440-6 Pack TA real deal

[E-Body Products]

I've always heard, "Never say never, if it's a Mopar!!!" 

Kinda like the 71 T/A debate?

The entire reason for the T/A birth?  You guessed it, Trans Am racing. The 340 was not chosen, but a demand. The big blocks had too many cubic inches to compete in the series legally. So it is very unlikely a big block T/A was ever made.

Just never say never. Remember, there are known cases of torque boxes on /6 cars and missing boxes on very well documented cars that earn the status. Two pennies


Daniel
www.ebodyproducts.com

[E-Body Products]

I'm not saying I think it's real. I actually think it's probably not. Just rooting for the under dog.


Daniel
www.ebodyproducts.com

[cudazappa]

The entire reason for the T/A birth?  You guessed it, Trans Am racing. The 340 was not chosen, but a demand. The big blocks had too many cubic inches to compete in the series legally. So it is very unlikely a big block T/A was ever made.

Trans Am had a 5.0L limit.  Chrysler petitioned the use of a destroked 340 (block had to remain the same) to get it allowed into the series.  Also interesting was 1970 a rule was put in place to only allow 4bbl carburetors in the racing series.  The previous year multiple carbs were allowed.

[EB3-GranCoupe]

Wouldn't Chrysler have some history on it, if its a Y08, Y28, Q-VON coded car?  With all the public relations codes, I would think there is some historical documentation at the Walter P Chrysler Museum. 

http://www.chryslergroupllc.com/company/Heritage/Pages/Historical-Services.aspx

[Schoena440]

Wrote my letter and sent the stuff off so just waiting on them and trying to track down previouse owner and trace the title back slow process but I got time.  It's been nice out too so been doing a lot of crusing in the new beast!!!

[Scat Pack Fever]

Not saying the t/a is real, but my Dad worked at the St. Louis plant from 1959-1991 and he said you would be surprised at the things that happened when making the cars. He said they made a charger for Liz Taylor and painted it a pinkish purple color to match her eyes. No one would believe that was the original color of the car if they saw it today. or painting interior panels when they ran of of a certain color.  Not sure where it ended up. They obviously made one 1971 t/a challenger. I wonder what happened to the one in the ad?

[ChallengerHK]

. They obviously made one 1971 t/a challenger. I wonder what happened to the one in the ad?

I tend to agree with you, but the one 1971 Challenger TA in the ads was the result of airbrushing the pics of the 1970 TA ad photos.

[torredcuda]

But there are `72 440-6 cars that were not supposed to be available.

[EB3-GranCoupe]

1972 V-code thread:

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=84516.0

[kissalien]

But there are `72 440-6 cars that were not supposed to be available.

The 440+6 was in the 1972 announcements to dealers so there was a short window of availability.

The Trans Am pilot cars have a scheduled production date of 204.
The announcement to dealers of Trans Am street cars being available shortly was dated 220.
The paperwork to ACCUS stating that Dodge planned to build 2500 street cars and the specifications was dated sometime in March. Either 307 or 317, I can't remember which.

[EB3-GranCoupe]

With a production date of Sept 24 (924), would the A53 code have even existed for a TA/AAR option then?? Was the T/A hood even developed and produced at such an early date? If an e-body came with louvres (A44/J68), didn't it have to have a vinyl roof (V1_)?  It is a cool car regardless! 

[kissalien]

With a production date of Sept 24 (924), would the A53 code have even existed for a TA/AAR option then??

No

Was the T/A hood even developed and produced at such an early date?

No

If an e-body came with louvres (A44/J68), didn't it have to have a vinyl roof (V1_)?

No but if it had one then it had to be black, but the louver package wasn't available then either.

[anlauto]

There are so many things wrong with this tag.
I don't believe the car in question was an early model "prototype" of any kind......but I do believe the fender tag is somebody's prototype of first attempt at making one....

[bolo185]

Makes you wonder, if you sell the car and claim you didn't know are you still responsible? I don't think negligence is a defense.

http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2006/07/01/hmn_feature16.html

Last year I was looking hard for a 70 Cuda and found one semi local here in CA. Went to look at it, black on black, 340 6-pack, beautiful car, everything on the fender tag matched what the car had, all VIN docs matched. BUT, he had the cowl plate in an envelope saying it was removed due to rust. He said the car came from out of state and the CHP did an inspection and verified the car. To the uninformed buyer like me everything looked legit and I was thinking of pulling the trigger, it was a beautiful car. He even had a bill of sale from a guy in WA for the "parts car" having that VIN and supposedly that was the car that was restored by the guy in WA. 

I posted pics here and low and behold, Barry spotted a fraud. The BS VIN pieces had been listed for sale in Alabama or somewhere stating the rusted out CUDA was parted out and just the VIN parts were what was left. Fender tag, cowl plate, VIN plate, radiator support, all the ID pieces. The ebay ad showed the auction ended with no buyers.

Well, turns out the guy in WA bought the VIN parts ( he still claims he bought the entire parts car) and built the black on black CUDA exactly to specs from the fender tag. It really was a gorgeous car. When questioned, they guy in WA got pissed off and said he had two old cars headed for the junk yard and he made one beautiful car out of them, and it was no ones business but his. He had since traded the CUDA for a roadster and cash from a guy here is CA who sold it to his friend.

Long story short, looked like CUDA VIN parts were used to make a Barracuda into a beautiful CUDA. If someone didn't catch the ebay ad and show it as flagged in the registry, the car would have passed from person to person probably without question since it appeared everything matched and had a clean title. I called the CHP to see if there issues and they said they did inspect the car and were still investigating it, but since it was a $50k show car rather than a 96 Honda they didnt want to seize it (yet). They did say it was possible they were still going to grab it and start scraping paint. Last I heard the guy that had it was going to try to sell it at the BJ auction in Vegas last year but never did.

I ended up buying a beautiful 70 Cuda resto-mod 440 with no VIN issues although there's another story about it I'll post separate....

Bottom line is some fraud could pass if done right but thanks to the watchful eyes of some of you here I dodged a nightmare and possibly a seized car.

     

[anlauto]

This is nothing new, a lot of cars are restored using doner shells.

Doesn't make it right, but it happens everyday.