1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Is More Original Than Nicolas Cage

Because of the above such cars seldom need a helping hand to become even more sought after. Yet it never hurts for one to be associated with someone famous, especially when said car is about to sell at auction.

The Cuda needs little introduction. It's a variation of the Barracuda, the high-performance version of a vehicle born in 1964 to technically give birth to the two-door pony car segment. Introduced in the lineup together with the third generation of the mother car, which ran from 1970 to 1974, it has become one of the most disputed vehicles on the auction block.

One thing that makes these cars this valuable today is their rarity, especially in their original condition. And it doesn't get any rarer than one equipped with a 426 Hemi engine and a 4-speed transmission.

That's exactly the configuration of the car sitting before us now. A 425 hp monster running the original, matching numbers powertrain, and a Super Track Pak Dana axle for good measure.

Although rebuilt and restored, both the engine and the transmission are the ones fitted inside the body back when the car was made, in 1970. The powerplant spins Rallye wheels shod in Goodyear tires that have the appearance of brand-new hardware.

The drivetrain is not the only thing that's original on this car. The sheet metal and the power disc brakes have been installed in the factory more than half a century ago as well. On top of that, all the car's components come with the "correct factory markings, stampings, numbers" and dates.

All black on the outside, the Cuda sports an equally dark interior, with black vinyl bucket seats sitting in front of a dashboard with Rallye instrumentation and a rim-blow steering wheel.

This exact configuration was only used on 284 vehicles in all that year – this one is car number 128 in that very limited production run.

So, all in all a vehicle so rare it can easily hope it will fetch a lot of money once it sells at the end of January 2024. But there's more to the car than that, a little ownership bit of info that just might drive its final price even higher, if the right crowd is in the house.

We're told that before getting in the hands of the current owner and getting ready to sell, this 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda was owned by none other than Nicolas Cage.

It's not clear for how long the Leaving Las Vegas star had it, or how he used it (drive it or show it off), but the ownership is there, written in the papers that come with the Cuda – no less than three large binders of documentation that is, that include the full fender tag decoding, the window stickers, the owner's manual, but also receipts and photos from when the restoration was performed.

Should the fact that this Cuda was once in the possession of one of Hollywood's most original actors not be enough to convince people to bid, the current owner throws into the mix the name of Jack Sharkey, former president of the National HEMI Owners Association – he too is one of this car's previous owners.

Auction house Barrett-Jackson will try to find a new owner for the 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda in Scottsdale in January. Like all other cars selling there, this one is going with no reserve, meaning it will be snatched by the highest bidder, no matter the sum offered.

That means we don't have an estimate to go on as to how much the car could be worth. Other examples of this breed, for instance, are said by valuation specialist Hagerty to go for the fair price of $88,500.

Mind you, that's the base version of the model, with no famous owners in the car's past. To get a real sense of things it's enough to remember that back in 2014 a 1971 Plymouth Cuda with a four-speed transmission tied to its engine sold at auction for the staggering amount of $3.5 million.

That was the highest price ever paid for a Cuda to that time (and, to our knowledge, to date), but it could have been fueled by the fact it was one of just two cars made in that configuration that year.

We will of course keep an eye out on this vehicle and report back with fresh info once we learn how much it actually goes for.