32 MOPAR COLLECTOR’S GUIDE type restoration. Frank used Legendary front seat covers, but the back seat is original, and for that mat- ter, the black paint on the Shaker bub- ble, louvers, and wing is all still the orig- inal 1971-applied Organosol black! Dave Patik supplied the picture-perfect billboards along each flank, and the paint was laid on over at Stuart Jackson’s place. And if you’re curious about the black steel wheels, yes, those are correct. Around February of 1971, Chrysler decided to paint all 15” dog dish wheels black as a cost-saving measure, regardless of the car color. Which brings us to the car itself. If you know Frank Badalson, you know he’s one of the most knowledge- able people on this planet when it comes to Hemicudas. So, he immedi- ately started running back the history on this unusual car, and that led him all the way out to Nevada. The original owner was an elderly gentleman who ordered the car brand-new in Utah, but passed away not long after acquiring it. The second owners were a husband- and-wife duo in Utah, who bought it off the gent shortly before he died, some- time in 1972 or 1973. They kept the car garaged at their Utah home almost all its life, using it as an occasional hot rod cruiser with a set of mags on it, but oth- erwise in completely stock condition. As such, the ‘Cuda only rolled up just over 30,000 miles before being retired from road use in the early eighties, when it was stashed away in their garage – which explains why this one’s completely rust-free. In the early 2000s, collector/trader Pat Goff ended up buying the long dormant ‘Cuda, and he, in turn, sold it to David Nicholl, which is where this whole thing started. So, despite how cool this one is, it never saw much road use. The restoration was kept under tight security because Bob Ashton at MCACN wanted to have the car’s unveiling happen at the MCACN show in 2017, so Frank treated this one like it was top secret. Even Rich and his fam- ily weren’t sent complete overall photos of the car as the restoration neared its finish! The Tuesday before MCACN, Rich arrived in Virginia to pick the ‘Cuda up and bring it to Chicago, and that was the first time he or Nancy had seen it fully assembled and looking like you see it here – needless to say, Rich was aghast and Nancy was all smiles – she knew this one was a diamond in the rough all along. The ‘Cuda was revealed at MCACN to very high acclaim, and it was judged by some of the toughest guys in the muscle car hobby, including Dave Wise, who, we’re told, spent quite a bit of time examining the car inside and out, top and bottom, and finally came over to Rich and asked, “Who did this?” When Rich said “Frank Badalson,” he said Dave smiled and said, “Oh… that explains it.” In a nutshell, the car scored 996 points out