Investigating a new cuda

[Fastmark]

One of the fun things of this hobby is buying a old car and trying to piece together the history of car by the evidence you find. In this case it's a 70 U code Cuda that I've known about for years. I met this guy in college in about 81 or so. We became friends as he worked his way through college as a mechanic in Abilene. His daily driver here was a 74 Cuda.  But back home in Arlington, in the garage was his first Cuda, a 70 440-4v,auto, air and vitamin C Orange. He bought it in 77 and drove it until 80, on a limited basis. During this period, he pulled the 3.55 and installed 4.10 so he never drove it on the highway. After college he went back home, but we kept in touch.  He wanted a hemi so he pulled the 440 and looked for a hemi. Unfortunately, he sold the block, heads and crank. He kept the rods, carb, intake, exhaust manifolds and transmission. The hemi he bought had been a race motor at one time with a roller cam and a magnesium cross ram. It would idle with 10 psi of oil pressure and he could never figure out why. He did not pull the motor to get it checked out. I ended up buying the hemi in 1989 after he had given up trying to get it finished. That is when I first saw the car. When I arrived, the first thing I saw was the front of the car on jack stands and it was supported at the transmission crossmember only. Nothing under the front of the k frame at all. It had been just sitting there for five years with a complete hemi just hanging. It had broken the spot welds up by the hinges on the cowl and the top gap of the fenders to doors was about an inch wide. The bottoms of the fender were actually overlapping the doors by 1/4" or so. He was horrified that he had never seen that. We pulled the hemi and I left, but always kept in touch. I even sold I'm some parts for the  car over the years.
Fast forward to July 7, 2019. I bought car after he decided his health and family circumstances would never let him restore the car. He never did get a motor together for the car but did get the original k member back in with all the original brakes. He did change ball joints and master cly but never got the brakes working. I suspect this was only done to move the car from his father garage to his garage after his father passed ten years ago. The only thing he did really was install a new dash pad. It was cracked from the Texas heat when he bought the car. The car has been in a garage since he bought it in 77 and it has always been in the Dallas area so it is rust free. However, the old girl lead a hard life before he bought the car. It was hit hard enough to warrant a front end replacement. It has a new right front fender, header grill, lower valance and hood. It buckled the frame slightly on the right below the rear opening to adjust the upper a arm nut and buckled both inner fenders. They replaced all the upper core support and both sides of the radiator core support. That means the number are gone. Also looking behind the k member on the left side, the frame has been broken. A poor attempt at a weld is present. It is all greasy like it has been done long ago and driven since. It also had a right rear quarter put on back in the day when all they did was shortcut them.
None of this was a big surprise because I was told the guy that he bought it from treated it roughly. I would think that all that collision damage could have contributed to the cracks in the passenger side cowl and even the broken spot welds on the pass floor pan on the trans cross member. My biggest surprise was the mileage which he thinks may be original. He hardly ever drove the car before he started taking it apart in 1980. It has 13868. I can hardly believe that,though. It may have had the speedometer unhooked or something. I don't think he paid much attention to such things. After all the hemi hanging for five years with no support is mind blowing. The car has not been driven for sure since 1980.  All the trash in the car and coins date from 1979 and older. If it had not been inside a garage all these years, it would be much worse. I was looking at the front brakes and it does have widemouth caliper with proper date code. The rotors are very thick and the two piece design. I was wondering if the rotors and pads have date codes on them. The pads look thick as well.  The steering wheel has very little wear and the brake pad looks good and not worn. Can you guys think of anything I can investigate that has a date code on it that may I may be able to determine by the wear pattern if that mileage is even close. The car just does not look good enough to be a 13000 mile car but 113,000 is just not believable either. Thanks

[cuda hunter]

Wow.  That's quite the story. 
Too bad you don't have an old polaroid of the car supported that way. 
Do you have pictures on the forum of the car?  Sounds like a ton of history.  Too bad about the numbers on the cowl, motor and support. 

[Fastmark]

The fender tag is still present and the screws never moved. The cowl numbers are still there, as well as the transmission. I'm not one of these guys that has to have a matching motor in order for the car to be a desirable car. When people put too much emphasis on numbers , all it does it lead to some people stamping blocks to increase the value. Pretty soon, every car is treated like a fake. My original paint AAR lost its motor in warranty. I've enjoyed it since 1976.

[DeathProofCuda]

 

Sounds like an interesting project.  Would love to see some photos.