Newbie with mysterious Cuda

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Offline passionvoitures

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Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« on: September 16, 2015 - 03:33:20 PM »
Hi everybody. My name is François, and I live in France. I own an American Cars speedshop there, and we recently bought a lost Cuda found in a barn near Paris. This car is very mysterious and I need help to find infos on it because I wasn't able to identify it ! This Cuda shows a strange dash VIN number : 08174939. No car line or engine code on the VIN !! And the vin plate is in perfect condition and hasn't been altered.

On the fender, the original fender tag is missing, replaced with a French Tag from Chrysler France, probably when the car has been imported new. This tag shows the VIN : BH23N08174939

Last, on the passenger fender well, a stamped number shows 12 19 BH23H 08

The engine seems to be a 340, automatic trans, and the speedometer is in kilometers per hour. A legend says that 27 Cudas have been exported new in France by Chrysler Corp in 1970 on demand of Simca - Chrysler France. If someone can help me to identify this car, or has infos on export VIN's, I would greatly appreciate.

Thanks from France !

François   




Offline TelisSE440

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2015 - 04:02:19 PM »
Welcome aboard Francois  :wave:, it seems you do have a pretty rare car. There are some Mopars that were being transported as parts to Europe to avoid import tax and assembled there. The dash VIN says 08174939 or 0B174939? B instead of 8. BH23N08174939 or BH23H0B174939?  H instead of N ( H 340 engine - N 383 engine). The U.S. cars use the later VIN descriptions, could you post any photos of the tags? It would help a lot  :thumbsup:

Offline passionvoitures

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2015 - 04:12:17 PM »
Thanks TelisSE440. Here are some pics of the VIN and Tags. And some pics of the car. As you can see, it's not in great condition, but I think it worth a nice restoration !

Offline MOPAR FANATIC

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2015 - 04:31:34 PM »
 :wave: Welcome to c.c.com.nice 'cuda,id drive it like it is,has that nice '70's look to it.  :thumbsup:  :drool:
71 Challenger 340 a/t
2013 Plum Crazy Hemi R/T 6SPD

Offline TelisSE440

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2015 - 05:00:36 PM »
It worths a nice restoration, but I see that the car has almost zero rust! It should turn out great! The 08174939 translates as 174939 sequence number at factory the 0 is year 1970 and 8 in US should be a letter describing factory (B for Hamtramck for example), in the earlier years(pre 1968) they used numbers with 8 defining exports. So far so good! The VIN seems normal
B: Barracuda
H: High Price
23: Two door Hardtop
N: 383 Hp engine(?)
and the rest as above.
You said it's a 340, so maybe they made a mistake when the plate was issued. The correct number if we are talking about 340, would be BH23H. The number stamped on the passenger side wasn't on US cars, it may say 19 December of 1969, Is there a sticker with the VIN on the driver door striker (door side)? It should tell us about day of manufacture completion. You should have seen if it was, maybe it was painted over or they just weren't made for export cars because it says about compliance to US manufacture law standards until that particular day. Anyway there is  a part of vin on the engine. Can you see it? It should tell us more...
« Last Edit: September 16, 2015 - 05:14:01 PM by TelisSE440 »

Offline ChallengerHK

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2015 - 06:26:15 PM »
Bonjours, Francois. Votre voiture est tres interresant.


"She'll make point five past light speed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, and I've made a lot of special modifications myself."

- Han Solo, Star Wars

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Offline 69ChargerRT

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2015 - 10:02:28 AM »
yes that car is definitely worthy of a resto.  keep us up to date on your progress!  I would love to see that car transition

Offline passionvoitures

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2015 - 01:38:19 PM »
Hi everybody. Thanks for your answers, and I'm happy you like this Cuda ! Et je vois que tu parle français ChallengerHK  :clapping:

TelisSE440, I will try to find other infos, stickers or numbers and come back.

If you have more ideas to find infos or website databases about Export Cuda's history on the web, let me know.

Thanks again.

François

Offline ChallengerHK

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2015 - 02:27:38 PM »
Et je vois que tu parle français ChallengerHK  :clapping:

Un peu, seulement. Je l'etudias pour cinque ans, mais j'ai oublie la pluspart, malheureusement.


"She'll make point five past light speed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, and I've made a lot of special modifications myself."

- Han Solo, Star Wars

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Offline Fred

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2015 - 02:36:10 PM »
Un peu, seulement. Je l'etudias pour cinque ans, mais j'ai oublie la pluspart, malheureusement.

Not fair!!!!!!!!  Don't know what that means!!    :hyper:

Offline dutch

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2015 - 02:46:41 PM »
Not fair!!!!!!!!  Don't know what that means!!    :hyper:

probably something wine related.... or something expensive...sounds expensive anyways  :biggrin:

welcome to CC Francois.  Cool car...I`m pretty sure I`ve seen it before somewhere on the www   :clueless:
*** Bart ***

Offline ChallengerHK

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2015 - 02:53:41 PM »
probably something wine related....

That's exactly it, Bart. Viperman has his c-c beer, and now we'll have c-c wine  :bigsmile:


"She'll make point five past light speed. She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, and I've made a lot of special modifications myself."

- Han Solo, Star Wars

Advice Thread - Taking Pictures Of Cars

Offline dutch

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2015 - 02:57:14 PM »
That's exactly it, Bart. Viperman has his c-c beer, and now we'll have c-c wine  :bigsmile:

LOL... we`ll need a CC-AA soon  :lol:
*** Bart ***

Offline roadman5312

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2015 - 03:22:38 PM »
       Welcome aboard Francois.  :wave:   Very cool Cuda.   You will find all the help you need here.     :rebel:

Offline jimynick

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Re: Newbie with mysterious Cuda
« Reply #14 on: September 17, 2015 - 08:12:20 PM »
Not fair!!!!!!!!  Don't know what that means!!    :hyper:

"A little, only. I went to school (or studied) for 5 years, but I have forgotten the most part, unfortunately"  There, now you know. A bientot!  :canada: