THUNDER BAY – When Chris Jones saved a 1978 Camaro Z28 from the scrapyard, he had no idea it would lead to reuniting the car with its former owner.
“I had to save it,” said Jones, a car enthusiast.
When cleaning out the car, Jones came across some old photos dated 1989 and a roadmap from 1990.
Jones posted a picture of the photos on the Thunder Bay Memories Facebook group, knowing it has thousands of members, and hoped someone would know the woman in the photos.
Within an hour Kerry Thom commented saying it was her in the photos.
Her daughter-in-law had sent her the social media post and Thom couldn’t figure out who could have had her photos, and knew she hadn’t shared those photos.
Jones mentioned he had recently bought a car and Thom asked which car.
“Then he mentioned the Z28 and I damn near died,” said Thom.
“The story of the Z28 started for me in 1988,” she said.
That’s when she met her ex-husband Dan, the father of her children.
“I fell in love with him. He was the guy with the mullet and the curly hair and the flowered hat with his cool car,” said Thom, adding she met Dan at her sister’s house and was in need of a ride when he offered to drive her.
“So I’m in this cool car and before I know it, we’re dating and we’re cruising; life is good,” she said. “We’re young. We’re teenagers and boom, we’re going to have a baby.”
Her daughter Shureeh was conceived in the car and Thom said it was the greatest gift.
The couple later had a son and eventually split up, but remained friends for their children and grandchildren.
Over the years, jokes were made about how her daughter was conceived in the car, but Shureeh never saw the car. They sold it to buy something that had room for a car seat.
Now Jones is selling the car to Shureeh, which Thom said brings the story full circle.
“This Z28 really means a lot,” said Thom. “It's not in good shape. It needs a lot of work, but it's a beautiful story.”
“It's almost like (Shureeh) knew that this car belonged to her. She was made in the damn thing. Let's put her back in it,” added Thom.
For Jones, it was exciting to see the way Thom reacted to seeing the Camaro and the photos again.
“Just seeing how happy she was was the best part,” he said. “That was good enough for me and then the car . . . that’ll be exciting to see it back on the road.”
- With files from Jonathan Wilson, TBT News
