While the owner states that this 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda Convertible has been in storage for the past 20-years, this isn’t necessarily quite right. Yes, it has done little work in that time, but it has been brought out 3-4 times a year to be given a bit of a run. Even this has only amounted to the car clocking up around 1,500 miles during those years. It looks like the owner has now decided that the Plymouth, which is located in Olympia, Washington, needs to go to a new home where it will get some more use. Therefore, it is listed for sale here on eBay, where bidding has reached $31,100. The reserve hasn’t been met at this stage, but there is a BIN option available at $50,000.
The owner provides plenty of photos of the ‘Cuda, and it looks like it is a rock solid vehicle. The floors look about as clean as you could ever hope to find, while the panels look like they are also free of any major rust issues. There might be a spot appearing in the bottom corner of the driver’s door, but the rest looks quite good. The Alpine White paint isn’t original, as it appears that the car has received a repaint at some point. It isn’t perfect, with some evidence of what looks like poor preparation in a couple of spots (around the passenger side front wheel opening), and there a number of small dings and scratches evident on the car. The car does come with a new top, and so far, it has all looked quite promising.
This is as close as we get to a look at the interior of the ‘Cuda, and I must say that I am fascinated by the aftermarket gauges which sit below the dash. The oil pressure gauge is showing around 70psi of oil pressure, but the temperature gauge isn’t registering anything. I suspect that this might not be connected, as most of the factory gauges indicate that the engine is running. If this is the case, then it also means that the factory tach also isn’t working. While we can’t see it, the owner assures us that the car has new carpet, along with new covers and foam for the seats, but these haven’t been installed. I also noticed that there are a couple of knobs missing off switches, so replacements for these will need to be sourced.
Prior to going into semi-retirement 20-years-ago, the ‘Cuda is said to have undergone a pretty substantial mechanical refresh, and the car has only traveled 1,500 miles since this occurred. The 340ci engine, the TorqueFlite transmission, the power brakes, and the front suspension were all rebuilt, while the car also received new tires at that point. If the ‘Cuda had then been left sitting for all of those years, I would expect there to be some work required to get the car ready for active duty, but this may not be the case. The owner states that the ‘Cuda is a driver, but I would still be inclined to have a thorough mechanical check performed to ensure that all is well with the car before I decided to drive it any great distance.
On the face of it, this ‘Cuda Convertible shows a lot of promise and looks like it will need very little work before it is ready to hit the open road again. There doesn’t appear to be any reason why it couldn’t be driven and enjoyed during the Summer months, and then parked in the workshop and any detail work attended to during the next Winter. I suspect that it could be well worth the effort.
Neat looking car, what’s not to like about a 340 powered e body. No 4 speed will surely get frowned on by most, for me it’s the big 50,000 thou asking price. Oh well, I’m not a convertible guy anyways.
$50k is a big chunk of cash! That much money would buy a rotted out Charger AND a POS Mustang..LOL.
You’re right though Troy for that much cash most of us aren’t players but at least this one has underside photos (how’d they keep it THAT CLEAN?) and with the 340 it’ll make someone a great ride.
If the seller really wanted to be considerate they’d include a case of SPF 100 with this convertible or at least a reference to a good dermatologist..
Oh yeah, I get it Nevada, that price gets you into a decent car here as opposed to two rusted out eyesores like that ’69 428 scj Torino yesterday as an example. It’s all about how much someone is willing to pay, always has been….just a car nut here.
Yep…low production car and for a convert – pretty clean belly….
That’s true, Troy. It’s always been about how much someone’s willing to pay-whether they’re true car nuts like us, like the rest us all in this forum. I was being somewhat sardonic about what seems to be a bargain nowadays and just grousing about the overinflated prices by too many snake oil salesmen in hopes we could find a solution to bring about a change..
Tilting at windmills is not easy, and not a job for the young.
I wish the sellers would start using their brains when selling collectable muscle cars like these and including info on whether it’s numbers matching or not. A good numbers matching Cuda vert could pull in 30k more than a non numbers matching car in the same condition.
No mystery about the gauges. They need mending, so rather than sending them to a specialist for repair, the owner went to Pep Boys, or Grand Auto or whatever, and bought some cheap, no name aftermarket ones. The tach is working either, but its a fair guess the owner feels he doesn’t need it, its a slush ‘box, so he saved the cost of hose clamping something to the steering column. This is quite common in our hobby.
My daughter bought one for $100,000 in Feb, this year. Was FMS Pink. 318 4-speed. One made. Manual top. White interior and white top. Factory Air. Hers was not a Cuda. Sold new in Vegas.
This is originally a Lite Green, power black top, green interior. Several nice options. No Air. 155 340 Cuda auto made. I have color breakdown.
Lite green is least popular color for some reason. Popular in late 60’s thru early 70’s.
Could very well go over $55,000.
FM3 you mean , Panther pink while rare in Mopars was sprayed on over 1000 various Plymouth’s he paid over $100,000 for a run-of-the-mill 318 even for a convertible she was taken
Was not a he, was my daughter. She can buy anything she wants. At any price. Bought her Maserati at $170,000 cash. She buys, not talks about them. Moves on.
Her Pinky is one 4 speed made in the convert.
I did not mean Panther Pink, as I stated the paint code on purpose, FM3.
While you sit here and tell everyone what you would pay, well, you would not pay $100. dollars. She buys no matter the price. It is what she wanted. And now she has the only one.
p s, I on purpose did not say it came with a 426 Hemi already installed. It also came with the original 318. It is a factory Air convertible. She has more cars. She loves old Mopar Muscle cars. She also just bought a new Ford Shelby Raptor crewcab.
Forgot to bring to your attention. FM3 is NOT Panther Pink on Plymouth. Do some research. Lets see if you can find out before inserting foot
There was one Gran Coupe V8 convertible in FM3, and it was a 318 4-speed.
But it is unknown how many FM3 Barracuda convertibles were built with the same combination. Saying it’s the only one made is not quite correct.
Aaaaaaa, one 4 speed, 9 auto. 10 FM3 1970, 318 Barracuda converts made
Joe you are incorrect with your numbers.
Approximately 10 V8 Barracudas were built in FM3, but they include all engines from the 318, 383 2v and 383 4v. There are no existing numbers that show how many of the +/-10 were built with the 318 and there is no info of them divided further by transmission.
383 and 340, are Cudas, not Barracudas. One 6 cyl in pink conv made.
For Cuda, 3 pink converts. 150 pink Cuda coupes made. That help you? This is just part of the documents I have for production from Chrysler
Joe who are you addressing? Nothing in your post has anything to do with what I’ve said. Perhaps you need education so you can keep thing in order. There were 3 Barracuda models in 1970, the base Barracuda, Gran Coupe, and ‘Cuda. Your daughter’s car is a Barracuda V8 convertible. Approximately 10 were built in FM3 and it is not possible to know how many of those were 318 cars. The documents you have will not tell you anything different.
No Vin ?
No Fender tag ?
No build sheet ?
No history ?
No
Maybe I’m missing something, it sure looked like the fender tag and VIN were shown in the ad. As for build sheet, it would be nice, but does it really matter, this car isn’t being sold as a high end restoration candidate. It has some history, what sort of history are you looking for?
Steve R
The writer of this story says all the factory gauges are working, it looks like the tach is sitting on zero but it has about 70 lbs of oil pressure on the after market gauge. Both temp gauges look like they are around 100 degrees, maybe it was a hot day…
Look at the clock…it’s 5 o’clock somewhere!
Drink up! Maybe a few if you lay out 50 K for this :)
I believe the key is in the on position, but the motor is not running. The charging gauge is in a discharge state(meaning a draw somewhere) with the fuel gauge seeming to show a half filled tank and the doors opened would show this. Lots of miss matched items in the engine compartment, intake, radiator,valve covers,ignition, compartment painted black, no fan shroud and possible a 65′ – 69′ water pump, though the by pass hoses look correct. Possible a frontal wreck at some time. Still a nice car, but buyer beware with big bucks.
50 K doesn’t seem bad to me compared to the shells we’ve seen that go for high 20’s that need complete restoration with a new motor and transmission to boot!!! There’s a guy lives by me with a 340 convertible in purple and I don’t think he would let his go for 50K!!!
Yeah that fender tag is sketchy, neither of the engine codes check out and the rear anti-sway bar that was on all 340 ‘Cudas is MIA. It’s a good restoration candidate at it’s current bid, $32000, if it’s real.
Please canx my subscription.
Regards Bill