Why does the 71 Cuda have 4 headlights?

[426HEMI]

I was not the one that ordered  me and you said to buy a new car and be a patriotic.  I am not the one that needs to lighten up.  I just stated that I am very patriotic.

[Chryco Psycho]

...back in the day, when they were new, we hated the 71......the 70 Cuda is so clean and the 71 looked like they hung everything in the store on the car

 I still feel this way about the 71

[71ChallengerSE]

Not to go off topic here, but if the cuda in '71 got all of those extra expensive parts, 21 piece grille, special fron valence, tail lights, gills, etc. Why did the 71 Challenger only get a cheap plastic grille, pot metal tail lights, and the side scoops? I mean they even removed a trunk torsion rod to cut production costs, maybe so they had more to spend on the cuda that year.

[hotrod98]

That's a good question. Although the 71's are great looking cars, it's obvious that they cheapened them up a little. If you think about it, the 70 Challenger was one of the last of the mopars to have a metal type grille. The change to the plastic grille was probably in the works even before the dismal sales in 71.

[hebeegbz]

I still feel this way about the 71

I was their in 71 and yes the car tanked along with the edsel and the car of tomorrows studebaker . we have to ask why the cuda went back to a close copy of the 70 . and the buyers spoke with there wallets that speaks volumes. a point of interest most factory backed drag racers reused the 70 cudas for the  71 year and left off the gills and grille braces along with the head light buckets just cobbled from tin and rivets .back then we only wanted to go fast and weight was paramount , street racers also took notice so much that every body went nuts looking for good used 1970 models . i personally have had 71s but still have my first 70 and money or resale has never been  an issue to which ones i kept.

[vinb]

1971 was the best looking year for all (most) muscle cars
The Cuda, Challenger, Duster, 442, GTO, Chevelle, Mustang, are among my favorites....
 

[hotrod98]

I was their in 71 and yes the car tanked along with the edsel and the car of tomorrows studebaker . we have to ask why the cuda went back to a close copy of the 70 . and the buyers spoke with there wallets that speaks volumes. a point of interest most factory backed drag racers reused the 70 cudas for the  71 year and left off the gills and grille braces along with the head light buckets just cobbled from tin and rivets .back then we only wanted to go fast and weight was paramount , street racers also took notice so much that every body went nuts looking for good used 1970 models . i personally have had 71s but still have my first 70 and money or resale has never been  an issue to which ones i kept.

I was fortunate enough to have lived and drove during the musclecar era. Unfortunately, I grew up in an area that was not big into mopars. Our Mopar dealerships weren't into the whole musclecar thing. The Chevy dealership on the other hand was selling Chevelles and Camaros like crazy. My high school car was a 69 Chevelle SS 396. It was only three years old when I bought it and it was still like a new car. Almost every one of my friends drove either a Camaro or a Chevelle with a few Mustangs and Torinos thrown in. It wasn't until my son brought me a pic of an AAR cuda and said that he wanted something like that to drive to high school that I started buying up old Mopars. I found a nice 70 Gran Coupe to convert into an AAR and then he discovered Challengers. So, the GC became my car and we found him a 70 Challenger. I was hooked. From that point on, I spent all of my spare time locating and buying up every Cuda, Challenger, Charger, Road Runner and Superbee that I could find. People around here thought that I was nuts. A few years later they decided that this nut wasn't so dumb. Lately, I've been selling them off occasionally for considerably more than I paid for them.
In the end though I will certainly keep just one of the cars in my collection and I can tell you that it will be one of the 71 Cudas. For some reason that is the ultimate musclecar for me.

[hooD]

The '71 Cuda has always been my favorite.   

[ragtopdodge]

I find it interesting that in 1971, Chrysler attempted to gussie up these e-bodies.

Challenger:  R/T had the rear scoops, big wide, optional fender/hood moulding on the front, Gull wing spoiler

Cuda:  fender louvers, four-headlights, billboard stripes.

I think it was an attempt to do cosmetic alterations in light of the downgrades in HP due to emissions/insurance.

However, like the Daytona/Superbird as being too outrageous, the '71 'Cuda suffered poor sales b/c of the somewhat radical changes.

I think the four-headlights in the front give the front end a lower, wider, meaner look to it.  The change in '72, I agree, was due to cost-cutting, and Plymouth--being the more cheaper brand---couldn't justify the huge expense of a front grille that often, gets crunched in fender benders.

[acudanut]

  Hmmm,  "an attempt to do cosmetic alterations in light of the downgrades in HP due to emissions/insurance".  I do not agree with that statement.  That did not effect the 71's.  72's and up fit that shoe tough. 

[hotrod98]

Insurance rates were definitely outregeous by 71. I started driving that year and we could barely afford liabilty insurance. Full coverage was only for the rich. That's the biggest reason that sales dropped in 70 and 71. The "factory racecar" 68 and 69  Road Runners and Superbees were crashing left and right and the insurance companies reacted quickly. It didn't matter to them what size motor came in the car either. The insurance companies assumed that guys would try to get better insurance rates by buying the non HP cars and then change out the drivelines...and they did.
We were screwed.
The silver lining for some of us was the fact that by 1973, we could buy nice used musclecars for less than $1500 and many times for less than $500. We would drive them to death, park them and go buy another. We never replaced motors or transmissions. If they broke down, it was easier and cheaper to go buy another one.
We had no concept whatsoever that these cars would ever go up in value. It just wasn't fathomable. We assumed that they would go down in value enough that they would just be crushed, never to be seen again.

Imagine my shock at locating and buying one of my high school cars, a 69 SS 396 Chevelle twenty years later.

[cudadave72]

I kinda like my "cheap" 72 Cuda'... small engine and all!!!! Btw if the grill of a 72 was so cheap why does it cost a fortune to replace it now???

[E-Body Products]

The first cuda I ever saw as a '71.  The car was lemon twist, black 440 billboards, black top, rear window louvers, gull wing and big fat tires in the back...  This is what got me into mopars and e-bodies.

I think the 71 grille is the best and it was probably made to follow the challenger styling with four lights.

I still favor the 71 over the 70, even though I have a 70 model.

Daniel
www.ebodyproducts.com
dj1965@ebodyproducts.com

[ragtopdodge]

  Hmmm,  "an attempt to do cosmetic alterations in light of the downgrades in HP due to emissions/insurance".  I do not agree with that statement.  That did not effect the 71's.  72's and up fit that shoe tough. 

"Mechanically, the 440 c.i. 4V engine was dropped while the hp ratings of the 383 c.i. 2V was reduced to 275 hp, as was the rating of the 383 c.i. 4V engine- down to 300 hp. The 335 hp 383 c.i. was no longer available. The 440 c.i. Six bbl also lost 5 hp. but the 426 Hemi remained unchanged. The downgraded horsepower ratings were due to a compression ratio reduction. "

http://www.theautochannel.com/vehicles/muscle/chrysler/chry_71_cuda.frame

[ragtopdodge]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlAP17KIoGM&feature=related