The concern Michael Jaros had five years ago about what car he would drive to the St. Marys High School prom was solved when he found a 1986 Trans Am owned by his aunt, Robin Copeland, right. The car had been sitting in his grandfather’s barn for 25 years.
Jim Krumel | For The Lima News
ST. MARYS – Michael Jaros didn’t know it at the time, but his quest five years ago to find a suitable car to drive to the St. Marys High School prom turned into quite a family story.
Call it the tale of Aunt Robin’s 1986 Trans Am, a car that once proudly cruised the streets of Delphos and the back roads of Auglaize County, but disappeared long ago.
Jaros came across the vehicle in the barn of his grandfather, Robert Storer.
“It was just parked in there, a cool-looking red Trans Am,” Jaros recalled. “I thought, ‘Hey, here’s my ride to the prom.’”
There were a few issues to work out, however.
No. 1: The car didn’t always start.
No. 2: And, even if Jaros could get it started, he didn’t know how to drive a stick shift.
No. 3: There was also the matter of finding out who owned the car.
The answer to the last question was found on a bill of sale tucked away in the car’s glove box. The Trans Am was owned by his aunt, Robin Copeland. She was 20 years old in 1986 when she drove it off the lot of Lima Pontiac Cadillac. It had just 12 miles on the odometer.
“Back then I could have bought a car or a house. The car won out,” Copeland said. “It sold for just over $17,000. I had a $251 monthly payment.”
The Trans Am came with T-tops, but no air-conditioning.
She and her husband, Robert, let their hair blow in the wind when they traveled to Florida on their honeymoon in 1987.
“I thought, ‘Who needs air-conditioning when you have T-tops?’ I still feel that way,” Copeland said. “You had to pay extra for air when I ordered the Trans Am.”
She parked the car in the barn in 1998 when it started having engine problems. Every so often, her husband or Storer would try to start it, but basically, the car never moved.
“My husband didn’t want to fiddle with it. He had an old muscle car, a 1967 Chevelle SS, that kept him busy enough,” Copeland said. “The car was out of sight, out of mind, until Michael saw it.”
Jaros and a group of buddies put a new fuel pump on the Trans Am, replaced the spark plugs, and added new tires to get the vehicle running. Some wax and buffing had it shining like the days of old.
It had been 25 years since the Trans Am’s 350 V8 engine was humming down the road.
“The thought that someone was going to love that car as much as I did couldn’t have made me happier,” Copeland said.
That left only one thing between Jaros, the car, and the prom – he had to learn how to drive a stick.
Aunt Robin came to the rescue on that, too. She could sympathize with Michael because she had to learn how to drive a stick during a trip to Boston with a lady with whom she baby-sat.
Michael said, “Aunt Robin used her husband’s Ford Ranger pickup to teach me how to use the clutch. We didn’t want to take any chance of tearing up the Trans Am.”
After three weekends of driving lessons, he mastered the five-speed manual transmission.
It was pedal to the metal and full speed ahead to the prom.
Today, the 23-year-old Jaros is a chemical engineer at Nutrien in the Lima chemical complex. The Trans Am has just over 43,000 miles on it and he keeps it in a three-car garage.
“It only gets driven on nice days. No salt or snow will touch it,” Jaros said.
That makes Robin Copeland smile. She’s only driven the Trans Am once since Michael rescued it from the barn.
“I drove it around the block,” she said. “I like seeing Mikey driving it now. I know the keys are in good hands.”
GET YOUR CAR FEATURED
The Lima News publishes photographs of vintage cars, 20 years or older, free of charge in Real Wheels. It is easy to get your car featured:
• Mail: Real Wheels, Newsroom, The Lima News, 3515 Elida Road, Lima, OH 45807.
• Email: [email protected]
• Include: Photograph of your car; year of car, make and model; how many years you have owned the vehicle; car’s history; best memory of car; your name, address and telephone number (the phone number will not be published).
If you have further questions, contact The Lima News newsroom at 419-222-6397 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays.
ONLY ON LIMAOHIO.COM
Check out cars we’ve featured and discuss your memories on the Real Wheels page at LimaOhio.com/tag/realwheels.
