1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda AAR

Only five 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda AARs were ever finished in FT6 Burnt Tan, and only two are known to survive. V8TV’s Muscle Car of the Week profiles the rare homologation special built so Plymouth could legally race the ‘Cuda in SCCA Trans Am — complete with a triple-carbureted 340, side-exit exhaust, and a rulebook-driven design most casual fans never notice.

Only five 1970 ‘Cuda AARs were ever painted FT6 Burnt Tan. Only two are known to survive. V8TV’s Muscle Car of the Week series has profiled plenty of rare Mopars, but rarely one this specific — a car built to satisfy an SCCA homologation rule, wearing a color combination so uncommon it borders on a paperwork error nobody bothered fixing. What makes this particular ‘Cuda AAR worth an entire episode isn’t just the rarity of the color. It’s what the car had to be, mechanically, before Plymouth was even allowed to race it.

What AAR Actually Means

AAR stands for All American Racers, Dan Gurney’s racing team, which Plymouth partnered with to campaign the ‘Cuda in the SCCA’s Trans Am series for 1970. The road-going AAR ‘Cuda existed specifically because SCCA rules required manufacturers to build and sell a minimum number of street versions of any car they wanted to race — meaning this particular street car only exists because Plymouth needed to go racing, not because a marketing department dreamed up a new trim level.

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A Street Car Built to Satisfy a Racing Rulebook

To meet Trans Am’s displacement rules, Plymouth couldn’t simply drop in a 440 or a Hemi — the series capped engine size well below what those big blocks offered. The solution was a specially built 340 cubic-inch small block fitted with three two-barrel carburetors, a setup that pushed the factory rating to 290 horsepower while keeping the car legal for competition. It’s an engine built around a rulebook constraint, which is exactly why it revs and sounds unlike any other 340 Plymouth built that year.

The High-Revving 340 That Made It Legal

FT6 Burnt Tan sits near the bottom of any list of common 1970 Mopar colors, and V8TV’s episode makes a point of highlighting just how rarely it turns up even among AAR ‘Cuda specialists who track every known survivor. With only five cars built in this exact color and two confirmed to still exist, this isn’t a car that shows up at a normal auction with a fresh coat of a close-enough repaint — the correct color itself is part of what makes it worth documenting on camera.

FT6 Burnt Tan: A Color This Rare Needs an Explanation

Beyond the drivetrain, the AAR carried its own visual identity: a fiberglass hood with a distinctive off-center scoop, a matte-black fiberglass rear spoiler, side-exit exhaust routed ahead of the rear wheels, and a bold side stripe package unique to the model. Those side pipes in particular are the single fastest way to spot a genuine AAR from across a parking lot, a functional racing cue Plymouth carried straight onto the street car.

Visual Cues That Separate an AAR from a Standard ‘Cuda

Homologation specials occupy a strange, valuable category in muscle car history — built in small numbers purely to satisfy a sanctioning body’s rules, then sold to the public almost as an afterthought. The Boss 302 Mustang, Trans Am Firebird, and this AAR ‘Cuda all share that same origin story, and collectors have increasingly recognized that these cars, built for racing legality rather than showroom appeal, often carry more genuine engineering intent than their more common siblings.

Homologation Specials as a Category

With only two known survivors in this exact color combination, this specific car isn’t just rare within the AAR ‘Cuda production run — it’s rare within a category that was already a limited-production homologation special to begin with. That kind of documented scarcity is exactly why V8TV built an entire Muscle Car of the Week segment around it rather than treating it as just another 340-powered ‘Cuda from a strong year for Plymouth performance.

Why Two Known Survivors Changes Everything

What the episode ultimately demonstrates is how a racing rulebook, not a design studio, produced one of the most distinctive street cars Plymouth ever sold. Every visual cue on this car — the scoop, the spoiler, the side pipes — traces back to a regulation rather than a stylist’s sketch, and that origin story is exactly why serious Mopar collectors treat the AAR ‘Cuda as a category unto itself.

What an AAR ‘Cuda Costs at Auction Today

Documented AAR ‘Cuda examples with verified numbers-matching drivetrains routinely sell in the low-to-mid six figures at major auction houses, with exceptionally rare color combinations like FT6 Burnt Tan commanding a further premium over more common shades. That kind of money reflects both the car’s genuine racing pedigree and its limited production — Plymouth built roughly 2,724 AAR ‘Cuda coupes total for 1970, a single model year run that was never repeated.

V8TV’s Role in Documenting Muscle Car History

V8TV has built its Muscle Car of the Week series specifically around cars like this one — vehicles significant enough to matter to serious collectors but obscure enough that mainstream automotive media rarely covers them in this level of mechanical and historical detail. That niche focus is exactly why a homologation special this specific gets a full episode rather than a passing mention in a broader Mopar retrospective.

How to Spot a Fake AAR ‘Cuda

Given the AAR’s value premium over a standard ‘Cuda, reproduction side pipes, spoilers, and stripe kits have made counterfeit or re-created AAR clones a real concern for buyers, and serious collectors cross-reference broadcast sheets, fender tags, and VIN-decoded build sheets before taking a seller’s word on any car claiming genuine AAR provenance — a verification process considerably more involved than checking a standard ‘Cuda’s paperwork. For a car built in a run of fewer than 2,750 and finished in a five-car color combination, a clean paper trail isn’t optional — it’s the difference between a genuine six-figure AAR and an expensive standard ‘Cuda wearing borrowed parts.

Why Trans Am Homologation Cars Age Better Than Marketing Trims

Cars built to satisfy a racing rulebook tend to hold collector interest longer than cars built purely as marketing trim packages, because every visual and mechanical change traces back to a documented functional requirement rather than a stylist’s preference. That distinction is exactly why the AAR ‘Cuda, decades later, still gets treated as a serious piece of racing history rather than just another appearance package from Plymouth’s most flamboyant model year.

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