MARK Winterbottom has revealed how he caught a salesman off-guard during an attempt to buy his championship-winning Supercar.
‘Frosty’ won the 2015 title aboard a Ford Performance Racing-built FG X Falcon.
V8 Sleuth revealed in May that the car, known as FPR 1217, had been sold to Ford Supercar collector Adam Walton.
Winterbottom was among others to have a crack at buying the restored Pepsi Max-liveried beast, leading to a comical exchange.
“I tried to buy my championship car but they wanted a bit more than what I wanted to pay for it,” the 42-year-old said on this week’s V8 Sleuth Podcast polished by Bowden’s Own.
“It was actually funny because I bid on it at Lloyd’s.
“I had a crack and the guy rang me telling me the history of the car and the driver and I let him go.
“So my name was anonymous or whatever it was, and he rang me and was like ‘we’re not at reserve but this is the car and it did this and it did that’.
“I was like, ‘well you’re actually wrong’… he was like ‘who am I chatting to?’ I said ‘it’s Mark Winterbottom’. He said ‘oh I’m really sorry mate, I’m on a sales pitch here’.”
Winterbottom listed it as one of three cars he’s sought to own, but FPR 1217 is probably top of the list.
“It’s pretty cool to see it go back to that, so that’s probably one I wouldn’t mind owning,” he said.
“But to be honest when you have three kids and a wife, I’m all about mini-vans, I’m a soccer dad. So my dreams of owning a sports car were gone somewhere back there.”
He further added: “It’s a very special car. There’s only one (championship winner) available each year and obviously with Tickford, it’s the only one that they’ve had so it’s a very special car.
“It would have been cool but the thing about race cars is when you own them, I’m not smart enough to run it, so I’d need eight mates to come around (and look after it).”
