Muscle Car Fan

Posts Tagged: Cuda

Bob Gough grew up in France idolizing European sports cars and came home doubting American muscle could keep up. Then he found the 1967 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S, Plymouth’s own answer built specifically to handle like a European car rather than just run a fast quarter mile. Over twenty-three years of ownership, Gough has swapped in a 340 V8, a Tremec five-speed, custom 15-inch wheels, and nitrogen shocks — and says the result can leave Porsches behind once the road straightens out. Watch to hear why he still calls it deceptively docile to drive.

Rumors of a modern Plymouth ‘Cuda revival have circulated in the Mopar press for years, but the original nameplate earned its legendary status the hard way — starting as a compact Valiant-based fastback in 1964, then gaining a 425-horsepower 426 Hemi option by 1970 after fifty factory race cars tested the combination in 1968. Genuine Hemi Cuda convertibles now sell for seven figures at major auctions. Read on to find out why Dodge keeps circling back to a nameplate it retired decades ago.

The 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda convertible is the rarest and most valuable muscle car most enthusiasts will never see in person — only 14 were ever built. Back in period, buyers largely ignored it, put off by insurance costs and a price tag that made little sense for a mid-size car. Decades later, that same scarcity has pushed individual examples toward eight-figure sales. Read on to find out how a commercial failure became the most expensive muscle car in the world.

Seventeen. That is the entire population of one specific 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda configuration, and it is not the one most people would guess. Ask a room full of Mopar fans to name the rarest droptop of that year and the answer comes back Hemi every time, which is correct on price and wrong on this particular question. The 440 Six-Barrel convertible with a heavy-duty four-speed is rarer than its automatic sibling and cost far less than any Hemi ever did. Read on for why so few buyers checked both boxes.

The triple-carb 440 under this Cuda’s hood was not a casual option. Plymouth built barely 1,700-some of them in 1970, split between four-speed and automatic cars. Here is what made the 440 Six Pack such a rare and serious performance package, and why guessing its value takes more than eyeballing the sheet metal.

Five American muscle cars, one European showroom: a ’71 ‘Cuda, a ’68 and a ’69 Charger R/T side by side, a ’69 Super Bee, and a ’69 Mustang Mach 1, all curated by a German dealer for a collector market thousands of miles from Detroit. Viewers in the comments wasted no time picking a favorite — and it wasn’t unanimous. Watch the full lineup and decide which of these five actually deserves the title.

In September 1985, a group of Mopar owners drove in convoy from Detroit to a car show in Columbus, Ohio — and somewhere on I-75, a Plymouth Superbird and a Cuda ended up racing side by side, countdown called over CB radio. Both cars are still owned by the same two friends today, now transformed into a Sox & Martin tribute build and a Hemi-powered Cuda. The story behind that afternoon is better than the race itself.

A 700-plus horsepower Chevelle convertible, an LS-swapped C10 pickup, a supercharged Hemi Cuda, and a naturally aspirated Ferrari 550 Maranello in the same test drive lineup. Three of them earned their character through modification decades after leaving the factory. One arrived that way. Read on for what separates a restomod from an engineered car, and which of the four actually wins on a back road.

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