During 1957, the Air Force was having one of their many surplus auctions. Up for bid were 26 P-51 Mustangs. The high bid was $750 by a scrapper, fortunately Mike Coutches stepped in with $10 more and bought the lot. With that he became known as "Mustang Mike" the man you went to if you needed a complete P-51 or just some parts. In the late 50s his asking price for a licensed ready to fly P-51 was $2950, needless to say there were few civilian buyers!
