Plymouth built just 652 Hemi ‘Cudas in 1970, and most came with a TorqueFlite automatic, not the four-speed collectors chase hardest today. An AutoTopNL walkaround of an original automatic car explains why the overlooked build was actually Chrysler’s bestseller.
Every Hemi ‘Cuda story starts the same way: find the four-speed car, because that’s the “real” one. But Plymouth’s own build sheets tell a different story. When the 426 Hemi option landed on the redesigned E-body Barracuda for 1970, more buyers checked the box for the 727 TorqueFlite automatic than for the New Process A-833 four-speed stick. Just 652 Hemi ‘Cudas were built that year, and 368 of them — the clear majority — came with a clutch pedal nobody had to press. The car in this walkaround, a 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda reviewed in detail by AutoTopNL, is one of those automatics. It’s also a reminder that the “purist’s choice” and the “popular choice” weren’t the same car, even in 1970.
The Automatic Nobody Expected to Outsell the Stick
AutoTopNL has built its channel around unfiltered walkarounds of performance and collector cars — engine starts, exhaust notes, acceleration runs, and a straightforward look at what a car actually is rather than a sales pitch. Their coverage of this 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda follows that format: a close look at the car’s condition, the Shaker hood scoop that functionally fed cold air straight to the carburetors, and the sound of a 426 cubic-inch engine that Chrysler never rated conservatively.
What the video doesn’t spell out — because most reviews don’t — is how unusual it is that this automatic car is the typical one, not the exception. Of the 652 Hemi ‘Cudas built for the 1970 model year, Chrysler’s own production records point to 368 cars ordered with the TorqueFlite automatic against 284 with the four-speed manual. The stick-shift Hemi ‘Cuda has become the car collectors chase hardest and the one magazine covers default to, but it was never the majority build.
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What $871.45 Actually Bought in 1970
The 426 Hemi wasn’t a quiet option. Checking that box added $871.45 to a ‘Cuda coupe’s $3,164 base price — more than a quarter of the car’s sticker just for the engine — and it came with real numbers to back up the cost. Chrysler rated the 426 Hemi at 425 horsepower and 490 lb-ft of torque, fed through dual Carter AFB four-barrel carburetors and that functional Shaker scoop. Motor Trend’s period test of a 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda recorded a 0-60 mph run of 5.8 seconds and a quarter-mile pass of 14 seconds at 102 mph — brutal numbers for a street car in 1970, automatic or not.
The automatic cars came with a 727 TorqueFlite backed by a 3.55:1 Sure Grip rear axle, and they weren’t the slow option. A well-tuned automatic Hemi could hang with — and sometimes beat — a four-speed car at the strip, since a quick automatic shift often beat an inexperienced driver working a clutch under full throttle. That’s part of why Chrysler’s own buyers leaned toward the TorqueFlite: it made the Hemi’s violence easier to use every day, not just at the drag strip.
A Rarity That Rarity Charts Still Undersell
Hemi ‘Cuda production for 1970 breaks down into numbers that sound small until you compare them to anything else on the road that year: 652 total, including just 14 convertibles. That means even the “common” automatic coupe variant — 368 units — is rarer than most limited-edition specials modern automakers announce with a press release. The four-speed’s mystique comes from the idea that it’s the enthusiast’s pick, the car built for someone who wanted to work the Hemi themselves. But Plymouth’s own sales figures say the majority of people who paid the Hemi tax in 1970 wanted the power without the extra pedal.
The E-body platform underneath both the ‘Cuda and its Dodge Challenger cousin only lasted from 1970 through 1974, and only the 1970 and 1971 model years could be ordered with the 426 Hemi at all — Chrysler dropped the option after insurance costs and tightening emissions rules made it impractical to sell. That narrow two-year window is a big part of why the numbers stayed so small: there was never time for Hemi ‘Cuda production to ramp up the way it might have if the option had survived into the mid-1970s.
What That Rarity Is Worth Today
The collector market has priced that scarcity in. A 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda hardtop with 38,000 original miles sold for $522,500 at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction in January 2025. The very first 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda ever built — an Alpine White pre-production car — has carried a $2.2 million asking price. Those numbers are for the 1970 hardtop like the one in this video; the seven-figure and multi-million-dollar headlines that occasionally circulate for a “Hemi ‘Cuda” almost always refer to the extraordinarily rare 1971 convertible, a different car from a different model year, with its own separate and even smaller production run. Mixing the two years up is one of the most common mistakes in Hemi ‘Cuda folklore, and it inflates expectations for what a 1970 hardtop — automatic or four-speed — will actually bring at auction.
How to Tell a Real Hemi ‘Cuda From a Clone
With values this high, Hemi ‘Cuda clones and “tribute” builds are common, and sorting a genuine car from a well-dressed copy takes more than a glance under the hood. The fifth character of the VIN is the starting point: on a 1968-1980 Mopar, that digit is the engine code, and it should read “R” for a factory 426 Hemi car. Any other letter in that position means the car left the factory with a different engine, no matter what’s sitting between the fenders now — and that engine code legally cannot be re-stamped.
From there, the fender tag should decode to the same engine, transmission, body style, build date, paint, and trim as the VIN. An original Chrysler broadcast sheet — the factory’s own build record for that specific car — should list matching options and colors, and more than one broadcast sheet turning up for the same car, or sheets that don’t agree with each other, is a warning sign rather than extra proof. Buyers who are serious about a six-figure Hemi ‘Cuda typically pay for a written inspection from a recognized Mopar authority, someone who can confirm the VIN, fender tag, and broadcast sheet all tell the same story before any money changes hands.
Why the Automatic ‘Cuda Still Matters
None of this makes the four-speed Hemi ‘Cuda less desirable — it’s still the harder car to find among four-speed-specific collectors, and for many buyers it’s still the more emotional choice. But treating the automatic as a lesser consolation prize gets the history backwards. It was the majority build, backed by the better-selling drivetrain, and it delivered numbers that matched the manual in a straight line when Motor Trend actually strapped test gear to one back in 1970. The Shaker hood still shook, the Hemi still rattled windows at idle, and the TorqueFlite just meant more people could actually drive it the way Chrysler intended — hard, often, and without worrying about stalling a 425-horsepower engine at a stoplight.
For anyone shopping this market today, that history matters practically, not just trivially: an automatic Hemi ‘Cuda isn’t a lesser find because it lacks a clutch pedal. It’s the car Plymouth actually sold more of, with a drivetrain built to survive being driven the way the Hemi was designed to be driven, and with the same VIN, fender-tag, and broadcast-sheet paper trail a four-speed car needs to prove it’s real.
Watch the full video above and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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