Don Johnsons Yellow Cuda?

[ChargerBill]

Don Johnson drives a sweet yellow Cuda convertible on Nash Bridges... I've always thought it to be an AWESOME car, but I heard that it's not the correct yellow... So then I started wondering, if the paint is incorrect, is any of it original, or is it a clone? Did it even really come off the assembly line as a covertible? Anybody know?

[blue69]

Hey ChargerBill, I'm pretty sure that 2 or 4 of the 4 on the show are 70 barracudas. Most are smallblocks I think a 1 318, 1 360, 1 might be a 340? and one 440 car. There was no hemi car. Did you see the really cheap paper mache shaker bubble on ebay last week. Also the hood was a plain hood that was cut up without a trim ring. The close up car were better detailed. As far as the color I think they were all repainted so the color could be off. They were all convertibles to start with but were modified. Was the show cancelled. If not why are they selling all the cars.

[Cudaless]

Here's some links to some info on the cars...

LINK #1[/url]
LINK #2[/url]

[cudaken]

Well I just went to the site that was posted, it is a 1971 but some of the guy's did not have there fact's straight.

One sayed the steering wheel was out of a Duster or Deamon.
It is a factory Tuff Steering wheel like mu 70 Cuda has and came with. Other one said Slap stick's came out in 1971 and a 1970 would have the round ball shifter. My 70 Cuda has a Slap stick in it and came from the factory with it. Mine was made late in 70 and came from ST.Louis so that may have some thing to do with it.

                Cuda Ken

[superbee3]

I always thought Butterscotch yellow was an original color.

[Chryco Psycho]

Butterscotch is an original color but the cars may have been painted with a color that is not quite correct??

[superbee3]

I'm pretty sure it's an original color. Visit http:/users.erinet.com/30561/broadcast.htm You will find it there.

[70rtse]

I saw one of the nash car's at the mini nats in Dallas this sept. The color is not original. A shop in El Paso, Ultimate rides built all the Nash cars. Still it's an awesome cuda!!!!!

[340_6Pak_Cuda]

The color is not factory. The reason for this is they painted them a little darker because it looked better on the screen.
None of the 4 cars were actual hemi cars. Two were 340 one was big block and I think there was even a 318 car.
The show was canceled and the cars have been sold on ebay. I know at least 3 have been sold, not sure about the last one.

[BadHemi]

To add to a few of the previous comments, the 5 (possibly 6)cars built for the show were all "clone" Hemi Cuda convertibles, and no, none of them actually had 426 Hemi's, but all began life as convertibles. A 1971 Hemi Cuda convertible, Lemon Twist Yellow, with a white interior, was Don Johnson's idea for the series. Don Johnson had seen a picture of the one original that exists and decided he wanted to use one just like it in the show (having no idea how rare the car was)
So, after a quick search the #1 car was located in Long Beach California ( it's the car shown in close up still shots that was recently sold on Ebay for over 75K) it began life as a super nice restored 1970 Plum Crazy 4speed 340 convertible. It was used in the pilot show (the series was originally written to be a short mini-series). The camera's didn't pick up the light Lemon Twist Yellow very well so the car was sent off for a "brighter" shade of yellow paint, the color chosen? A non-original color by Sherwin Williams called "Hazard Yellow" (images of yellow parking lot stripes pop into my head The car was thrashed in the original shooting and it is reported that Don Johnson blew up the original 340 (replacing it with a crate 360 so I've heard). The rest of the cars were a mix of original 1970 and 1971 Barracuda 318 and slant six convertibles in various conditions, the nicer ones used for close shots, the rough ones for stunts and long distance shots. The various cars were cloned to look like 1971 Cuda's with bolt on parts like shaker hoods, painted bumpers (to look like rubber bumpers) 71 grills, gilled fenders, etc. a mix of stock 318's and crate 360's powered them (one had a 440 installed when it was purchased so it was retained and used
after the cosmetic conversion. This is the other car recently sold on ebay for similar money. It was the car most often seen in the drive by shots. The cars used in stunts and jumps were REALLY rough carcasses but they served the purpose
Hope this helps.

[cudaken]

Bad Hemi, you did some research on that one.


            Cuda Ken

[chargerSLOW]

ya badhemi..
How the heck do you know all that stuff??

[Chryco Psycho]

I`ve seen a few articles on the Nash Cars that have a lot of the same info the parts to make them into 71 Cuda clones were supplied from Year One. 1 of the bodies was purchased in this area for decent $$ for the show 1 also had a lot of frame reinforcement to stiffen the relativly weak convertable  unibody for stunts etc.  

[BadHemi]

Part of the reason is that I spend WAY too much time reading everything I can get my hands on and talking to a bunch of people on the phone about Mopars (ok, it's a sickness I have) I became interested in the cars on Nash Bridges because I own a convertible myself and wanted to find out the details on those cars. That posting is just a general summary of the information I've gathered, I have allot more if you care to be bored with all the details. Let's just say that most of those cars were turds, they ruined 1 beautiful original numbers matching 340 4 speed Plum Crazy car, the rest were just 318 cars, I think only one car was an original 71 Barracuda, the rest were 70's cloned to 71's. The other cars built were done to look cosmetically correct but they were painted black under the hoods and lacked allot of deatils, so no real MOPAR purist would have been completely happy with them concerning originallity as they are. Ultimate Rides did the last batch of cars but there were some made my another guy in the mid west as well, he never got credit but he did make a couple! (can't think of his name right now?) The worst car was a rust bucket and was used for stunts and jumps (as described above by another member) it had lots of square tubing welded into the frame and trunk areas so that it would survive more than one stunt. There is a bit of confusion as to what cars were sold on ebay, 3 were offered for sale but I believe one of them was offered twice (the 440 car) it did not reach it's reserve the second time around but initially sold for 76k back in the summer. The original 340 car (number 1 car) also sold for over 76k a couple weeks ago. Hey, did you guys see that shaker hood for sale that was from the show? It was on ebay and sold for $2,600.00, it had the graffiti painted on it and was used in the episode called "Hood from the Hood" well guys, that was a REAL steel shaker hood! What a bargain! There was another hoodsold the same week but it was just a flat hood with a hole cut in it for the shaker bubble, it went for a few hundred and was worthless except for memorabilia.

[v2charger]

looks like you guys got most of the facts in.  last i heard, there were 4 cars - one with a 440 and the rest with crate 360 motors.  they were contemplating making one into an actual hemi clone for the 7th season, but there weren't no 7th season.  one of the 4 was blown up for a 6th season episode.  if you go to nashbridges.com and look under the picture section, there's a shot of 4 cars all together - the one on the left is obviously the stunt car.  the paint had to be changed, as lemon twist looks awful on film.  they used a sherwin williams paint, either called industrial yellow or school bus yellow.  both names have been used, but i think the school bus is a nick name for the shade.  the shot with the 4 cars can't be too new - they are all missing the top boots, which if you remember the cars didn't get until several seasons into filming.  the car is based on the last hemi cuda convert built, but has some differences, like the 4spd and color keyed grille.