Random Hemi E-Body of the Week

[6bblgt]

Here is a fender tag to BS23R0B159479, that to me has a rather unusual color combo ... or lack there of! It's all white ... EW1 outside with a white interior. I found this picture doing a google search, but the little camera icon in the corner of the picture tells me that it was on ebay at one time. This is all I have of this one, but I have "heard" that Mauro Brocca was involved with this car in some capacity??

I saw this car in ~2005 in a body shop in Van Nuys, CA - from memory it was in primer & had '70 style rear wheel flares on it

IIRC it went northeast to CANADA ~2010 & Shawn MacLean had something to do with it & was looking for info, as the deal went sideways to some extent http://www.macleanclassics.com/

not sure where I got these pics of it - I believe there was a Moparts.com thread about it about a decade ago

[750-h2]

Going back to the FM3 Hemi Cuda's I have a question? Back in 1995 or 1996 I visited Ray Dupuis in Ottawa Canada. Ray is a big Hemicar collector in Canada and at the time owned at least seven original Hemi cars. Also present were 3 or 4 of Ray's Ottawa and Quebec buddies which at the time also owned original Hemi cars. One of these guys I forget his name stated that a few years earlier he sold his FM3 1970 Hemi Cuda to a US collector which if memory serves me correctly was Otis Chandler.   Has anyone else heard this story? Is it one of these two cars??

[anlauto]

Can't imagine a deal with Shawn MacLean going sideways ... surprised to see his website up and running...he went out of business a few years ago....

[mccannix]

John Smith from Orleans, Ontario owned and restored that FM3 Hemicuda with a little help from friends.
Greg Joseph who was with Otis Chandler at the time, put the deal together for Johns FM3 Hemicuda, Rene Deslisles 70 Hemi Challenger convertible and Gerry LeFevre's 70 Hemi Coronet convertible for the museum.
I believe Greg Joseph owns the FM3 Hemicuda today.

[750-h2]

@mccannix Thanks Terry! So there was at least three FM3 1970 HEMI Cuda's? Or is Greg's car one of the A/M two cars?

[anlauto]

Terry always has the goods

[750-h2]

Yes he does!

[RzeroB]

@mccannix Thanks Terry! So there was at least three FM3 1970 HEMI Cuda's? Or is Greg's car one of the A/M two cars?

Only two known ... Greg's automatic black topped car, and Wade's 4-speed white topped car. If there was a genuine third one I think it would have definitely surfaced by now.

There was a "third" car ... an automatic car BS23R0B296096 ... it was pink for years and a regular show winner ... but it was originally a EW1 white car and has since been returned to it's original color.

[JS29]

 

[Moparo]

Here is a fender tag to BS23R0B159479, that to me has a rather unusual color combo ... or lack there of! It's all white ... EW1 outside with a white interior. I found this picture doing a google search, but the little camera icon in the corner of the picture tells me that it was on ebay at one time. This is all I have of this one, but I have "heard" that Mauro Brocca was involved with this car in some capacity??

I saw this car in ~2005 in a body shop in Van Nuys, CA - from memory it was in primer & had '70 style rear wheel flares on it

IIRC it went northeast to CANADA ~2010 & Shawn MacLean had something to do with it & was looking for info, as the deal went sideways to some extent http://www.macleanclassics.com/

not sure where I got these pics of it - I believe there was a Moparts.com thread about it about a decade ago

Glad to see the car made the list 
Yes this car was involved in a sideways deal that Shawn was involved with. I was able to work with Shawn and get this car and parts reunited for the owner The car is doing well and being restored back to the fender tag. Which thanks to everyone that had saved the picture from eBay. The car still has it numbers matching ED Pink built hemi. Very pumped to see the car back to white on white.

PCR

[Cuda Cody]

Welcome to the forum @Moparo     

Thanks for sharing the update.

[JS29]

Yes @Moparo    That cuda will look beautiful! 

[mccannix]

I was fortunate enough to own a very nice original 1971 Hemicuda for close to 8 years from the mid 80's until 1994 when it went to the next owner.
A short novel of how of how the story goes follows :

I used to frequently travel the 10 minute drive from Ontario to NY state on my days off from work, as my job enabled me to have days off during the week.
Upstate NY had always been a hotbed for musclecars, good yards, and old dealerships with good leftover stockroom parts.
I stopped one day in 1984 at a good yard in Felts Mills, NY that I used to go to a lot.
Donny, the owners son, told me he had been out with the wrecker a few weeks back and saw a yellow Barracuda behind a shop about an hour drive away in Massena NY area.
I headed on down the highway and got to this place about 1 1/2 hour later, got out
to go to the shop when this Cuda with the big Hemi billboard caught my eye at the side of the building sitting in tall grass.
I didn't want to be nosey but my body kinda gravitated toward that car.
A guy stepped out the side door and hollered that that the car was not for sale.
I apologized, and he spoke briefly about the Hemicuda and asked me what I wanted.
This guy Alex, was the spitting image of Buddy Holly, especially the thick dark rimmed glasses and black hair.
I mentioned I was told about the car down back...he said it was an AAR parts car and I could take a look.
That is a story in itself about how Alex and I got off to a 'not so good start'.

Back at the shop Alex told me how he had bought the Hemicuda basically new with under 3000 miles on it in 1972 at the Chrysler dealership in Malone NY, one town over.
I asked if he left that car in the long grass all the time and he stated he just had it parked outside  that day as he was installing a new front end alignment machine, and that it was always stored inside.
He told me that a young man in 1971 had checked off nearly 3/4 of the possible options ordering this Hemicuda and trading in his 6 cylinder Duster on it.
About a month of ownership, this mans wife gave him the ultimatum to either go and get that Duster back or she and their 2 year would leave him since that car with all that power was not a practical family car.
Luckily the dealership still had the Duster and the trade back took place, costing the young man dearly.
Then the Hemicuda sat, and sat, eventually going to the rear of the lot for the winter of 1971 to make room for the now 1972 models.
A few of the salesmen occasionally drove the car the following spring but it eventually wound up not running well.
The mechanics there were not good at tuning the car, so someone suggested they call Alex in Massena, knowing he played around with multiple carburated corvettes.
Alex told me he stopped a few days later , took the Hemicuda for a drive out on the freeway and basically cleaned it out which is all it really needed.
He was so impressed with its performance, having never been in a hemicar, that he asked them what they wanted for it, and he bought it on the spot.
Alex also owned a green 67 427 tri-power vette that was parked in the rear of his shop with minor front end damage that he showed me that day,...so he knew performance cars.
He also allowed me to have a good look at the Cuda.
I spent a bit of time in the back seat pulling it ahead a bit just enough to see a broadcast sheet.
I also felt one behind the glove box.
He said he had the 'price sheet stickers' from the glove box that had been on the door glass, in his office somewhere.
Engine appeared to be untouched, three fender tags present.
One thing that I noticed was the valve covers showed no trace of ever having had wrinkle finish black paint, were smooth black paint,  and he said that is how they were since he had owned it.
Front bumper was a 70 style but I had heard that some 71's came with a 70 bumper.
I asked him if it was original, and he said no, he put a split in the original one and threw it out !!!!
Since he had one on that yellow AAR down back, he sprayed it orange and installed it.
Also installed were a brown valance and a brown header panel, one roadlamp was missing and drivers fender had some good scratches that looked like could have been caused by tree branches.
He said all that happened when he "put it in the rhubbard once" and he replaced the valance , header with some used pieces he got..
The rest of the car was as new, no rust, clean straight , and interior was immaculate as was undercarriage, all original drivetrain and trunk area.
One good crack in the grill.
Odometer had just rolled up 32,000 and everything was stock, never hot rodded.
He said lots of locals were interested in the car, so to just put my name in his address book.
I dont know what possessed me but I'm glad I did, as I wrote in big block letters on the inside cover "CALL ME FIRST " with my name and phone number.
I made the 2.5 hour trip to visit Alex about 3 or 4 times a year and we became good friends...he had amazing stories about that car and others in the area.
When I would ask him about the Hemicuda, he always swayed me away from it, instead sending me to an original family owned rusty 440 Superbird  10 miles away, and to an
original dealership still owned Hemi Daytona in Potsdam NY ,a few towns away...neither were for sale at the time.
Several years later after making a good friend and board member here aware of that car,
he was instrumental in brokering the Hemi Daytona car sale.

I got a call in June of 1986 and Alex said he had  business venture opportunity and he was selling either the 427 Vette or the Hemicuda and it was going to happen fast.
I called in sick the next day so nervously drove over to Massena, went for a couple rides in the Hemicuda and was hooked.
That was a Friday and I had until the next Thursday to either show up with the money or he was going to the address book and start making calls.
I had some sleepless nights but got the money together, called him Tuesday and told him I would be there Thursday morning with the cash.
He had agreed to drive the car the 2.5 hours to my place in Canada and I would drive him back home.
Easier to do the Customs declaration with the seller right there.

How that went and the trip home to Canada is another story in itself.

First picture here is the car as it was when arriving home.
Next picture is a few days later after a good cleaning and installing original NOS Goodyear F-60's I had. ( no repros back then ).
That is all original paint, billboard!

[mccannix]

Chapter two...I'll try to be shorter

So with the car sitting in my garage, I started making a list of what I needed for the car, which was not much.
I replaced the header panel with a mint used one I had.
I had an NOS front valance and NOS lenses, also a flawless 71 Cuda grill, and I had extra roadlamps around, so rounded one up.
The only thing I didn't have was a front 71 rubber bumper.
At Carlisle that July, I came up empty.
But lucked out at the Mopar Nats in August that year and bought a super nice original red paint one from Crazy Matt in the back row for $750.00.
Pricey in 1986 but I had to have one.
I had a very good friend and top drawer painter paint and blend the drivers fender, do the header, valance, grill and hood and buff the rest of the paint to near perfection.
Sitting in garage after back from shop.
Trunk picture is interesting seeing jack hook on mechanism,...Alex says jack was never removed from trunk when he owned it...black tape on gas tank wire is a factory install.
Picture taken by Muslecars magazine in 1991 with a little blurp after I had driven it to Syracuse NY to a National Hemi Owners meet that year.
Ad in Hemmings Motor News that I ran.
This ad ran for two months without a single response !
Walt Downer had ran his Hemmings ad for the same price for two months as well.
His car was a twin to mine, same mileage but 4 speed and no billboard, no bumpers and had a luggage rack.
I eventually got two different potential buyers who flew to Toronto and drove here to look at he car.
As the first guy was dragging his heels, the car sold in minutes to the next in line
as the car spoke for itself.
The car sits now in Kevin Suydams collection and can be seen on his website with others.
Kevin had Roger Gibson do the restoration which was very easy according to Frank.
The car had numerous markings, paint daubs on its flawless undercarriage which were well documented and videoed.
Also show is New car record which went with car, as well as the three pristine broadcast sheets.
I am happy Kevin gave it a good home and I did thoroughly enjoy it and did drive it a lot during my ownership.

[anlauto]

What did you pay for the car in 1986 ?