Lake Find: 1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Whenever something mysterious happens with an automobile, it’s often an unnerving situation that sometimes raises more questions than answers.  If the car is found in a body of water, the creepiness factor has the potential to intensify, and while there’s not necessarily any evidence to support that a crime occurred here, the circumstances regarding this 1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 resting at the bottom of a lake are inexplicable, at least as of yet.  Additional information can be found here on the WGME news site, whose studio is located in Portland, Maine, about an hour southeast of where this poor Chevy was found sunk in Sebago Lake.  Thanks, Richard M, for making us aware of this baffling situation!

Interestingly, this happens to be the deepest lake and one of the largest in Maine, with its lowest point around 300 feet below the surface.  The story goes that a man named Jason Smith, an underwater explorer whose hobby is using drones to scan bodies of water in search of whatever he can find, is responsible for this discovery.  A recent initial spotting of a snowmobile that had been underwater for some 35 years brought him back to this same location, an area near the center of the channel, and that’s when he noticed the Z car.

The Camaro was far enough out in the water that authorities have all but ruled out the possibility that it was accidentally driven into Sebago Lake, and a subsequent search of records found no report that it ever fell off a ferry that frequently transported vehicles across the water.  One theory is that someone may have been driving on the lake when it was iced over in winter, and that it could have broken through a thin spot in the frozen area and sunk to the bottom.  The strangest thing is that no one seems to have any positive leads on what happened here or when the event may have occurred, with some believing it could have been as long as half a century ago.

Sadly, when the rescue crew arrived, the Z28 had been submerged for so long that it didn’t surface intact, and much of the car crumbled before it reached the top.  However, a detective was able to retrieve part of a VIN, which was apparently enough for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to reconstruct what they believe may be the actual Vehicle Identification Number.  With all the decades that have passed, there’s always the chance that the original owner is deceased, and that most other recollections about this Z28 have been lost to time.  Do you have any theories to share about what might have happened here?