How to locate my old 1970 Hemi Cuda

[Mr Cuda]

Hay, I also had BS27H1B243978

1971 340 4sp Shaker hood, Cuda convertible. GF3 Amber Sherwood Metallic exterior, white interior.

It's the only 340 4sp convertible that I know of with a Shaker hood.
One sold this year for $352,000 with an added on Shaker hood.

I assure you, it's not the only 340 convert with a shaker.
 The sherwood green convert (your old?) got color changed to curious yellow and is on youtube.  With more incorrect information as to numbers.

[Mr Cuda]

I looked for all of you.
The youtube is a different sherwood green 340-4 n96 convert.
So thats 2 green , plus the others.

[BS23R0B146537]

.
The 1971 that I owned had a color change to silver when I bought it.
Out of 30 340 4sp made, I was hoping that some others were Shakers.
Now that I found this built sheet, maybe the Shaker was added in mid 1970's with the color change ???
That's my 1971 Hemi Charger next to it in my driveway.

[BS23R0B146537]

This is the 1971 Hemi Cuda that I sold to Roy Crownover.
I had put the AAR spoiler & the hockey stick decal on it.
Also I put wheel well moulding on it.
The back quarter panel forward wheel well openings were cut maybe an inch or two for bigger slicks before I bought it.
I was able to 'blend' the new mouldings into this area so well that you wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it.
But, if you 'know' Cuda's, a Cuda expert,  it would stand out like a sore-thumb.
I remember drilling holes for the new moldings?
Did Hemi Cuda's come with wheel well moldings?

[Mr Cuda]

.
The 1971 that I owned had a color change to silver when I bought it.
Out of 30 340 4sp made, I was hoping that some others were Shakers.
That's my 1971 Hemi Charger next to it in my driveway.
[/quote]

  I'm sure Ola has a list.
 I wish he would post some retracted data. ( no names ) but at least color combos

[BS23R0B146537]

I picked up my new 1974 360 4sp Cuda in April 1974.
I had ordered it late 1973 when I heard that they were going to stop making them.
Photos show it with Hemi drivetrain & Shaker from my 1970 Hemi Cuda.
I did switch those bumpers too before unloading the Hemi Cuda body as those 1974 bumpers hurt. LOL
So, After picking up my new $3,600 1974 Cuda in April 1974, I bought a 1970 HEMI Cuda for $1,995 in June 1974.
I was only 20 years old when I did this while working a $5 an hour job. LOL
I was going out for my 21st birthday in the  picture with that beautiful young lady.
That's an Edelbrock 'Rat-Roaster' intake that I took off of a 1970 Hemi Challenger that I bought in the mid 1970's.
I sold the Black Hemi Challenger to Harold Delastine in McDonald PA.
You can see the 1970 Hemi Cuda next to my 1974 Cuda in the driveway, & at the time that this picture was taken, the drivetrains were switched.
I later switched to an AAR hood as it was lighter, & the Shaker was a pain to remove when working on the Hemi. I was Fast & Furious 40 years before the movie. LOL
I did a B5 repaint years later & added a custom made TA hood.

[ec_co]

It's interesting that the registration card shows a B523 instead of the correct BS23, somebody at the DMV fat fingered it

[BS23R0B146537]

It's interesting that the registration card shows a B523 instead of the correct BS23, somebody at the DMV fat fingered it

It was that way from PA for the 10 years that I owned it. LOL

[RzeroB]

I picked up my new 1974 360 4sp Cuda in April 1974.
I had ordered it late 1973 when I heard that they were going to stop making them.
Photos show it with Hemi drivetrain & Shaker from my 1970 Hemi Cuda.
I did switch those bumpers too before unloading the Hemi Cuda body as those 1974 bumpers hurt. LOL
So, After picking up my new $3,600 1974 Cuda in April 1974, I bought a 1970 HEMI Cuda for $1,995 in June 1974.
I was only 20 years old when I did this while working a $5 an hour job. LOL
I was going out for my 21st birthday in the  picture with that beautiful young lady.
That's an Edelbrock 'Rat-Roaster' intake that I took off of a 1970 Hemi Challenger that I bought in the mid 1970's.
I sold the Black Hemi Challenger to Harold Delastine in McDonald PA.
You can see the 1970 Hemi Cuda next to my 1974 Cuda in the driveway, & at the time that this picture was taken, the drivetrains were switched.
I later switched to an AAR hood as it was lighter, & the Shaker was a pain to remove when working on the Hemi. I was Fast & Furious 40 years before the movie. LOL

Mr McElvath I presume??

Welcome aboard!

Interesting commentary on some of your former cars! A lot of swapping of parts back and forth from one car to another it seems. Having experienced that time period myself I do understand how common that was back then. Whether it be rust, or collision, we didn't have the means available to save the body like we do today. If the body was rusted or wrecked, you saved what you could and found a new or nicer body to stuff it into.

Anyways, I found your commentary particularly interesting concerning BS23R0B146537. A car with that VIN is around as a triple-black, bucket-seat, console-automatic car. It has a "not original" fender tag on it ... it's obviously "not original" as it has "V6R" stamped on it ... and a "V6R" red hockey stick was never available from the factory. Based on your comments as to it's original color and configuration, it may ... or may not be ... the same original body restored to it's current color and configuration? Who knows if it's still the "real deal" ... or (gasp!) a rebodied reincarnation? On the bright side it made an appearance in Hot Rod magazine in 2001 when Dave Blankenship owned it  https://www.hotrod.com/features/mopp-0109-1970-plymouth-cuda/  The downside is Dave no longer owns it and I don't know who is in possession of it today.

As for BS23R1B350637 it too is still around and surprisingly still in race trim ... or at least it was as of 2016. Ola Nilsson snapped some pics of it and posted it to Facebook "Factory 426 Hemi Cars (no clones)" on May18th 2023 here  https://www.facebook.com/groups/Factory426HemiCars/permalink/6319697188114787  As you can see, it still has Roy Crownover's name on the window too!

Enjoy and again ... welcome aboard!

P.S.  Thanks for the "push" notice Josh ... might have missed this if you hadn't done that!

[BS23R0B146537]

Hi Tom, yes it's me.
I read the Hot Rod piece, & it's not the BS23R0B146537 that they are talking about.
BS23R0B146537 was always a daily driver & had maybe 30,000 hard miles on it when I bought it.
The original owner sold it to me in June 1974 because of the gas crisis, & the Hemi was running 'hot'.
The Hemi had a 'sticking' t-stat & 'hotter' range spark plugs in it, & I rebuilt it, & had Akron Arlen Vanke
blueprint the heads for me.
After I unloaded BS23R0B146537 with the 360 drivetrain in it, I know of at least 5 other owners that had it before I loss track of it.
Sometime in the 80's a couple of guys from Erie PA got a hold of it, & somehow found out that I once owned it.
I gave then some misc 'small' parts that I still had from it, plus the original transmission 'case' that I had saved after burning up that trans at the track in the 70's.
So it did have a numbers matching transmission.
They said that they were going to 'restore' it, & I wished them luck as I knew that the body was 'toast'.
I had always though that the bench/bucket front seats were really cool, & I also thought that the '3' on the tree
was kind of weird, but unique for a HemiCuda, especially being built with a 4.10 Dana, & V2 paint.

Now Roy is a really cool guy & really loves his B5 HemiCuda.
I bet that maybe over the last 45 years, he has maybe put a total of 100 miles on it.
I remember that he had Galen Glover document it, & he said that Galen was totally blown away with how original &
how correct it was, & the very low miles. 


 

[RzeroB]

Hi Tom, yes it's me.
I read the Hot Rod piece, & it's not the BS23R0B146537 that they are talking about.
BS23R0B146537 was always a daily driver & had maybe 30,000 hard miles on it when I bought it.
The original owner sold it to me in June 1974 because of the gas crisis, & the Hemi was running 'hot'.
The Hemi had a 'sticking' t-stat & 'hotter' range spark plugs in it, & I rebuilt it, & had Akron Arlen Vanke
blueprint the heads for me.
After I unloaded BS23R0B146537 with the 360 drivetrain in it, I know of at least 5 other owners that had it before I loss track of it.
Sometime in the 80's a couple of guys from Erie PA got a hold of it, & somehow found out that I once owned it.
I gave then some misc 'small' parts that I still had from it, plus the original transmission 'case' that I had saved after burning up that trans at the track in the 70's.
So it did have a numbers matching transmission.
They said that they were going to 'restore' it, & I wished them luck as I knew that the body was 'toast'.
I had always though that the bench/bucket front seats were really cool, & I also thought that the '3' on the tree
was kind of weird, but unique for a HemiCuda, especially being built with a 4.10 Dana, & V2 paint.

Now Roy is a really cool guy & really loves his B5 HemiCuda.
I bet that maybe over the last 45 years, he has maybe put a total of 100 miles on it.
I remember that he had Galen Glover document it, & he said that Galen was totally blown away with how original &
how correct it was, & the very low miles. 

Now that is some interesting info on your former car 146537. I don't know how, or when, the black car became 146537, but it is now wearing that VIN. Is it actually your old car ... I don't know? Is it a rebodied replacement wearing a that VIN ... again, I don't know? What I do know now is that your info sure does question the validity of the black car. As I said, I don't know where it is today, but in December of 2012 it was for sale on the now defunct "Americanstreetmachines dot com" website. I captured the following pics of it from the ad, to include the fender tag, which identifies it as being your 146537.

[BS23R0B146537]

BS23R0B146537 came up in an interesting conversation on the July 4th weekend 1976.
I had joined the NHOA that was created by 2 college students in 1975.
The 1st national meet was on the same weekend as our nations 200th birthday.
Very few people showed up & maybe 6 Hemi car's raced.
This meet was at Tri-State Dragway just outside of Cincinnati Ohio.
I came with my ratty 72 Vega as it just didn't feel right driving a Hemi car 4 hours
on this special holiday weekend to this track.
As I was sitting in the empty grandstands with these 2 guys, one being I think his name
Was Roland Osborne?, the subject of BS23R0B146537 came up.
I had told them what I had done & they freaked. LOL
They told me to find that body & store it away as it would be valuable in the future.
I was young & dumb, & should've listened to those 2 college guys. LOL

I would say that if there are Zero traces of V2 to be found on the new BS23R0B146537, then it has a different body.
I had also did a quick & dirty welding of a 'tunnel' for the 360 4sp.
It would be easy to spot unless they put a new floor pan in it.


Picture from that 1st NHOA meet with maybe Roland Osborne at the right side of pic.
I took this pic as that V2 Hemi Cuda reminded me of my old BS23R0B146537

[mccannix]

 hmmmm...

[fc7cuda]

I picked up my new 1974 360 4sp Cuda in April 1974.
I had ordered it late 1973 when I heard that they were going to stop making them.
Photos show it with Hemi drivetrain & Shaker from my 1970 Hemi Cuda.
I did switch those bumpers too before unloading the Hemi Cuda body as those 1974 bumpers hurt. LOL
So, After picking up my new $3,600 1974 Cuda in April 1974, I bought a 1970 HEMI Cuda for $1,995 in June 1974.
I was only 20 years old when I did this while working a $5 an hour job. LOL
I was going out for my 21st birthday in the  picture with that beautiful young lady.
That's an Edelbrock 'Rat-Roaster' intake that I took off of a 1970 Hemi Challenger that I bought in the mid 1970's.
I sold the Black Hemi Challenger to Harold Delastine in McDonald PA.
You can see the 1970 Hemi Cuda next to my 1974 Cuda in the driveway, & at the time that this picture was taken, the drivetrains were switched.
I later switched to an AAR hood as it was lighter, & the Shaker was a pain to remove when working on the Hemi. I was Fast & Furious 40 years before the movie. LOL

Mr McElvath I presume??

Welcome aboard!

Interesting commentary on some of your former cars! A lot of swapping of parts back and forth from one car to another it seems. Having experienced that time period myself I do understand how common that was back then. Whether it be rust, or collision, we didn't have the means available to save the body like we do today. If the body was rusted or wrecked, you saved what you could and found a new or nicer body to stuff it into.

Anyways, I found your commentary particularly interesting concerning BS23R0B146537. A car with that VIN is around as a triple-black, bucket-seat, console-automatic car. It has a "not original" fender tag on it ... it's obviously "not original" as it has "V6R" stamped on it ... and a "V6R" red hockey stick was never available from the factory. Based on your comments as to it's original color and configuration, it may ... or may not be ... the same original body restored to it's current color and configuration? Who knows if it's still the "real deal" ... or (gasp!) a rebodied reincarnation? On the bright side it made an appearance in Hot Rod magazine in 2001 when Dave Blankenship owned it  https://www.hotrod.com/features/mopp-0109-1970-plymouth-cuda/  The downside is Dave no longer owns it and I don't know who is in possession of it today.

As for BS23R1B350637 it too is still around and surprisingly still in race trim ... or at least it was as of 2016. Ola Nilsson snapped some pics of it and posted it to Facebook "Factory 426 Hemi Cars (no clones)" on May18th 2023 here  https://www.facebook.com/groups/Factory426HemiCars/permalink/6319697188114787  As you can see, it still has Roy Crownover's name on the window too!

Enjoy and again ... welcome aboard!

P.S.  Thanks for the "push" notice Josh ... might have missed this if you hadn't done that!

You're the best Tom!  good commentary.

[JS23U]

The 1971 that I owned had a color change to silver when I bought it.
Out of 30 340 4sp made, I was hoping that some others were Shakers.
Now that I found this built sheet, maybe the Shaker was added in mid 1970's with the color change ???
That's my 1971 Hemi Charger next to it in my driveway.


The convertible still seems to live in Switzerland. Its fender tag got changed to GW3 (white).