1971 ‘cuda convertible

[69CudaFan]

Okay, please bear with me.  There has been quite a bit going on with work and this adventure.  I purchased the car last week.  It is the very same car that Randy Gerstenberg restored back in the 1980s.  It was saved by him during a time it would have been crushed otherwise.  It was one of the three 71 cars used in Mannix per Randy.  I am gathering parts, and info as much as I can. I drove it by his house so he could see it, verify it, and tell me more.  He recognized it immediately when he open the door from 75 feet away!

Back half of the car was a 383 auto. Most of the parts used on the car came with the original car (it was highly optioned).  The shaker was added (no crumple zones). Parts from a 1970 340 4 speed coupe was used to save the car.

I was the guy who drove it by Randy and asked him to tell me all he knew after I purchased the car early last week.

It has a 66 Hemi, 4 speed and Dana 60 from a B body. 

It looks nearly as good as that old picture shared above!

 

[RUNCHARGER]

Interesting: I would be tempted to put it all back together Hemi and all.

[anlauto]

I'm a little confused....I thought the Mannix cars were 1970 Cudas ? and Darts before that ?

[69CudaFan]

That's the plan @RUNCHARGER

[69CudaFan]

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0061277/trivia

I just watched an Episode on Mannix "Babe In The Woods".  Def a 71 'cuda convertible.  It was shot a darker green than F8 to be more camera friendly though.

[69CudaFan]

Cleaning up the engine bay and gathering parts.

[69CudaFan]

Anybody else have pictures of this out in the wild? Went to Detroit a couple times and was driven!

[1 Wild R/T]

Should be some floating around, it was out and about quite a bit, I'm from central California & saw it at a few different events....  I'll look around, I should have more photos...  One funny memory, is the exhaust still with the car?  Randy wanted it to look fresh before the Power in the Pines meet so he painted it with silver Imron....  When he drove it up probably seven plus hours the heat caused the imron to change colors.... It was a gold colored exhaust...

[autoxcuda]

There's tons of pics of that thing. Randy and his then wife/girlfriend Sabrina took it around and used it to publicize their resto business called Cuda Connection.

Cuda Connection was written in Coca Cola style lettering.... They were big fans of Coke.... And they liked the soda too.

How is Randy doing? I heard him in that Instagram video and he sounded real rough.

RTS show at Anaheim Stadium 1989

[autoxcuda]

Spring Fling 1989

[1 Wild R/T]

Spring Fling 1989

Man the Blue 71 sure came apart..... 

[autoxcuda]

Spring Fling 1989

Man the Blue 71 sure came apart.....

It was painted by Randy at Cuda Connection.

I heard it had this really thick high build primer on the hood. Started cracking like a dry lake bed

They scraped it off into 5 gal buckets (plural).

[69CudaFan]

Steve thanks for the pics! Great to see the car and how it's held up over the years.

Randy was obviously very emotional to see the car again. He also smoked for 45 years and painted without a mask. He has COPD as a result. When he has a flare up it makes him a little breathless.

I spoke with him a couple days later and he was much better on the phone. He was obviously quite taken aback to see a car from his past he has so much history with.

[RUNCHARGER]

In the photos it looks like the cosmetics are still pretty good on it?

[anlauto]

So what's the VIN ? Is there documentation to back up the Mannix claim ?