Plymouth Cuda 1971 Convertible – Ride in a RARE ’71 Hemi Cuda!

This 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda Convertible carries something almost no other droptop from that model year can claim: a numbers-matching 426 Hemi paired with a Pistol Grip Hurst 4-speed. Chrysler built only a small handful of Hemi ‘Cuda convertibles for 1971, and fewer still left the factory with a stick. Here’s what makes this survivor one of the true unicorns of the muscle car era.

We’re looking at a 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda Convertible with all matching numbers 426 Hemi Engine, and with a Manual 4 Speed Pistol Grip Hurst Shifter.

Pop the hood on most early-1970s muscle cars and you’re looking at a fun weekend cruiser. Pop the hood on this one and you’re looking at one of the rarest combinations Chrysler ever put on a showroom floor. Plymouth only convinced a small handful of buyers to check the box for the 426 Hemi in a ‘Cuda convertible for 1971, and fewer still drove home with the numbers-matching engine, the Pistol Grip Hurst shifter, and an unmolested history still intact decades later. Most surviving Hemi ‘Cuda convertibles have been re-created, cloned, or quietly “improved” with a close-enough engine along the way. So what does it look like when one actually survives with everything original still bolted in place?

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A Combination Chrysler Almost Never Built

Plymouth’s 1971 ‘Cuda lineup offered the 426 Hemi as the range-topping option, but almost nobody paired it with a convertible body and a factory build sheet that still lines up today. Depending on which Mopar historian you ask, Chrysler built somewhere around a dozen Hemi ‘Cuda convertibles for 1971, and only a handful of those left the factory with a manual transmission rather than the TorqueFlite automatic. That makes this numbers-matching example, drivetrain and all, one of the genuine holy grails of the muscle car era — the kind of car that gets its own reverent hush at a Mopar show rather than just another admiring nod.

The Pistol Grip Difference

It’s one thing to read “426 Hemi” on a spec sheet. It’s another to imagine grabbing that T-handle Hurst Pistol Grip shifter and rowing through four gears while 425 horsepower and a pair of massive dual quads do their thing under the hood. The Pistol Grip wasn’t just a gimmick — it shortened throws and gave drivers a more direct connection to the drivetrain, and today it’s one of the first things Mopar collectors check for when they’re trying to separate a real numbers-matching Hemi car from a well-dressed tribute. Paired with the factory Hemi and a clean matching-numbers pedigree, this ‘Cuda checks every box that actually matters to people who’ve spent years chasing this exact combination.

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