In my early days of working on whatever beater I was driving at the time, it didn’t matter to me at all what color the car was or even if the paint looked OK upon acquisition. My immediate objective was to always quickly get the body decent enough to spray it black in my makeshift garage paint booth, using DuPont 99A Pitch Black acrylic enamel every time, sometimes with fairly good results and other times not so much. That changed over the years and now I typically prefer the factory color on just about any vehicle, but this 1970 Plymouth Cuda here on eBay looks so good wearing the In Violet finish that I’ll make an exception! If you’ve been in the market for a nice E-Body driver with three 2-Barrels, this one deserves a close look, so head on up to Portland, Oregon to check the Plymouth out in person. The lone bid at this point is at 70 grand, with the reserve still yet to be reached.
While Chrysler’s High Impact colors make a bold and beautiful statement on the streets, this one did not leave Hamtramck with the finish it’s wearing now. The fender tag code EB7 indicates that the car was originally Jamaica Blue Metallic, but looking all around it appears that whoever made the change performed a high-quality job as this was done more than 20 years ago, and even though the seller mentions that there are a couple of minor issues he says that overall the appearance is fabulous. One accessory that’s not original to the exterior is the Go Wing rear spoiler, but we are assured it was mounted properly using all the correct components.
Under the hood is a little bad news and lots of good. Starting with the positives, the Cuda is a factory V-Code, so there’s no question the original motor was of the 440 6-BBL variety, but the negative is that this one is not the original numbers-matching big block. But back to good, the engine is stated as having the correct date code, with the transmission believed to be the original 4-Speed. It’s also equipped with the Track Pak (A33), which got you 3.54 gears in the rear.
Other than mentioning it’s super clean, the seller doesn’t tell us many specifics regarding the interior, such as what’s been refurbished, but with 111k miles I’m guessing it’s received at least some refreshment. Regardless, everything inside appears to be in top-notch condition right now and I’m not spotting anything in there to find much fault with, and who doesn’t love grabbing a pistol grip shifter? So while we’re not finding a numbers-matching powerplant or an original color, what we are seeing is eye candy on the outside plus a very desirable drivetrain, and I can certainly understand why one person so far is ready to drop $70k on this one, though that’s not enough yet for the car to exchange hands. How high would you be willing to go to have this Cuda in your driveway?
What more would you want? Good looking design, great color, all those horses under the hood, and in great condition. Bet it doesn’t go cheap.
Beautiful car.But at least for me if I’m gonna spend big$ I would look for a #’s specimen as the car is an investment at this price point imo. If you ever have to or want to sell the car a #’s car will always be a very strong selling point and bring more $. If it was 20k car who cares.This guy I’m sure has 100k plus into this one depending on if he did the work or farmed it out.glwts.
I grew up in Detroit. In the late sixties early 70s we did a lot of Street Racing. These cars had a 2-year life span, and most we set out to pasture. Useful parts or junk. It’s hard but I can understand why they’re bringing the money they are they’re survivors.
2 years ? Riiiight ….
Does anyone know the number produced with this combination of engine/trans whether B7 or Plum Crazy?
No way I drop 70 large for this one…..color is great, yes….
but not original (B-7 was a real nice color too)….non-#’s matching, no info at all on the engine build, or car resto itself….myself, I definitely do not like the rear GoWing either…..so again, I steer clear of this one…..
Sweet looking ‘cuda. Three pedals and a crooked lever coming out of the floor. Steering and stoppers, too. You’ll be driving and smiling here.
This car does not have power steering…..
Although The big block cars bring more money, I’ve had way more fun in a small block 340 4 spd cars. Yes bigger should be better, but playing on the streets like we did it was way more fun.
My best friend and I worked hard in the early 70’s working with the LA 340 engine. Using a lot of early data by Petty & Coletti CP, we were doing things like oil control, half filled blocks, Intakes, cams and valve springs. We were running modified 340’s 7200-7400 rpm on the street with 850 DP Holley’s and
Reworked distributors. So fun back then. The only header we would use was the hooker competition headers, and the hemi mufflers from the dealer.
Oh what a great time we had. I would trade those days for anything.
You are more in line with my view. I would take the RPM’s a 340 would turn all day long over the displacement of the 440. And people seem to forget the 340 GTS Darts were faster than the 383 GTS darts.
Sounds like a hot 340 @ 7200 rpm. Car is not that heavy if not mistaken as well. Set up right and tuned certainly a blast. Cheers to you
Back in the mid 80’s, I had a 70 Challenger, 383 4 speed car, no power steering or power brakes, & 4 wheel drum at that. The car was a beast, in a straight line but forget about trying to stop it or get around curves driving it in town. A few years ago, I had the privilege to drive a 70 Challenger with a 340 6 Pack & it was a completely different car. Revved to the moon, & handled like a car is supposed to. Seat of the pants told me it was a LOT faster than I remember that 383 being. I learned to live a 340 Mopar that day.
This’ll move down the boulevard. 😎
That base dash. Ugh.
My high school buddy bought a Challenger R/T 440/6 4 speed car his senior year in high school (1970) from Mr. Norm. Extremely fast stock… he beat on it from the moment he left the lot. Blew the original motor around 7k miles, it was fast while it lasted. Plum crazy, white interior, white vinyl top, white stripe. Was super impressed with just how fast it was… he traded in his 68 Chevelle SS396 for the Challenger. After the Challenger he bought a built 69 Z/28 with 4.88’s Pretty amazing car. Lost touch after he went in the Navy, I went Army when Uncle Sam called in 1972. Great times and memories. Riding in the Challenger was pretty unreal.
My two buddies and I were racing our 340 cars in 1973. Two 71Demons and one 69 Dart Swinger. We thought why not pool our money and get a Hemi to race in Super Stock. We found a 71 Hemi Cuda 4 speed for $2,400 with 22,000 miles all stock. It was actually slower than our stock 340’s. Remember this was the first big gas/insurance crunch of 1973. We got the guy down to $1,800. $600 each to get our Hemi! Well the one friend’s dad was sick and he didn’t want his kid buying another car. The whole deal fell apart before it got started. We each ended up building our individual cars. His car never amounted to much because he never finished it. My Demon and the Dart both ended up running 11’s in Super Stock. The Hemi that got away. I was only making about $500 a month in 1973 so for two of us it was too much. $1,800!!!!! 😢😫😭
Over 70000 for a non numbers matching not correct color and added wing car…. Yikes the pipe must have good stuff in it. Cuz y’all pretty high.
Any of you interested in some prime swampland? I have a great deal for you…
A car like this, in factory original spec is an investment. End of story. A non-original engine, color changed, wing added car is a driver. Lots to be said for drivers. The reason I’ve bought every classic I’ve ever owned is to drive and enjoy them. This would be oodles of fun …
I commented earlier about growing up in Detroit. I wrote these cars had a 2-year life span, I should have added most of them weren’t paid for, and we’re being hunted by finance companies,
I buy cars to drive, not sit and look at. Doesn’t matter if the numbers match or not, what matters is it what I want. That being said, there’s no way I’d pay anywhere close to what these MoPars bring nowadays. I can remember not that many years ago MoPar was the cheapest used car you could buy. Sure, the Hemi cars have always brought good money, but the others were cheap compared to a comparable Chevy or Ford. I guess natural attrition and the fact there were fewer of them sold new is part of it, but geez, $70 G for a car that cost less than $4000 new? Who’d thought to make an investment like that back then? Nobody in my circle, that’s for sure!
That’s the problem here this car is not even investment Worthy so the price tag is just absolutely insanity.