I bought a new car...UPDATE PICTURES

[1 Wild R/T]

  E-body Bench seat was uncommon in 70s & 71s. Reguardless of price class...

That is true.... But uncommon doesn't always mean desirable.... And in this case it isn't.... 

[anlauto]

  Bench seat column shift is the kiss of death for any collectable car 

[6bblgt]

  since it isn't a "odd duck" desirable or #s car 

a restoration toward red exterior with black buckets/console auto with the existing 340 would be the wisest/best bang-for-the-buck battle plan

[GrandpaKevin]

  I would add a 4 or 5 speed as no AAR or T/A should have ever been build with an automatic transmission.

[cuda dad]

The way you were already jumping in I thought you might have the car done next month!!     It looks like a great project!!!  Is it a $25K to $30k car as it sits?  Not needing a lot of metal work is a big plus.

Scrolling through the thread I was thinking the same.  It would be tough to do all of the work and sell for a profit.  But it is an AAR and they are very popular.  Even this one is somebody's dream car.

[anlauto]

@6bblgt  Dan what are the production figures of 1970 Barracuda/Cuda with a bench seat ?
@Transamcuda.com Jeff, roughly how many bench seat AAR's are in your registry ?

[Brads70]

All the provenance parts are gone. Restomod/pro-tour it.  Nobody wants a bench seat/column shift AAR muscle car. ( or very few)

[nsmall]

Doesnt everyone want an AAR?

[61K T/A]

Not my cup of tea but would be interesting to advertise it say on Ebat and see what the window auction would bring. I would rather spend 20k more or so on another AAR and get all the right stuff that I've seen advertised before.  I've been looking for other Mopars to buy and a lot of whats out there for cheap is basically NON #'s, ALL THE CORRECT PARTS ARE GONE, repop fender tag, no BCS. The list goes on. You know what people do to these cars over the years. Cars are basically a mess. About the only originality to be found is the dash VIN. I personally would buy a clone (that's what I'm leaning towards) or close to it, and beat the pisss out of it. I'm really disappointed to think buyers are so stupid to buy a car that was, for big money. Shit, for 65k I should buy a modern Challenger.

[Transamcuda.com]

"@6bblgt  Dan what are the production figures of 1970 Barracuda/Cuda with a bench seat ?"
"@Transamcuda.com Jeff, roughly how many bench seat AAR's are in your registry ?"

There is no way to tell exact production figures for bench seat cars. The percentages are inaccurate just as it is for the color charts people post from time to time.

As far as how many bench seat AAR's are on the registry. Here is that number as of 10/7/18  its a little over 100... There are 2 cars that have had fake tags made for them and the color and options were changed but they both fall into groups of similar optioned cars with bench seats so im not counting them until I can confirm what was changed. other wise it would be 102.

[6bblgt]

  but the info is not without merit - if you understand what the information is 

the Option & Accessory Reports (that I have copies of) were created using data from domestic shipped vehicles as of an UNKNOWN date to demonstrate popularity of OPTIONS as a percentage of "SHIPPED" vehicles

they take into account 16,710 'cuda hardtops (BS23) all "shipped domestically" (~88% of total production)
the installation rate of of a H4__ bench seat in a BS23 (at that point in time) was 7.2% or approximately 1,203 cars

these ~1,203 'cudas would be all automatics, which total (by the same math) ~7,771 cars
so, for the 1970 'cuda hardtops with an automatic transmission more than 15% had a bench seat (that's > 1 out of 6 automatic 'cuda hardtops)

1970 'cuda hardtop (BS23) 18,888 total built (Y05, Y07 & Y09)
IN A PERFECT WORLD that 7.2% would represent 1,360 cars which I'm sure is closer to reality than the "1,203"

[6bblgt]

I have fender tag info for 32 AARs OPTIONED with a bench seat out of 516 (6.2%)
I have fender tag info for 32 AARs OPTIONED with a bench seat out of 291 w/automatic transmission (11.0%)

not too far off of the "O&A Report" percentages considering the small number of samples & the AAR "subset" isn't quite the "average/typical 'cuda"

curious what Jeff's @Transamcuda.com numbers would show?

he has fender tag info for 100 AARs OPTIONED with a bench seat out of ???? (?.?%)
he has fender tag info for 100 AARs OPTIONED with a bench seat out of ??? w/automatic transmission (??.?%)

[HP_Cuda]

Dang you are gone a few days and you miss all the fireworks.

[anlauto]

Well Jeff says 102 in his registry of 1700.....so that's also 6%....the law of averages at work...

I'm no idiot...I know bench seat column is a bad thing....I know from a owner stand point that nobody wants one, everybody wants a four speed or at least buckets and a console, but you can't deny the rarity and uniqueness of this option especially in an AAR. Anywhere you take this car you'll get more attention, on lookers, people in disbelieve, comments both good and bad, FAR MORE then a four speed or console auto car....

I've talked to MOPAR guys this past week that didn't know they existed....or never seen one in person....I bet if you've seen an EBody with a bench seat, whether you liked it or not, you probably remember it, when, and where you were....

If someone buys it from me, or pays me to restore it...I hope they choose to restore it correctly, if they don't, no big deal....it's their car. 

[RUNCHARGER]

I'm of the opinion that a cheap, plastic console has no place in a Road Race car.