Plymouth Cuda 1970 AAR in Moulin Rouge Paint

This 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda AAR exists because of a rulebook, not a marketing plan. Plymouth had to sell thousands of street versions just to make its Trans-Am racecar legal to compete. Under the fiberglass hood is a 340 ‘Six Barrel’ V8 that Plymouth badged differently than Dodge’s identical engine, backed by a factory rating widely believed to undersell its real output. Only 2,724 were built, all within a single five-week window in early 1970. That narrow build window is exactly what makes cars like this Moulin Rouge example so sought after today.

We’re looking at a 1970 Plymouth Cuda AAR in Moulin Rouge Paint.
The AAR ( All American Racers ) version in 1970 only was a car Buyers could purchase from the Dealer to imitate the Trans-Am Series Race Car.

Plymouth built exactly one model year of this car, and it was not because they ran out of ideas, it was because the rulebook said so. Homologation racing has a strange side effect: it forces manufacturers to sell genuinely wild machines to ordinary buyers just to make a handful of racecars legal. This Moulin Rouge example carries the scars of that compromise, from a fiberglass hood scoop functional enough to actually feed the engine to side-exit exhaust pipes that exit dangerously close to the rear tires. So what exactly made this car legal to race, and rare enough that so few actually got built?

⚑ Featured Gear

Start Car Conversations →

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Built to Make a Racecar Legal

The AAR ‘Cuda takes its name from Dan Gurney’s All American Racers team, which Plymouth contracted in 1970 to build and campaign cars for the SCCA Trans-Am series, driven by Gurney himself and Swede Savage. SCCA rules required a minimum number of street versions to be sold before the racing package could compete, so Plymouth built exactly 2,724 AAR ‘Cudas, all of them assembled during a single five-week window between March and April 1970. That narrow production run is a big part of why the AAR remains one of the more collectible one-year-only muscle cars on the market today.

The 340 That Plymouth Called Something Else

Under the fiberglass hood sat a 340 cubic-inch V8 fed by three two-barrel Holley carburetors, an engine Plymouth marketed as the “Six Barrel” specifically to avoid using Dodge’s “Six Pack” branding for the same hardware. Factory-rated at 290 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 345 lb-ft of torque, the engine was widely understood at the time to be underrated, with real-world output likely closer to 320-plus horsepower. That NACA-style hood scoop was not just for looks either, it fed cold air directly to a unique Six Pack air cleaner, while the side-exit exhaust routed just ahead of the rear wheels for both a shorter path and a much louder soundtrack.

Because the AAR ‘Cuda existed for one model year only, and in one narrow production window, cars like this Moulin Rouge example represent a specific five weeks in Plymouth’s history that will never be repeated. It is a rare case where the racetrack rulebook, not the marketing department, decided exactly how many collectors would eventually get to own one.

Republished by Blog Post Promoter