Ha, Pete Pudlin's car! I was in that car by chance one night out in a random garage somewhere off the L.I.E. in like 1997.

I was looking for an early B at the time and answered an ad in the old Bargain News paper for a '63 Dodge 'race car'. Though it wasn't his car, the contact was Pete.

So we make arrangements for me to go look at the '63 one night. I show up to the garage which is this big highway service place, Pete is waiting there in his truck. We drive around to a side entrance and walk through the building into a back part. There's no one there and the place is mostly empty. I didn't know this guy from Adam, my guard is up.

We make it to the '63 which is sitting there in the middle of this big room. It's pretty clapped out. There's a bunch of parts inside it. I give it a cursory once over but lost interest in it right there.

So I'm about done looking the '63 over when I turn around and out of the corner of my eye I spot another car farther back. I ask 'ol Pete about it and we go over to it. There it is, the black car. My jaw about hit the floor! At that point I had forgotten all about the '63 and was basically levitating towards the Coronet.

I'm all tripped out and start asking questions, Pete is polite enough and we talk about it for a bit. It's all original except for the driveline which had been through many iterations. After a few minutes of questioning I could tell Pete was starting to get a little impatient but then he asked if I wanted to sit it the car. Uhh, yeah!

So I'm basically in another world sitting there in the driver's seat and he says "80 grand and it's yours." I look at him with what probably was the dumbest look he ever received and then he goes "just ask your daddy for it." Sure, man, I'll call him when I get home. Large bills OK?

That guy was a character and that car has a lot of stories.

This was 1997 so looking back, that price would be a bargain now for an original A990 car. Saw the car a few years ago at Carlisle in one of the display buildings basically unchanged.