MIAMI – Bernardo Zarco, 87, received an incredibly touching gift from his grandson: a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.
The classic car is every collector's dream, but for Zarco, it's a little more special.
"After 61 years in this country, I have the car that I left in the airport with the keys on the door, so whoever was going to take it would enjoy it as I did as I was driving through Malecon in Havana, Cuba," Zarco said.
Zarco left the communist island parting ways with family, friends and a life he worked hard to achieve.
Decades later, the memories of that life still tug at the heart.
"I used to drive through Malecon," Zarco said. "I used to park in front of the Parque Central, and when I used to go to the University of Havana, I used to leave this car parked with the doors open and music."
That nostalgia served as determination for Zarco's grandson, who spent two years trying to find the same car his grandfather left behind -- the car he reflected fondly on in his later years in life.
"This was a stamp in his history," David Zarco said. "This marked something in his life that we couldn't replace and, of course, we can't turn back the clock, so that's what led me to say, 'What can we do to make him feel like life has come full circle again?'"
"My whole life I could never believe this would happen to me, only with my two sons," Bernardo Zarco said. "They gave me this surprise, and I'm still crying and crying. I got the same car I left in the airport. It's unbelievable."