Clark County man, after search of more than 2 decades, reunites with beloved classic car

NEW CARLISLE — Call it a classic case of seller’s remorse. Vern Cook knew he shouldn’t have sold his 1989 cherry red Pontiac Firebird Formula muscle car in 1994.

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How did he know his decision was a bad one?

“I stood at the end of the driveway and cried when it left. I knew I was making a mistake,” he told News Center 7 on Wednesday.

This is the story of one man’s quest to find that car, to turn tears to tidings of joy.

He found the car - the car he bought brand new in 1989 and sold it in 1994 -- damaged and in a barn in the 26th year of his quest.

“I went pretty crazy,” the Clark County man said. “My wife thought I was nuts.”

Cook tracked down the man he initially sold the car to. That man said he sold it a woman and told Cook where the woman lived.

“So I went to Google Earth, which is which is crazy, and I was searching that town the satellite view, looking for a red car with T-tops and I found a car in a cluster of cars, kind of beside a garage.”

His discovery led to a body shop and a worker who knew about the car. Cook, using a Carfax report, located the town in which the car was last registered and drove there, where locals pointed him in the direction of a mechanic.

“I told him the story of the car and a kid working for him came out and said he saw what he thought was a red Firebird in a barn. . . and he gave me directions to the barn.

“I went there. The doors were open, so I peeked in . . . and it was my car,” Cook said.

He brought the Firebird home exactly 31 years from the day he special-ordered it.

Nowadays, the Firebird is with eight other classics in the place Cook calls his “garage mahal 3.0.” There, he puts on car shows to raise money for area charities and to honor special people in his life.

“This was my miracle of finding this car,” Cook said. “It’s a complete waste of time for me to buy a lottery ticket, because that’s my lottery.”

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