Papa John's Beloved Camaro Stolen, Recovered

It was dumped in the driveway of an abandoned home
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 17, 2015 12:43 PM CDT
Papa John's Beloved Camaro Stolen, Recovered
A file photo of John Schnatter's 1971 Chevy Camaro. Schnatter is the Papa John's founder.   (Ross Dettman/AP Images for Papa John's, File)

Thieves stole a Chevy Camaro from a classic-car show in Detroit over the weekend, but the problem is that it happened to belong to a man named John Schnatter, aka Papa John of the national pizza chain. That led to a $10,000 reward to find the culprits and huge publicity, and sure enough, the 1971 car was spotted this morning in the driveway of an abandoned home, reports the Detroit Free Press. "I said, 'Man, that looks like that Papa John's car,'" says the guy who spotted it, who had arrived to mow a nearby lawn. (It's not clear yet whether he'll get the reward, because no arrests have been made.)

The AP provides a little background on why the car, which is used in the chain's promotions, means so much to Schnatter. It seems he sold it decades ago to help support his father's struggling tavern in Indiana. That tavern eventually became Papa John's, and Schnatter tracked down the car and bought it back again. (More weird crimes stories.)

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