Mopar Collector Guide Cuda

[Rich G.]

I see this a lot and I don't get it or I'm missing something. This month they're showing a 30K mile survivor Hemi Cuda. It goes on to say it had one small spot of touch up done but 99% of what you see is original. Then why is the fender tag black and rusty? Great car anyway!

[70 Top Banana]

I have seen the same thing but can only speculate. Here we go:

* it is really 130 or 230K miles and not a real 30K car, has been painted.
* It is a fake and the fender tags did not come on that red ebody.
* it is bologna
* It was a black car repainted red. I don't believe there were many black 70 or 71 real hemi cars. If It is a real black hemi car, strip the red and put it in black.

[70 Top Banana]

One more: it was originally red, painted black, stripped and repainted red but the fender tags did not get painted and are still black

[Cudino]

Having known this very car for 15+ years, while I was reading the article all I could say to myself was "Wow".  I'm not sure if it was artistic license from MCG or lack of correct info from the current owner, but frankly the article has a lot of mistakes.  Before making any corrections online I'd be happy to go over what I know about the car with the owner, if anyone knows him they can have him PM me. 

What I can say is that it is a good car, largely unrestored, and I believe much/most of that EV2 paint is original.  I don't know how the tags became black, but we all know they were sprayed so poorly new from the factory it is not uncommon for them to have been crudely repainted by a later owner.  Maybe that's what happened, I really don't know.  Plus, this car has been in the public eye, during Kenn Funk's ownership about 8 years ago he brought it to both a MATS and a Spring Fling show.  Anyway, it's a nice car, several of my friends have owned it, but there are some areas within the article that should be clarified.

- Wade

[cuda hunter]

I've wondered about the different colored tag cars myself.  Not many of them but I've seen them. 
Seems most of the mis-colored tags are high end cars. 

[Ebody Edgar]

Well...back when these were just used cars and people actually drove these cars the lead acid battery would occasionally emit corrosive gas and acid thru the vents as well as splashing from adding water to the battery on the adjacent metal surfaces. That's one good reason why old unrestored cars have rust on the tag or rusted out fender tags and they end up painted black or another color to protect them. That car has been around forever and known and there is no boogie man faking anything. I'm amazed at the fear of the fakery based on wild speculation. The tags are real and i won't tell you why.  And did you know there is actually a way to check a tag to see if it's real but that is  proprietary information and very specialized equipment.

[cuda hunter]

hahahaah.  That's funny. I won't tell.  That is the reason there is so much concern over fakery.  Those who have the info to help others don't share it.  Because then the "fakers" would know what they know. 
Honestly, those who have the money to fake a full car have the time to figure out how to fake one appropriately.  Regardless, I know but won't tell yal is why Barry has a drove of information that no one has the ability to utilize.  What good is information if it just dies with the old guys? 

Humorous and disturbing. 

[captcolour]

I'm amazed at the fear of the fakery based on wild speculation. The tags are real and i won't tell you why.

Um, seeing black tags on a red car is hardly "wild speculation".  Black tags on a red car are definitely something that should have been explained in the article.  The tags don't match the car visually as 99.9% of them should so that is a "fact" and not speculation.  I would argue that your "tags are real" comment is "wild speculation" as we can all see visually something looks wrong without any supporting evidence why they are real.

[Filthy Filbert]

hahahaah.  That's funny. I won't tell.  That is the reason there is so much concern over fakery.  Those who have the info to help others don't share it.

Well, in 15 more years, all the guys who know these details but won't share them will be gone from the hobby and we can start making fakes that can't be detected

[MoparLeo]

I wonder why, if they were trying to "hide" something that they didn't just paint the tag body color. It would be very easy to paint the tag the same color as the car. So unlikely there is something sinister going on. Why draw attention ?

[Cudino]

There's another reason for a car having miscolored tags, one that I'm aware of firsthand.  Not in this car's case, but when guys send their cars to the paint shop I always recommend they hold on to their tags until the last minute.  If they want to get them painted then, only when the paint is about to be sprayed, should they hand-carry their tags over and then hand-carry them back after paint.  I don't know how many times I've read about a paint or resto shop losing an owner's tags, which is heartbreaking.  And it almost happened to me, before paint a large resto shop I used to deal with once misplaced my tag on a high-end car, but fortunately they finally found it in a toolbox a month or so later.  Once I got that tag back I locked it up in my safe, so even today it is a different shade of color than the car.  Anyway, point is there's a lot of explanations for tags not matching the color of the car, it may look odd but it doesn't really concern me.  On a car like this though, described as a survivor, if known I agree it would have been nice if the article included an explanation.

What does concern me are the mistakes in this article, which to me causes more reason for doubts than this car deserves.  As example, even if I didn't know any of this car's history the following error is obvious. While listing the car's options the article says "the black billboard decals are original," but the article also shows a picture of the tags which clearly aren't coded with V6X.  That's a glaring error, but unfortunately this article contains several other similar types of mistakes or speculations, and to me does a disservice to a good car.  Again, I don't mean to be vague, I'm just not sure if some of these mistakes are due to artistic license by MCG or misunderstandings by the owner, so out of respect for the owner I'd prefer to share my knowledge of this car with him and allow him to be the one to make any corrections public.

- Wade

[anlauto]

In your opinion, do you think a car could have EVER left the factory with different coloured tags....and I mean way different like this car ?

[Cudino]

In your opinion, do you think a car could have EVER left the factory with different coloured tags....and I mean way different like this car ?

Others, probably even you Alan, have surely seen more original cars than I have, but I've never seen or heard of tags with original paint that were a different shade/color vs. the car, especially since the factory intended for the tags to be installed during paint.  On this car I really have no idea what's up, but my guess is they were repainted by a subsequent owner for one reason or another.  And geez, if anyone was going to fake some tags, why go to all the effort of making repops for a high-end EV2 car then painting them black!  I have to believe there's a much simpler story.

- Wade

[anlauto]

I would think the original owner was a detail freak (cleaning wise) he likely saw the poorly painted orange tags and gave them a coat of black paint so they wouldn't rust more

[Rich G.]

I guess the one small spot of touch up should have been on the tags and we wouldn't be having this discussion. LOL. This forum has been a great place for information and has helped me a lot with the cars I've restored. Why someone would say they know things and keep it to themselves is just another one of those things I just don't get!