Car 498 isn't a car

Car 498 isn't a car but an SUV, the one I had previously without expecting it. That night, he sat parked along the curb at the end of our 9th Avenue block as Rick and I stood waiting for our respective cars. Every time I glanced north up the avenue to look into the approaching traffic on what was a busy Saturday night/Sunday morning, the SUV on the corner would flash its lights. Finally, he drove up and stopped in the crowded, yet slow-moving right lane and held his placard up in the window. I got in and said, "I wasn't expecting an SUV. All the others have been Town Cars." "Yeah, some of us have nice cars," he said.

He plays good music. On this night, he had a 70s station on XM Radio playing Skynrd and other classic rock.

I'd have him again the next night, but no music. He still had his fresh cup of coffee, though, clearly from a stop on the way to get me. (I saw the fullness of the cup backlit at a traffic light as we made our way up 10th Avenue.) But the music was off, a disappointment. That might've been because the screen in the dash was in DVD mode -- though with a message saying playback was turned off while the vehicle was in Drive.