2007 RM Auction, Scottsdale: Hemi 'Cuda convertible brings $2.2 MIL
1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda Convertible – Lot 255 $2,200,000 gavel price
Seems like the 11 people who ordered Hemi 'Cuda convertibles in 1971 are pretty much guaranteed a $2-plus million payday if they decide to sell their ragtops. So if any of those owners haven't finished their restorations, you can probably bet that they are working on them as we speak. At RM today, a Hurst pistol-gripped 4-speed sample (1 of 3 like that) brought $2.2 million.
Although well known, the Hemi-powered 'Cudas are fairly rare, which is what makes them so valuable. They were only built in 1970 and 1971, and in '71 Plymouth built just 108 coupes and 11 convertibles. Three are Hurst pistol grip shifted four-speed manual transmission cars, and two are B5 Blue like this particular 'Cuda. See why they command such ridiculous prices now? And one other thing, this car had its stock motor yanked while it was drag raced and then was put back together several years later. The original accurate odometer still reads under 300 miles.
[Source: RM Auctions]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Barney 10:50AM (1/20/2007)
I don't imagine there is still eleven left. I wonder what the engine was that was used for dragging. That use to be the price on Packards and Duesenbergs.
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FrankTheCrank 10:49AM (1/20/2007)
Hmmmm...
House+SRT10 Viper+07Vette+Home Theatre+Motorcycle+Lexus330
or
71 Hemi Cuda Ragtop
You can keep the 40 year old clunker...I'll take the former...thank you.
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chuck goolsbee 10:57AM (1/20/2007)
See why they command such ridiculous prices now?
No, I don't. All I see is a fool who was parted with about $2.95 mil more than the car is actually worth.
I'm sorry, but in reality (the plane of existence were we actually live) Detroit built and sold these things by the tens of thousands. Every month.
Limiting production numbers by options is a completely disingenuous, and in my mind criminal method of defining value. I can not understand how people have fallen for it. There is no difference between one barracuda and another folks... they are both Barracudas. Just because a few of them had a locking glove box door, or a "kung fu grip" shifter, does NOT somehow increase their value by millions of dollars. This is a generic muscle car, of which I can find just about anywhere, or even create from parts bought at my local NAPA.
The idea that these things have the same value of say... a Ferrari 250 LM, or a Le Mans winning C-type Jaguar... both of which are truly rare IN ACTUAL REALITY... is absolutely ludicrous. The ONLY smart people involved in this transaction are the seller and the auction house. The buyer is a complete idiot who will likely not be able to sell this car (unless it gets flipped this week) for more than a eighty grand as soon as this bizarro bubble pops. I expect that to happen any minute now.
This market collapse will make 1989 look like like child's play. At least back then it was mostly Ferrari's, Bugatti's and Duesie's that fools paid insane money for. They at least have recovered to a certain degree. But Detroit V8s? I'm sorry, cars my peers drove in High School (in the late 70s/early 80s when these things were just ratty used cars) will NEVER, should NEVER have values judged in $millions. If any market was due for a serious correction, it is this one.
--chuck
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big jimmy 11:06AM (1/20/2007)
finally another $2.2 million E-body convertible
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cowboy bob 11:20AM (1/20/2007)
I also believe that these prices will never hold up in the test of time. The buyers here are the richest of the boomers who had the yen back when, but couldn't get it. My grandfather was Dusie fan, and loved Packards. I liked Studes, and old Mercs. The kids today like Honda Civics with mufflers made from trashcans, and will be paying big bucks for these later in life. As to the Hemi's, 409's and SOHC's, they will always bring good money, but I doubt they will command the prices seen today. If I had one now, I 'gotta believe it's the time to sell.
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chase 11:34AM (1/20/2007)
Wow, I cant believe the people that dont see why these cars are worth so much. Obviously someone didnt read the story, there were only 11 convertables built that year and only 3 with the hurst shifter. Very rare, and this car is in prestine shape. Some people just dont get it. At least I do and one day ill own one of these cars. It will sit in the garage right next to my NEW Challenger.
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Aaron 11:39AM (1/20/2007)
It's a work of art, a physical metaphor of the times, of an era. Anyone can go get any old Cuda, it'll have a 318, be a coupe, have an automatic. But this, this is perfection in sheetmetal.
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Jaymez 11:59AM (1/20/2007)
I'd shoot my mother to get my hands on a 'Cuda. I'd shoot her twice to get a rag top 'Cuda. Even if I could, I wouldn't pay $2.2M for one.
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ts 11:59AM (1/20/2007)
the goons that don't understand collectible cars drive camry's and accord's. no brains, no soul. go figure.
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Richard Warren 12:27PM (1/20/2007)
Something is worth what someone is willing to pay, pretty simple.
The value is what the value is at the moment the car sells, what happens afterwards is subject to the market, speculation, rarity, demand.
What gets forgotten here is that many of these high dollar cars are bought not by the average Joe but by "collectors" who buy and sell these cars as a business. So if you sell off a couple of other cars that money is going to need to be pumped back into the business.
For all those bitching, stop pissing on someone elses party, your just jealous you don't have the 2 mil or the car.
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Pistol 12:25PM (1/20/2007)
Hey, Chuck!!! There any "any other Barracudas". If you are so smart, how come you are so dumb? There were Barracudas and Cudas. Same car, but two distinct automobiles. Cudas were and still are classified as the big block type with 383 Magnums and up. The Barracudas were any other type motor that was smaller. Go back and re-read the article about the rareness of this Hemi Cuda and just maybe you will understand. 300 miles, only TWO blue ones, 11 convertibles, and only 119 produced as Cudas in 1971. If you were blonde we could say "DUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!", so maybe you are blonde.
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ntrain 12:25PM (1/20/2007)
Cars like this make me cringe that I didn't pick up the immacutlate black on black with red pin-stripe 71 Charger RT 440 6-pack for only $500, and under 50k on the odometer, a few years back. Old mopars fetch those kind of big bucks because they offered what everyone wants simple yet stylish fun and functionality, and represented a better more free feeling time.
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TZ 1:18PM (1/20/2007)
Chuck:
What part of "there were only 11 built" do you not understand?
There were 11 Hemi Cuda convertibles built for the '71 model year. That's 11 *total*, not 11 with specific options.
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J Finz 1:02PM (1/20/2007)
wow chuck u don't know much about collector cars. A car is worth what somebody is willing to pay for it, just because you don't agree with it doesn't mean its wrong. The convertible ACTUALLY IS a rare car and for some ppl is as or even a more desirable car than a jaguar, just depends on the individual.
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bud bundy 1:13PM (1/20/2007)
I had a 1970 Dodge ChallengerR/T Plum Crazy 440 wedge motor. Brand new ordered in late 1969 from Spitzer Dodge in Miami. The Paint would come off in chunks. Sold it repainted in copper color in 1974 in Miami for 1000$ Reward offered for this car. Vin# is JS23UOB191358.
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dave 2:52PM (1/20/2007)
chuck, your out of your league on this one. it's so obvious you don't understand "classic cars". yes, you can find muscle cars most anywhere, but to know what your looking for takes years of research, know how, guts, and money. stick to your honda's and leave the "classics" to the pros. by the way, in the early eighties if i remember right, the highest price paid for a duesie was around 300K. now they sell for 600K to 1.2 mil. not a bad return for a clunker.
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Eric 2:27PM (1/21/2007)
I agree with the posters here who see this car as hopelessly overvalued. Sure, they only built a handful of them. But what is the 'limited production' part? Its not the body, tens of thousands of identical bodies were built. It isn't just the engine, plenty of other cars had the 426 Hemi engine. It isn't the transmission, that is just a boring Hurst 4-speed found in countless other cars. All together, it is unique, but how unique is it? I mean, you can build an EXACT replica of this thing for about $140,000. I'd like to see you try to build an exact replica of the 1937/40 Duesenberg SJ Rollson towncar that sold at the same sale. The chassis and engine ALONE would cost $300,000-400,000 and the coachwork would cost another $400,000 to replicate exactly.
I'll admit, the car here is unique, its original and originality is worth a lot of money (that is why a real Picasso costs millions and an identical print can be bought for less than $50), what exactly is so special about it? When it comes down to it, all I see is a highly overpriced but highly optioned production car.
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rw 3:54PM (1/20/2007)
Yes the this person who bought the car is the highest bidder in the world. Does that make him the smartest or the richest? I would not have payed that much for that car. But what does that mean? That car means nothing to me. But to the bidder it was a $2,000,000 car. Now this owner must answer the $2,000,000 question did he make a good purchase or is he the peak of the market? Time will tell.
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Jim 5:20PM (1/20/2007)
"this car had its stock motor yanked while it was drag raced ...The original accurate odometer still reads under 300 miles"
300 miles a quater mile at a time (probably a mile at a time including runout and return) is a very very rough life. I don't think it's worth bragging about in terms of 'low miles'. But then the odometer probably wasn't hooked up during it's drag racing career, as who would build it and then only make 300 runs in it?
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ts 6:07PM (1/20/2007)
dumbass. 300 miles, a quarter mile at a time...hmmm, noone said that this would require math...oh, yeah, assuming that it drove nothing but quarter miles, that means 300 multiplied by 4...doh! this must be too hard for a camry/accord owner.
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