1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda - Mecum

[71hcc]

I enjoyed the pictures Tom, thanks. I can set the record straight about some of the facts on the white car though. It didn't set for 20 years. I disassembled it for a repaint in 94, it was redone and in primer ready to be reassembled when I had an injury that put me out of commission for a while. Just never got started putting it back together again before I decided to sell it to someone who would put it back 100 percent like it deserved to be and I would just build a clone so I could build it the way I wanted. Had a lot of fun in that car, it was always a Friday night driver and I never lost a race with it. It was never stock the whole time I owned it. The motor was built with 12.5 to 1 pistons, a really good cam and headers. I worked over the trans to make it shift great. That car ran good! I never did ever take it to the track though so I have no idea what kind of time it would run but it was a killer on the street, especially from a 30 mph stomp. It may of only had 30000 miles on it but those were all FUN miles. I miss it because my clone doesn't run as good as it did.

[Cudino]

Great to hear from a previous owner!  Here's an old classified ad my friend dug up, it is for this car when it was just under 2 years old.  The ad is from the Kansas City Times, Saturday August 5th 1972.

- Wade

[RzeroB]

Great to hear from a previous owner!  Here's an old classified ad my friend dug up, it is for this car when it was just under 2 years old.  The ad is from the Kansas City Times, Saturday August 5th 1972.

- Wade

That is amazing! Not just the ad itself, but that your friend could dig something up like that from way back in 1972!

Surprised at how the car had depreciated to about 50% of it's original sales price in only two years!

The writer of the ad sure nailed it when they said "this is probably the only car like this in the state of MO" (not just Missouri - but anywhere!); and "you'll never see another like it" (now if that isn't an understatement I don't know what is!).

Thanks for posting Wade!

[anlauto]

Only went up by over 1000% in 40 years or so.....not bad investment for somebody....

71hcc - - - Care to share what year you sold it and for how much ?

[71hcc]

Great to hear from a previous owner!  Here's an old classified ad my friend dug up, it is for this car when it was just under 2 years old.  The ad is from the Kansas City Times, Saturday August 5th 1972.

- Wade

Wade, thanks for posting that ad. That's unbelievable that after all this time someone would have an ad for the car. I had been told by someone that they had seen my car setting on the showroom floor of Diamond Chrysler Plymouth in MO. But never really had any proof until now. I did a title search on it one time and it led back to a MO title but couldn't go any farther because the KS records didn't have the full MO title number. It was missing one letter or number. Your friend that dug up the ad, is he by chance the original owner? I bought it in 1976 but didn't title it until 1977 because the transmission was bad when I bought it and it wasn't drivable. I bought it from a good friend of mine, he bought it in 1973 off of a little car lot in Kansas City, KS. I know from the title search that the little car lot bought it from another dealer in MO but it wasn't Diamond.   

[71hcc]

Only went up by over 1000% in 40 years or so.....not bad investment for somebody....

71hcc - - - Care to share what year you sold it and for how much ?

Bought it in 1976 for 2000. and sold it in 2003 for a just little bit more than I paid for it.   

[Cudino]

I'm so glad you all liked it, and that it closed an open question about the car's early history.  But sorry, no, my friend is not the original owner, he just found this ad back in January searching through some old archives.

In addition to the other comments you guys made I also liked that the author of the ad considered the $800 in custom wheels and tires to be one of the big selling points towards his $2988 asking price.  Oh how times have changed!

- Wade

[anlauto]

Bought it in 1976 for 2000. and sold it in 2003 for a just little bit more than I paid for it.   

  Yea I guess

[RzeroB]

Bought it in 1976 for 2000. and sold it in 2003 for a just little bit more than I paid for it.   

Only went up by over 1000% in 40 years or so.....not bad investment for somebody....

Yeah ... who knew? Even I could have come up with two-grand in '76!

Guess Dave Blake must of been one of the first to figure out rare they were when he started scooping them up in the 80's?

[71hcc]

I'm so glad you all liked it, and that it closed an open question about the car's early history.  But sorry, no, my friend is not the original owner, he just found this ad back in January searching through some old archives.

In addition to the other comments you guys made I also liked that the author of the ad considered the $800 in custom wheels and tires to be one of the big selling points towards his $2988 asking price.  Oh how times have changed!

- Wade

Those $800 custom wheels were some goofy looking wheels made by Motorwheel. I don't think I ever saw another set like them. They were a steel wheel with the face of the wheel moulded out of hard black rubber painted silver. They were really heavy because of the amount of rubber on them.

[cudaized]

Jim,

Glad to see you sharing some insight on when you owned your hemi convertible. It is fantastic that previous owners of these wonderful cars share their experiences.
I was wondering if you have any old pictures when you owned the car?
Do you recall if the car had any paperwork with it?

Your old car was the first 1971 hemicuda convertible built.

Ola Nilsson


1970-71 Plymouth and Dodge E-Body Convertible Registry
www.ebodyconvertibleregistry.com

[71hcc]

Jim,

Glad to see you sharing some insight on when you owned your hemi convertible. It is fantastic that previous owners of these wonderful cars share their experiences.
I was wondering if you have any old pictures when you owned the car?
Do you recall if the car had any paperwork with it?

Your old car was the first 1971 hemicuda convertible built.

Ola Nilsson


1970-71 Plymouth and Dodge E-Body Convertible Registry
www.ebodyconvertibleregistry.com

Hi Ola,

I'm not sure how many old pictures I may have of it, I don't know why I didn't think about taking more pictures of it over the years. Hindsight is 20/20 you know. The few that I have, I don't have a clue where they might be. If I find any I will send you a copy.
Here's another little tidbit of Info about it. That car came with a black rubber molding running down the sides, front to back. I figure it had to be added along with the 800.00 custom wheels.
No, the only papers I had on it was the build sheet in the seat and the title. I've still got a few parts from it, the original cam and the original carpet and left front fender. I had put an NOS fender on it because the original had some damage around the headlight.

Jim