BELOW PHOTO TAKEN IN 1979

LAKE TAHOE

OK, here is my favorite car, yes more favorite than my 70 vert or any other car here. The above/below photos were taken in 1979 or there about. I bought this car in 1979 in Sacramento. Took it to Lake Tahoe. It was my first Mopar. I drove this car and dated a girl named Linda for two and a half year. We broke up in 1981 and went our separate ways. I sold the CUDA in 1981 in favor of a 4x4 in the snow.

Linda and I never saw each other again for ten years. I ran into her again ten years later, right before her reunion in 1991. We started dating and on our first date, saw this car( our car) sitting behind a fence in the lot. I had not seen the car since 1981 when I sold it. It was fate.

I called the owner (a real jerk) who told me to go "F"-ing away and that my girlfriend already tried to buy it for me and he told her no. I thought it was great that Linda tried to buy the car for me as broke as she was and knew she was special.

We were hooked and back into the Mopar hobby and I bought a 70 sublime car that was too much work. Finally I found what I wanted the 70 Vert and life went on.

In 1998, while working as a Detective for the Sheriff's office, I was called by the front desk secretary. She said there was a guy at the counter to see me. I went to the counter and spoke with the man who said, "I HEARD YOU BUY CUDAS". I told him yes and asked what he had. He said 'I have a 72 Cuda with a 383 in it, I was told it was a 70 Cuda with a 440 when I bought it and I don't want a 72". I told him I had to finish work but told him that I would call him, then asked him if he had a title for it. He said, "yes, right here" and pulled it from his wallet. He handed me the title, which had the license plate on it of 729GDC, California. I immediately knew the car as the plate was my old license plate. The title was in the name of the guy I sold it to in 1981. I took the rest of the day off and had a buddy with a car hauler meet me. I went to where the car was saw it for the first time since 1991 when I saw it in the back lot of the jerks shop.

It had a different front clip on it that was green as it had obviously been in an accident, not bad but changed.  It needed quarters but was all there. I paid the guy, ($300.00) for the car and took it home. When I drove up the driveway with he trailer, my now wife came outside, saw the car and cried. She loves the car and it hold a lot of special memories.

Now the bad part---I bought a parts car and took my car and the parts car to a body shop. The guy destroyed my quarters and the parts car by cutting them both wrong. Now I need to wait for the new full GOODMARK quarters or find another parts car   (yea right), before I can get it back to original.

The good part is that due to the fact that this fool did this to my car, I built two shops over the years and now have a total of 3300 sq ft or so of hotrod shop and am learning to do my own paint and body work. So there is a good part to the story.

Mopar Collectors published my little story in OCT 1998 of their magazine called "LOST AND FOUND CUDA" and asked that I let them know when it was finished for a feature.

So it sits now and I am working on maybe 7 cars, but if those quarters become available, they all go on hold for this one. Hope you enjoyed the story and the pics of my my car. It will be the nicest car I have when finished. NO HEMI Cuda, but its "OUR CAR" and brought us back together.

Dave and Linda Brown.

1979 PHOTOS

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2006 PHOTOS