A decades-old mystery has surfaced from the bottom of Sebago Lake in Maine, where an underwater explorer recently found a 1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 sitting about 55 feet below the surface with no license plates, its windows down, and only parts of an old tent in the trunk.
In a CBS 13 News report, Brad Rogers said officials are now trying to figure out who owned the sports car, how long it had been underwater, and how it ended up in the middle of the channel between Frye Island and the mainland.
The discovery has raised a few theories, but so far, investigators do not have a clear answer. What they do have is a partial vehicle identification number, help from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and a car that may have been sitting beneath boat traffic for as long as half a century.
“You never know what you’re going to find out there,” Jason Smith, the underwater explorer who discovered the car, told Rogers.
A Search For A Snowmobile Leads To A Camaro
Rogers reported that Smith spends time searching Maine’s lakes with an underwater drone, looking for whatever history might be resting below the surface.
Sometimes, Smith said, that means finding everyday items such as a watch or a cellphone. Other times, it means locating something much larger, including the occasional snowmobile.
Sebago Lake is one of Smith’s favorite places to explore, partly because of its size and depth. He described it as the deepest lake in Maine and the state’s second-largest lake, with clear water and “a ton of history” beneath it.
This winter, Smith found a snowmobile that had sunk 35 years ago in the channel between Frye Island and the mainland. When he returned about a week and a half before Rogers’ report to look for that snowmobile again, he noticed something else in the water.
“I just happened to see a shadow off in the distance and just started heading towards it,” Smith said. “And all of a sudden, I was looking at a car.”
The car was sitting in about 55 feet of water, right around the middle of the channel. That location is part of what makes the mystery so interesting, because it was not found near a shoreline, dock, or obvious dumping spot.
A 1974 Camaro Z28 With No Obvious Owner
According to Rogers, Cumberland County Sheriff’s detectives began working to identify the vehicle after it was discovered.
Detective Keith Cook said investigators found a partial VIN on the car and then worked with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to piece together the rest of the number.
“With their assistance, we were able to basically build a VIN number from the partial that I found,” Cook said.
The Bureau of Motor Vehicles is now searching its records to try to identify the car’s owner, which could be the key to finding out whether the Camaro sank in an accident, was abandoned, or ended up in the lake under some other set of circumstances.
Detective Kim Emery told Rogers it would be valuable to learn who owned the car so investigators could ask the most basic question: what happened?
“It would be really interesting to figure out who actually owned the car, so we can talk with them and get the whole story,” Emery said.
That may be easier said than done, especially if the car has been underwater for decades and the records are old, incomplete, or connected to someone who no longer lives in the area. Still, the partial VIN gives detectives at least a starting point, which is more than they had when the vehicle was first spotted as a shadow in the water.
The Ferry Theory Does Not Seem To Fit
Rogers said detectives have considered a few possibilities, including whether the Camaro could have fallen off the ferry that operates near Frye Island.
People connected to the ferry, however, told investigators they do not believe that is what happened. If a 1974 Camaro Z28 had fallen off the ferry, they said, there likely would have been a record of it, the car would probably have been recovered at the time, and people would still be talking about it.
That makes sense. A sports car falling from a ferry into one of Maine’s best-known lakes would not be the kind of thing that quietly disappears from local memory, especially if it happened in a channel people regularly cross.
Instead, investigators believe the more likely explanation is that the car went through the ice.
That theory would explain why it was found out in the middle of the channel, where someone may have driven during winter when the lake was frozen. If the ice gave way, the car could have dropped quickly, then remained hidden under the water for years.
Even that theory leaves plenty of unanswered questions. Why were there no license plates? Why were the windows down? Was anyone inside when it sank, or had the driver escaped? And why was there nothing in the trunk except old tent parts?
A Lake Holding Its Secrets For Decades
Cook told Rogers the case remains a mystery because investigators still do not know why the car entered the water.
“It’s definitely a mystery,” Cook said. “We don’t know why it made it into the water. We certainly would like to know that.”
The condition of the Camaro also shows how long it may have been submerged. Rogers reported that when a salvage crew pulled the car from the lake, the rust and the weight of decades on the lake floor caused the vehicle to crumble.
Smith said it is possible the car may have been underwater for nearly 50 years, which is remarkable to think about given how many boats and people have likely passed over that exact spot without knowing it was there.
“In theory, that could have been there for 50 years,” Smith said, adding that it was striking to consider all the boat traffic and back-and-forth travel over the channel while the car sat below.
That is part of what makes discoveries like this so compelling. Lakes can feel familiar to people who fish, boat, swim, or travel across them for years, but the bottom can hold a completely different record of local history.
A snowmobile lost decades ago. A forgotten object dropped from a dock. A 52-year-old sports car sitting silently under 55 feet of water.
What Happened To The Camaro?
Rogers’ report does not indicate that detectives found evidence of a person inside the car, and the trunk held only parts of an old tent.
That detail makes the story less immediately tragic than some submerged vehicle cases, but it also adds to the strangeness. A Camaro Z28 was not just any car; it was a performance model, the kind of vehicle someone likely remembered owning, driving, or seeing around town.
The missing license plates make the mystery harder to solve and raise the possibility that the car had been stripped of identifying markers before it entered the lake. At the same time, there may be a more ordinary explanation, especially if the car had been there long enough for parts to corrode, detach, or disappear.
The old tent pieces in the trunk also invite speculation without answering much. They could suggest a camping trip, a winter outing, or simply a forgotten item left in the car before it sank.
For now, detectives appear to be taking the practical path: identify the vehicle, find the owner if records allow, and then see whether anyone can explain how a 1974 Camaro ended up at the bottom of Sebago Lake.
A Mystery That May Still Have A Witness
Smith told Rogers he hopes officials can eventually find the answer, not only because the discovery is unusual, but because every object like this has a story behind it.
“I’m hoping we find out,” Smith said, “because it would be neat to kind of understand a little bit more about it.”
That hope is probably shared by anyone who hears the details. A sports car at the bottom of a lake is interesting enough on its own, but the missing plates, open windows, empty cabin, and strange trunk contents turn it into something closer to a local legend waiting for its final chapter.
Whether the answer is an ice accident, an old insurance mystery, a forgotten mishap, or something else entirely, the Camaro’s recovery has already brought a buried piece of Maine history back into view.
Now investigators just need the records, or perhaps someone’s memory, to explain how it got there.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
