HOT COMET
Matthew Smith wasn’t quite sure what he was after until a 1960 Mercury Comet appeared on a used car lot and made the decision for him.
“‘That’s the one,’” he recalled saying. “I looked at about six cars. I looked at a Porsche 944, an ’82 that needed a lot of work. And then I looked at a ’68 Pontiac Bonneville convertible, but the rockers were shot and the trunk was shot, so there was going to be a lot of bodywork to do on it. Then I looked at another. It was a ’70 Skylark, the sport model, the GS, and it was nice car. It was an orange body with a Creamsicle interior, so it was a nice-looking car, but it had, again, quarter panel damage.
“I was looking for something that would be fun. I have two boys who were little at the time and my wife and I wanted something
