Sunday Morning Mopars

[FASTBACK340]

The Long Island Mopars club got together this morning and had a cruise out to Town & Country Chrysler in Levittown. Amy & myself indulged in a mid-day cruise & show. With everything we're doing in the house, it almost felt good to burn the day and enjoy ourselves instead of hammering or sawing. And not to mention we got a chance to break-out the Barracuda for a blast.

Here's a few note worthy cars in attendance.

1971 Hemi Cuda 4-spd. convertible. Real-deal, no B.S.

Aside from being a Superbird, this rare one is Petty Blue, 440-6Bbl. 4 speed w/ Dana

Go ahead.... drool.

How about an automatic burnt-orange `70 Hemi Challenger?

Here's my friend Mike's 440-4Bbl. automatic Superbird

And I'll throw in a shot of my car with the new Centerlines and Mickey Thompson E-T's

Kinda gives it the Super Stock look.

The ride home was more relaxing than 2 glasses of scotch. It felt nice......

[High octane]

Nice bunch of Mopars and yeah it's always good to get away from work especially when you're cruisin' in your ride.

[Dr. Cranky]

Some great cars. Thanks for sharing the eye candy!

[crazyjim]

Cool. Thanks for sharing. I like your car.

[Jon Cole]

John... nice Cuda, keeping good company!

[FASTBACK340]

John... nice Cuda, keeping good company!

Being surrounded by so many six-figure rarities is a humbling experience, but I built the best I could afford to without loosing my Wife, house, or job. Some guys go to extremes in pursuit of their toys. As much as I would have loved to drop in a Hemi and made it a S/S clone, I just couldn't afford the extra $12-15K + to get there.

But a Hemi `Cuda rag top stick.... oooooooh! That's one to ponder.....

Thanks for the compliments!

[1320wayne]

First let me say, nice collection of Mopars to be cruising with. Your Cuda is no slouch either.

But, I've got to ask. Did everyone keep plenty of distance from the person with the 71 Hemi 4 spd Cuda? Because if that is truly a numbers matching car and not a clone then you're talking about a 1 in 3 existance vehicle that is fetching over $2mil. at auction and most experts doubt that anyone that might own one would never dare to drive it based on it's potential value. If this is the case then hats off to this person for bucking the opinions of the experts and actually driving their very rare piece.

Nice Superbirds as well. And you gotta love any Mopar running body color steelies. They just make them look mean. Thanks for sharing.

[Casey]

I thought I recognized your car from seeing it over at moparts.com a few times. Looks like it was a great day for a show and cruise there.

[TurboKitty]

Those are all some very nice cars. I really hate to say it, but that '71 Hemi Cuda is a clone. There was only 1 In Violet/Plum Crazy 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertible built, and it has a black interior/top. It is also 1 of 2 Canadian Export cars. The other Canadian Export car is a Tor Red (Hemi Orange) ’71 Hemi Cuda Automatic with orange interior, white billboards and white top.

This is the real 1 of 1 In Violet '71 Hemi Cuda 4spd Convertible, notice it has a black interior & top, body color steelies, billboard delete and a body color grille (instead of Argent Silver). It has been documented and confirmed by Galen Govier.

Besides that there were also 2 French Exports, 1 Winchester Grey 4spd an 1 Sno White Automatic (you can see the Hemi 4spd In Violet Canadian Export behind the White car here:

Here is a Production Breakdown:

Export Cars (Both cars went to France):

1) GA4 Winchester Grey (4-speed)

2) GW3 Sno-White (Automatic)

Canadian Cars:

3) EV2 Tor-Red (Orange) (Automatic)

4) FC7 In Violet (Purple) (4-speed)

US Cars:

5) GB5 True Blue (4-speed)

6) GB5 True Blue (4-speed)

7) GW3 Sno-White (Automatic)

8) EL5 Bahama Yellow (Butterscotch) (Automatic)

9) FE5 Rallye Red (Automatic)

10) FY1 Lemon Twist (Automatic)

11) FE5 Rallye Red (Automatic)

Here are models that are painted to represent all 11 '71 Cuda Convertibles built (the Green one in the upper left is a clone that fooled many people, disregard that one):

The only known In Violet 4spd Hemi Cuda w/ white top, interior, and billboards ever made is a hardtop and it's part of the Ogle Collection. No convertibles were built that way. Here it is:

I'm not trying to be rude or anything but I really hope your friend w/ the '71 Cuda didn't get screwed by whoever sold the car as the real deal.

Edited August 22, 2011 by TurboKitty

[FASTBACK340]

Wow...great production break-down! I was told (by several misinformed people, NOT the owner...) that it was legit. I've seen so many rare cars pop up at cruise nights that I never question it. I'm also not that versed on how many & what combinations were made. Thank you for delivering the facts.

[FASTBACK340]

I thought I recognized your car from seeing it over at moparts.com a few times. Looks like it was a great day for a show and cruise there.

Yeah, I post there from time to time. In the same vein as my previous post, I've been shying away from the Mopar-specific sites. I have a hard enough time posting here....

Edited August 22, 2011 by FASTBACK340

[TurboKitty]

again I apologize if it comes across as rude, I've always wanted to know as much as I can about Mopar Muscle cars so I got a little caught up trying to include the most info I could. Gotta love them all, real or not though

[FASTBACK340]

again I apologize if it comes across as rude,......

I used to moderate on a Mopar web site. My skin is at LEAST 6" thick!

I never get annoyed when someone teaches or explains something, especially when I'm wrong. No offense taken at all. Like I mentioned, I've seen so many Guys (...and Gals) with more money than common sense so I never gave it a second thought! When my Wife & I walked past it I told her not to breath on it, let alone touch.

Real or not, it sure as Hell trumped my small block A body though....

[scale trucker]

nice info but you missed 1 it is a tripple black auto car..i see it about 1 time a year..the guy that owns it bought it new and had restored by legendary about 3 years ago for 350 thousand..

[TurboKitty]

nice info but you missed 1 it is a tripple black auto car..i see it about 1 time a year..the guy that owns it bought it new and had restored by legendary about 3 years ago for 350 thousand..

are you sure that car isn't a 1970? Or a non Hemi '71 Convertible? There were 9 1970 Hemi Cuda Convertibles with the Automatic (along with 5 4spds for US Production, 3 Canadian Exports and 1 other Export, total of 18 produced). All 11 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertibles are accounted for and there are no black cars. I do know of one 1970 Hemi Auto Convt though (there might be more than one). It was previously a Super Stock drag car owned by Steve Bagwell and for some reason he had put 1971 Sheet metal on it back in it's drag racing days, along with a $5000 paint job in 1973. It's a pretty well known car:

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/02/28/former-super-stock-hemi-cuda-convertible-offered-by-worldwide/

[1972coronet]

 

are you sure that car isn't a 1970? Or a non Hemi '71 Convertible? There were 9 1970 Hemi Cuda Convertibles with the Automatic (along with 5 4spds for US Production, 3 Canadian Exports and 1 other Export, total of 18 produced). All 11 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertibles are accounted for and there are no black cars. I do know of one 1970 Hemi Auto Convt though (there might be more than one). It was previously a Super Stock drag car owned by Steve Bagwell and for some reason he had put 1971 Sheet metal on it back in it's drag racing days, along with a $5000 paint job in 1973. It's a pretty well known car:

 

 

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/02/28/former-super-stock-hemi-cuda-convertible-offered-by-worldwide/

I realise that this thread is nearly 5 years old ; I found it through "six degrees" of internet image search . Ne'er-the-less ... Steve Bagwell , et al. , "updated" that 1970 to '1971' guise strictly to pursue the SS/EA thorn-in-Chrysler's-side , the Ray Allen 1970 LS-6 convertible . Why the visual year change ? Because Chrysler "fudged" the shipping weight of the 1971 models , making them "heavier" than their 1970 predecessor ; that placed the '71 Hemi'Cuda squarely in SS/E(A) , whereas the '70 was SS/D(A) .

From what I'd read about that changling '70 Hemi'Cuda drop-top , the car was "returned" to 1970 guise , complete with the $5,000 Bagwell paintjob ... with a sponsor decal covering the 1971-only "fender gills" . Apparently only one tech inspector recognised the decals' odd placement , and asked its then-current owner / driver , "If I poke this [decal] with my pencil , will the pencil go-through ?" Ha ha ha !