopnik . Those readers, the Sloanes, thought they knew the owner of the car in question, because they had owned it and recently sold it.
The new owner -- only the third one, after Schnatter -- was a Kentucky man named Jeff Robinson of Flatwoods, Kentucky. He had transformed the original Z28 into an 825 horsepower dragster doing 9.55 quarter-miles at 141 mph. Still, he was unsurprisingly content to sell his car back to Schnatter for the $250,000 reward. The Sloanes also got $25,000 for the assist.
Original Story (May 29, 2009): In 1984, John Schnatter sold his 1972 Camaro to buy pizza making equipment, and opened up the very first Papa John's shortly thereafter. The business has done well and Papa John has become pretty wealthy, but something is missing. The hole in Papa John's life can only be filled by that very same Camaro that he hocked to buy pizza supplies.
So Papa John is setting out on a road trip/ publicity stunt to find the Camaro he sold back in 84 and try to buy it from its current owner. The trip will be in another 2nd generation Camaro that John has built to mimic the one he sold.
Normally I wouldn't report on such a blatant publicity stunt, but this story tugs at my heart strings. I too know what it feels like to love a vehicle irrationally. I want to see Papa John reunited with his car, so if you've got a '72 Camaro painted gold with black stripes, with a sunroof and split front bumper, head on over to www.papasroadtrip.com , it might be worth $25 grand.
