There are many adults out there, carelessly describing their parents’ sacrifices for them as things a parent is supposed to do and something that their kids shouldn’t be bound by. But when Texas father, Earl Guynes of Mesquite, sold his most priceless acquisition – his ‘67 Chevrolet Camaro – for his young son, he didn’t know that his boy would never forget what his father gave up for him.
In a chat with Good Morning America, Texas’ Jared Guynes shared that growing up, he heard stories of how his father had many “cool cars.” But in the early 1980s, in Mesquite, Texas, his father, Earl Guynes, decided to make a painful but selfless decision – to sell his most prized possession, his Marina Blue 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, a car he loved dearly. It wasn’t just a car for him; it was his pride, his escape, and a symbol of his youth. But the priorities in his life shifted when he got married and his wife gave birth to their son, Jared. Money was tight, so Earl sold his Camaro, lightheartedly joking for years that he had let it go “for diaper money.”
But for his son, it was never a joke since, even as a child, the way his father remembered his car made it clear that it meant a lot more to him. For Jared, it was the ultimate sign of how much his father loved and cared for him.
Decades passed. Jared grew up, built a life and career of his own, but he never let go of his dream of either finding the exact car or restoring one from scratch for his father. Though he had all the determination to make it happen, it was a costly undertaking. But 2021 became his best business year, and he started searching for a 1967 Camaro, just like the one his dad had owned all those years ago.
“Now a normal person, an average person, a responsible person, if they come into more money than they anticipated, they should save it. They should invest it, they should pay down debt. But for me, that was always something that I had decided a long time ago that if the circumstances ever presented themselves, that I would do it, and I never forgot that.”
In the next three years, the car got a complete makeover as Jared worked to restore it to perfection, but kept his work a secret until his father’s 65th birthday. Now, it was a difficult task, since he couldn’t take help from the expert, i.e., his father. On the day of his father’s birthday, Jared organized a dinner for his father and even hired a magician who cooked an elaborate trick wherein Earl picked the numbers “6” and “7” and spelled “Camaro.”
The last part of the trick? The gleaming ‘67 Camaro sitting in the parking lot. At first, his father thought it was part of the magic trick until Jared handed him the keys, smiled, and said, “Thanks for the diaper money, Dad.”
“He wrapped his arms around me, and he couldn’t believe it, and he cried,” Jared added. “He broke down and cried and he told me he loved me, and that was probably one of the best days of my life.”
As for Earl, it was the “greatest magic trick I ever saw in my life.”
“I had no idea what was coming. I mean, it just appeared. It was the greatest surprise I’ve ever seen.”
For Earl, his biggest asset was his son, and selling his car for him probably didn’t even register as a sacrifice to him when it was for the sake of Jared. But his son never forgot or neglected what his father did for him. He grew up grateful for his father’s never-ending love, aware that he had once given up something he loved for his child’s future, so he found a way to give it back.
