Random Hemi E-Body of the Week

[750-h2]

Speaking of that poster,does anyone know if Allan Decker still owns that 1971 Hemi Cuda convertible. Years ago I was told by one of his snowmobile racing buddies that he had sold it but last week at the Moparfest I was told he still owned it???   

[6bblgt]

the EL5 hemi'cuda convertible has been with an owner in the pacific northwest for 10+ years

[RzeroB]

the EL5 hemi'cuda convertible has been with an owner in the pacific northwest for 10+ years

I had it down as still being with Allen, but I guess not since Allen is from Wisconsin ...

the EL5 hemi'cuda convertible has been with an owner in the pacific northwest for 10+ years

Pacific Northwest you say?? Perhaps Brush Prairie WA?? I knew it!!

[anlauto]

the EL5 hemi'cuda convertible has been with an owner in the pacific northwest for 10+ years

I was disappointed when it wasn't at MCACN 2015

[RzeroB]

the EL5 hemi'cuda convertible has been with an owner in the pacific northwest for 10+ years

I was disappointed when it wasn't at MCACN 2015

[cudaized]

Pacific Northwest you say?? Perhaps Brush Prairie WA?? I knew it!!

No. And it's not coming out to play any time soon. It is comfortably resting. 😳

[anlauto]

Mopar Nationals 1988

[RzeroB]

That's about as nice of a view of that car as you are going to see. 

On the other hand, that's what I really like about guys like Wade Ogle, Tom Lembeck and Dave Blake (and maybe even the enigmatic "The Brothers"?). Although their cars are extremely rare and valuable, they don't squirrel them away and hide them. On the contrary, they bring them out, show them off, drive them and seem to genuinely enjoy sharing them with other enthusiasts. You just got to love those guys for doing that otherwise we would never see any of these amazing cars because they would all be squirreled away somewhere. 

[RzeroB]

The previous posts about the EL5 HemiCuda 'vert created a great segue to move on to that car next. However, since it isn't an "August baby" let's save that one for another day. In my previous post I did mention Wade Ogle as being one of "the good guys" and as it turns out Wade does have an "August baby" in his collection. So without further ado, here is Wade's Mr Norms '71 Hemi Challenger RT JS23R1B108804.





Love these pics of the car! The Challenger looks really "mean" and aggressive - like it will devour anything in front of it - something that I'm sure it probably did do on more than one occasion!



In the fall of 1970, Mr Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge ordered a "batch" (reportedly seven cars?) of similarly equipped Hemi Challenger RT's. This Mr Norm's "Super Challenger" was very much purpose built with speed and performance taking precedence over comfort and convenience. This one is equipped with the A34 Super Track Pack 4:10 geared Dana rear axle pkg, A45 Aero (spoiler) pkg, and B51 Power Disc Brakes and a N96 Shaker hood.

Although the original owner went all-in to get the ultimate Challenger, he only kept it for about a year. In the fall of 1971 he sold the car to a friend. The friend, preserved the car and put it into storage where it sat for 35 years before emerging and hitting the streets again in 2006! Here is the RM Auctions listing from 2012. It makes for an excellent read on some of the history of this car.





Pretty cool story behind this car. I love the look of the Six-Pack hood on this car - looks really aggressive with it on there! Today, it's hard to imagine anyone saying to a dealer "toss the Shaker and put a Six-Pack hood on it for me would you?" But apparently that's just what the original owner did ... or did he??



According to Wade, that part of this car's legend is incorrect. After acquiring the car, Wade managed to track down the original owner Charles "Chuck" Starr, (pretty cool unto itself) and among other things, got the real "scoop" on how the Six-Pack hood wound up on the car. Apparently, one day Chuck had the car parked in his driveway and was giving the car a tune-up. He removed the Shaker bubble and set it aside next to the car on the driveway while he worked on the carbs. His friend then accidentally backed his Jeep over the Shaker bubble crushing it flat!! It was beyond saving, so Chuck just tossed the crushed bubble in the trash. He then went and bought the chrome air cleaners (with some spacers to raise them up some) and put them on the car so the filters were poking up through the Shaker hood. Later on in the fall, with winter weather approaching and the air filters all exposed, he removed the Shaker hood and installed the Six-Pack hood to cover the exposed air cleaners up. As Paul Harvey would say ... "and that's the rest of the story". A big kudos to Wade for sharing that interesting detail about the car. 

[Cudino]

Thanks Tom!  And as usual excellent job in featuring the car, you've got it all right.  In fact a few years ago, after I located him, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the original owner, Mr. Starr, in person, and reunite him with his old ride.  This took place when I brought the car out to MCACN, and in preparation for the show I asked Chuck to come out and hang for a bit.  While he could only stay for a short time it was great fun to get some pics with him sitting in the driver's seat once again!

- Wade

[RzeroB]

Being that this next car is an August car I wanted to get it posted up last Thursday, August 31st, but I was having some problems with the Photobucket site. Although it is now September, I decided to post this car up anyway since it has some significance to it. Better late than never, I present to you BS23R1B100378

Here is a "back in the day" pic of 100378 - note the "Oct 72" license plate.



And here is a more recent pic - although I don't know for sure just when this pic was taken. Just look how that Sassy-Grass, or should I say "Sassy-Glass", just glows!!



The brand new appearing H6F7 interior.



And King-Kong hisself residing within the immaculate engine compartment.



And then the fender tag which Scott Harms-Smith had originally posted up over on Moparts.



Like the Butterscotch 1971 Hemi Challenger RT posted earlier in this thread, this car has a "CAR xxxxxx" number on the tag in lieu of the VIN sequence number. I don't know what exactly "CAR" stood for, but I have heard some refer to it as "Chrysler Automotive Research" Anyway, the car was built and held by Chrysler to go on the show car circuit promoting the new 1971 models (note the "Y93 show car finish" code on the tag - along with the mysterious V26 - that code has a lot of people guessing). When it was done showing off, it was put away in storage, probably to be held and later auctioned off like the Butterscotch Challenger.

However, it never made it to auction.

The story is that very late in the '71 model year, a person went to Burton Motors in Lee's Summit Missouri with the intention of ordering a brand new HemiCuda. The buyer's order was taken and the dealership sent it off to corporate only to be told that the factory wasn't going to build anymore Hemi E-bodies that late in the model year (for some reason, the '71 Hemi E-body production did not go into July like it did with the '70 model year, but stopped more than a month earlier in mid-June). I don't know exactly how it happened, but the buyer persisted so the dealership made some calls, someone in the corporate chain identified this car sitting in storage, some strings were pulled and this car was dusted off and released to Burton Motors and then sold to the persistent buyer. Score!! In doing so, this car is itself kind of "bookends" in that it was the first '71 HemiCuda built and then wound up being one of the, if not thee, last '71 HemiCuda sold.

[Cuda Cody]

Sassy Grass           That is about as good as it gets.

[RzeroB]

Continuing on with our September born cars, we have one that was scheduled to be built on September 19th 1970. It is 1971 Hemi Challenger RT JS23R1B127028.



It is finished in FE5 Bright-Red with V6W white RT stripes, a V1W white vinyl top and a H6XW white vinyl interior making for sharp car of vivid contrasts in color.   



This Hemi Challenger RT is one of the 12 1971 Hemi Challenger RT's that were equipped with an automatic transmission. Like the Butterscotch "pilot" car 100243, this one also has a column-shifted automatic transmission. The fender tag is not overly loaded - the entire top line is void of any codes - but it does reveal a couple of interesting things about the car. The VON starts with an "R" - which suggest that this was originally some kind of a company car, be it an executive lease or a public relations car. Secondly, it IS an original Shaker car with the N96 clearly stamped into the tag.

It is currently a member of the ever growing The Brothers Collection (who ARE those guys??) and is featured in this episode of their Muscle Car of the Week video series hosted by Kevin Oeste. I especially like the video at about the 2 min mark. If you wait for it, The Brothers do something that they don't normally do - they actually show the fender tag (ever so briefly) in the video at about the 6min 20sec point. Enjoy!!

[750-h2]

Sassy Grass           That is about as good as it gets.

I agree and I also love the green interior!

[Cuda Cody]

I really dig the black shaker with the white.