Before John Schnatter founded Papa John’s pizza, he was a struggling businessman. Back in 1983 he was reduced to selling his black and gold 1971 Chevy Camaro Z28 for $2,800 to keep his dad’s bar afloat and to start Papa John’s.

Despite all the success and riches, Schnatter still wanted his rosebud back. So he put a $250,000 bounty on the headlights of the beloved Camaro. A Kentucky man came forward with the car, and Schattner made him rich, the AP reports:

“When I first saw it I still wanted to look it over to make sure it was the car even though I knew it,” Schnatter told The Associated Press. “That kind of hit me emotionally. I was kind of numb.”

The original buyers of Schnatter’s car heard about the search when he appeared in a TV interview before an NFL game this month. An online search led them to the car blog Jalopnik, which has followed the search and tipped off Papa John’s.

When my own multinational pizza chain, Phantastic Phil’s, comes into power, I’ll be paying big bucks to reassemble the He-Man action figure collection my mom so cruelly scattered at a yard sale while I was in college.

Papa John’s founder finds his beloved 1971 Camaro [USA Today via AP]
(Photo: phototaker)

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