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John Shatner, founder of Papa John's Pizza, paid a quarter of a million dollars to get the camaro back that he sold in 1983 to get seed money to found his company. He offered a reward from anyone who could find it for him. Turns out it was only a couple hundred miles away. The people that bought it from him heard about it, went on a search and found the guy that bought it from them, who actually still owned it. So, Shatner probably could have found it himself pretty easily without spending that much, but bully for the owners. The guy who ended up with it got the $250K and said he'd give $25K to the original buyers for helping him out to get the prize.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090826/ap_ ... john_s_car

I tried to post the image, but it says it can't determine the dimensions. Oh well.

Did he say up front he would pay that much, or did the owner sieze the moment and come up with price himself? If he came up with the price, he's a jackass. If PJ came up with it, then he's a moron. Just because you CAN afford something doesn't make you smart for actually doing so.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:Did he say up front he would pay that much, or did the owner sieze the moment and come up with price himself? If he came up with the price, he's a jackass. If PJ came up with it, then he's a moron. Just because you CAN afford something doesn't make you smart for actually doing so.

Harsh. Why is someone a moron for seeking out something that is, to him, of real significance?

Miles wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:Did he say up front he would pay that much, or did the owner sieze the moment and come up with price himself? If he came up with the price, he's a jackass. If PJ came up with it, then he's a moron. Just because you CAN afford something doesn't make you smart for actually doing so.

Harsh. Why is someone a moron for seeking out something that is, to him, of real significance?

I was thinking up all sorts of "better" words, but couldn't come up with any. He has the means to do it, and the right, I just question the intelligence of spending such an outrageous amount.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

Miles wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:Did he say up front he would pay that much, or did the owner sieze the moment and come up with price himself? If he came up with the price, he's a jackass. If PJ came up with it, then he's a moron. Just because you CAN afford something doesn't make you smart for actually doing so.

Harsh. Why is someone a moron for seeking out something that is, to him, of real significance?

I was thinking up all sorts of "better" words, but couldn't come up with any. He has the means to do it, and the right, I just question the intelligence of spending such an outrageous amount.

It's outrageous to you and I, but it's a drop in the bucket for him.

Besides, it's good for the economy. :-D

How cool is that for the guy who last owned that car? Papa John has shared the wealth with him. I think that is incredibly generous.

My freshman year BF went on a wild search for his high school car, a Datsun 280ZX. In the early 2000s, his wife had suffered from a condition that caused blindness, deafness and dementia. She couldn't remember much of anything, but she could remember their first date in that 280ZX. Old BF searched all over the place and finally found the same model and color in Chicago. He had the car shipped to California, and when he picked up his wife from the care facility in which she was living for their "dates," he did so in the car she could remember from their high school days. I thought this was incredibly thoughtful and romantic.

Oops! Am I cross posting? I think this post belongs in the "romantic" thread.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

Miles wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:Did he say up front he would pay that much, or did the owner sieze the moment and come up with price himself? If he came up with the price, he's a jackass. If PJ came up with it, then he's a moron. Just because you CAN afford something doesn't make you smart for actually doing so.

Harsh. Why is someone a moron for seeking out something that is, to him, of real significance?

I was thinking up all sorts of "better" words, but couldn't come up with any. He has the means to do it, and the right, I just question the intelligence of spending such an outrageous amount.

Oh, I think he's brilliant--look at how much free advertising he's getting out of it.

CathyCA wrote:How cool is that for the guy who last owned that car? Papa John has shared the wealth with him. I think that is incredibly generous.

My freshman year BF went on a wild search for his high school car, a Datsun 280ZX. In the early 2000s, his wife had suffered from a condition that caused blindness, deafness and dementia. She couldn't remember much of anything, but she could remember their first date in that 280ZX. Old BF searched all over the place and finally found the same model and color in Chicago. He had the car shipped to California, and when he picked up his wife from the care facility in which she was living for their "dates," he did so in the car she could remember from their high school days. I thought this was incredibly thoughtful and romantic.

Oops! Am I cross posting? I think this post belongs in the "romantic" thread.

Awww, that's so sweet.

He appeared in the booth on an NFL game late last season saying that he was really interested in finding his old car. He offered a $250K reward to the person who found it and brought it to him a few months ago, and appeared on another NFL game, this one a preseason game, in the booth last week to talk about it, re-iterating the reward, but it had to be THE car he owned, not another one from the same year and the same color and everything. He said he was always sad that he'd had to part with it, but it had helped build his fortune, so he wanted it back, kind of like some rich men are obsessed with the first dollar they earned, or their first paycheck, or whatever (see such economic visionaries as Scrooge McDuck, Eugene Crabs, C. Montgomery Burns, etc. ;) ). Anyway, he HAS gotten a LOT of free publicity over it, so that's probably something. How much is a couple minutes in the booth, including face time, on a major network worth? They even held up a Papa John's Pizza, and Joe Theisman spouted on about how much he was going to enjoy eating it.

bjornolf wrote:He appeared in the booth on an NFL game late last season saying that he was really interested in finding his old car. He offered a $250K reward to the person who found it and brought it to him a few months ago, and appeared on another NFL game, this one a preseason game, in the booth last week to talk about it, re-iterating the reward, but it had to be THE car he owned, not another one from the same year and the same color and everything. He said he was always sad that he'd had to part with it, but it had helped build his fortune, so he wanted it back, kind of like some rich men are obsessed with the first dollar they earned, or their first paycheck, or whatever (see such economic visionaries as Scrooge McDuck, Eugene Crabs, C. Montgomery Burns, etc. ;) ). Anyway, he HAS gotten a LOT of free publicity over it, so that's probably something. How much is a couple minutes in the booth, including face time, on a major network worth? They even held up a Papa John's Pizza, and Joe Theisman spouted on about how much he was going to enjoy eating it.

That's a different scenario than just finding your old car and offering 250K for it, and it means the guy who had it didn't say "yeah I got it, it's your for 250K". Sounds like he got his advertising money's worth.

I'll give someone my car for $250K.

YmoBeThere wrote:I'll give someone my car for $250K.

I would, too! Give someone your car if they gave me $250K

DukieInKansas wrote:

YmoBeThere wrote:I'll give someone my car for $250K.

I would, too! Give someone your car if they gave me $250K

Grand Theft - Auto!

And yes, that is way too much for a '71 Camaro. Even if it were a low mile Z/28 Rally Sport you wouldn't pay more than 50K.

YmoBeThere wrote:And yes, that is way too much for a '71 Camaro. Even if it were a low mile Z/28 Rally Sport you wouldn't pay more than 50K.

Except this is a one of a kind!

The funny thing is, he said he KNEW it was his the second he saw it and touched it, even though it had been outfitted with bigger drag racing tires and a bigger, more powerful engine.

bjornolf wrote:The funny thing is, he said he KNEW it was his the second he saw it and touched it, even though it had been outfitted with bigger drag racing tires and a bigger, more powerful engine.

If that is the case, I've got a bridge he passed over from his childhood. How much should I ask for?

If I still had the bomb of a car that my old 6 bangin' 81 Camaro was, I give it to him for the charge of haulin' it away.
...wait...he does have lots of money...hmmm