A local man’s dream of owning a Chevy Camaro Z28 has come true and the Three Oaks Foundation is the proud recipient of $10,000.
Wilson’s Tune Up in Belleville custom built a code 44 bright green ’78 Camaro and raffled it off on Tuesday with $10,000 in ticket sales going to the foundation that assists women fleeing domestic violence.
“This is unbelievable,” Chuck Crews said in disbelief as he walked wide-eyed to his new ride. “This is a dream come true. Now I have to stop telling people I never win anything.”
Crews’ first call was to his brother Colin to celebrate the win and let him know he would now be cruising around town in his own Z28.
“For seven years we did those rotissaries on all his second gens,” Crews laughed. “He had three of them. One we drove back from northern Quebec on December 23 with no heat and wipers in a blizzard. I tried buying it from him. I said ‘I won Wilson’s Z28’ and he said ‘how much do you want for it?’ I said ‘the tables have turned.'”
Crews owns Crews Auto in Belleville and said the team at Wilson’s did a beautiful job restoring the car as he fired the 350 HP engine up.
Of all the guys that could win the car, Mike Gulliver, owner of Wilson’s Tune Up called it “fitting and cool.” Gulliver said his longtime friend and business associate will truly appreciate it.
“He will probably never get rid of this car,” Gulliver said. “Chuck appreciates the finer things. He appreciates the classics. I’m glad it’s going to a good home of somebody who is going to appreciate it.”
A huge Camero fan, Gulliver bought the retro classic car three years ago in Corbyville with plans of restoring it to its natural glory and giving back to the community. Gulliver and his team stripped the 4-Speed 3:73 Posi down to bare metal and put their personal touch on it.
“If you were to look at the car you wouldn’t think it was a 1978 Camaro,” he said. “You would think it’s a ’79. But it would just kind of make people think and I wanted something different because they are always white, black, red – the common colours. You never see this colour.”
He chose the Three Oaks because it’s a local non-profit foundation. He said 438 tickets were sold in the raffle with buyers as far as Saskatoon and Chilliwack B.C.
“I thought what better way than to help a young woman that is leaving with basically nothing and her children,” he expressed. “Why not help them get a start? I figured it would be a really good contribution.”
Amy Dufresne, Community Services Manager said Three Oaks is very thankful for the donation and it will help provide additional programming and support for families in need.
“All donations that come to the shelter are important,” she said. “They help provide additional programming and additional support to women and children but something of this magnitude – $10,000 is a lot of money.”
She said it may not sound like a lot but to them, it could mean six months’ worth of Hydro, a year’s worth of groceries or additional transportation to get women to the shelter.
She said it was exciting to watch through the process and neat for the team to take something that they all love and turn it into something that spreads community awareness.
“A huge thank you and congratulations to the gentleman who won,” she said. “Hopefully he enjoys the car and it’s been a pleasure to work with Wilson’s Tune Up.”
