1970 Plymouth Cuda'

Description for Plymouth Barracuda 1970

The history of my 70 Cuda. This is my first car. Purchased at age of 18 in 1974. Following is the most complete description I can offer. I have tried to cover all of the good and the few minor problems with this car. I can be reached on my cell phone with questions - 512-422-6417 pretty much any time. I travel about 50% with my job an don't have access to my home e-mail much of the time. So best to reach me by cell phone.

This is a no reserve auction. This car can be driven anywhere and is at half the price of many of the other Cuda's on e-bay today. With a new paint job, this car would easily sell for 40 to 50K. As the car sits today, you can take it anywhere and be proud. It is not a trailer queen.

I purchased this in December of 1974 and am the second owner. This was my everyday car and got me through four years of college. My first job after graduation was in sales so the car was rarely used at that point as a company car was given to me. In 1978, the car had just over 100,000 miles on it. 47000 when I bought it. About 55000 or so I added to it in 4 years as I commuted to school from 74 to 78.

It was initially a 318 4 speed car (I am told this is rather rare and I have never seen another, even though they must be around), manual steering, manual 11" drum brakes (11x3 up front & 11x2.5 in the rear), AM radio, and a rear defroster. The car was originally yellow with a black vinyl top. Also included was a center console.

The car was originally from New Jersey and spent the first eight years of its life in New Jersey. In 1978 I moved to Pittsburgh and the car was garage kept in Pittsburgh until I moved back to New Jersey in 1982. For the 1st 15 weeks in Pittsburgh, I made an 860 mile round trip to NJ every weekend as I was in a hotel until my apartment became ready. I had to wait longer to get one with a garage. This 15 week period was the only time of my ownership when the car was not garage kept. Even though I always had the car in the garage except as noted above, as we all know with E bodies, they all rust especially when residing in the Northeast. I did my best over the years to maintain it however in 2001/2002 did a full ground-up restoration.

I will now explain what was done during that restoration.

The entire car inside and out was stripped to bare metal and the rust which was on the driver's floor, the firewall, the driver side inner fender area, around the door hinges, the hood brackets, the rear quarters and trunk we're all professionally replaced/repaired at a restoration shop. New quarters, trunk floor, inner fenders were professionally replaced. There is currently absolutely no rust or plastic anywhere on the car. I have included a few pictures of the car on the lift showing the completed undercarriage and a couple of pictures of the quarters being replaced at the shop. At this time I also added sub frame connectors and torque boxes at all four corners. I did this in anticipation of the power the rebuilt engine would make. A note about the sub frame connectors. These are not the cheesy 1.25" tubes many people install. These were actually cut to follow the floor contour. It looks like a full frame car. In the pictures, the complete frame including the sub frame connectors are painted blue.

The 318 was replaced with a 1972 340. The 340 has been totally rebuilt by me (except for the machine work) with the following Power adders:

Crane roller camshaft with 530 lift

Roller lifters

Harland sharp roller adjustable rockers

Custom pushrods

Edelbrock aluminum heads

Edelbrock air-gap intake manifold

11:1 forged pistons

DUI electronic single wire ignition

Holley throttle body fuel injection system - computer mounted in glove box.

Trimec TKO 5 speed high torque transmission

323 rear was replaced with a 410 posi

TTI hot coated headers & exhaust system

4 core aluminum radiator

2500 CFM electric fan

Chrome single wire 100 amp alternator

March Serpentine pulleys

Mopar valve covers

A rev limiter has been included to protect the engine. (Rev limiter is mounted under the dash).

Other changes/additions:

Power steering was added

11 inch disc brakes up front replaced the 11.3" drums. A new manual master cylinder was added with the conversion kit. The rear brakes were replaced along with new 11x2.5" drums and shoes.

Front & rear sway bars were added

The vinyl roof was removed

Power antenna was added (never hooked up) but all wires in place

Rear Defroster was removed and replaced with dual speakers

Battery moved to the trunk

Rear spoiler and front spoiler-lets (AAR Style) were added

Ford Grand Torino sport racing mirrors on each door.

All wiring harnesses have been replaced with new harnesses.

Space saver spare tire is original (but I would never use it today). I have used it 40 years ago, but I believe if I were to inflate it today, not sure if it would hold air as the rubber is cracking. Would be dangerous to drive on.

Other items of note:

For the interior of the car the original rally dashboard is intact and the dashboard is in excellent condition. The clock is not functioning but all the other gauges work. I don't believe the tachometer is as accurate as it should be and therefore an after-market tack has been mounted in front of the original tack but can easily be removed. The factory tack is hooked up and the dial is close to the aftermarket tack, but not as accurate. (Seems to be off by 500 RPM)

A new carpet was installed.

The dome light does not work, the open close door switches are bad.

The seats were totally redone the interior looks perfect along with a new roof liner. Recently, I just noticed a small rip in the driver seat - about 1/2".

The car was raced one time at Englishtown New Jersey after the restoration and it turn 12.91 seconds at 110.1 miles per hour through the quarter mile. I have since put the car on a Dyno and it makes 350 horsepower and 352 foot pounds of torque at the rear wheels.

The aftermarket radio is currently not working and I haven't had time to troubleshoot it yet.

Other issues with the car as the restoration is now 15 years old (completed in 2002), the car really needs to be repainted as there are chips and dings and scratches throughout the paint. If I were to keep this car I would take it to a paint shop and have it professionally repainted. It also has a small oil leak out of one of the valve covers. I have not had a chance to replace the gasket yet. The leak started when I switched to Mobil 1 full synthetic oil.

From 20 feet away, the car looks very nice. As you look close up, it needs minor finishing work and new paint. I occasionally take the car to shows here in Austin TX and still get compliments on it all the time. Maybe because I have had it for so long, I know where every defect is and because after the 2001 restoration, it was perfect.

The car currently has 135K miles on it; about 12,000 of those have been since the 2002 restoration. The Trimec 5 speed is a god send. 2700 rpm at 70 mph it relatively quiet and right in the power ban.

The car runs great. There is power on demand. You cannot floor it in 1st gear without going sideways. Sometimes 2nd gear also.

The tires are BF goodrich and just replaced last year. Mounted on 17" centerline billet aluminum mags. Front wheels are 17x8" and rear are 17x9.5"

Millage on car is 135000. Engine was rebuilt about 12000 miles ago. Engine runs smooth and strong. Idles smoothly at 900 RPM. Rev limiter is set at 6400 RPM's but is adjustable.

Rear seatbelts have been removed.

Console has been removed

Clock knob is missing.

Tires new last year and less than 1000 miles on them.

Rear - BF Goodrich g-Force Sport - 275ZR40/17

Front - BF Goodrich g-Force Sport - 245ZR40/17

This is a no reserve auction. Over $45,000 was invested during the restoration. Only asking $30,000. If you bid on it and are the high bidder, you will win this car. Payment will be cash only. No checks or money orders. This car is advertised elsewhere and I reserve the right to remove it from sale on E-Bay. Buyer is responsible for shipping or pick up. If someone wants to see the car, call my cell and I can arrange a viewing/ride. Call 512-422-6417 to schedule. Any cash transaction will take place during banking hours at my bank which is less than 1/4 mile from my home.

Asking price is $30,000.00