After a 29-Year Wait, This Gearhead Finally Got His Dream 'Cuda, a 1970 440–4 Hot Rod

To be a performant machine on the straight 1,320-foot-short strip, the ‘Cuda needed some severe firepower. Built to accommodate every single motor Chrysler Corp had in production, the rescaled car had heavy bones to carry the big-block tormentors, the 426 HEMI and the 440 Super Commando.

However, there were occasions when even the hard-punching muscle simply wasn’t stock-apt to satisfy racers’ needs, so the cars got hot-rodded the minute the lead-footed owners drove them away from the dealerships. Among gearheads’ secret organizations, there are many stories about men who bought vicious ‘Cudas and loosened the factory reins on them just because tire smoke smells like rosewater to some.

One such man lived in New England and did precisely what I’ve described above. In 1970, he purchased a brand-spanking-new Plymouth Barracuda. A U-code ‘Cuda, the 375-hp (380 PS), 480 lb-ft (651 Nm) 440-4. His choice of livery was the FC7-code paint job, making this ‘Cuda one of 3,708 to sport the In Violet Metallic hue. (I know Plum Crazy is far better sounding and more commonly used, but that was for Dodge only. Plymouth called it what it was, actually saying the name of the color in its paint nomenclature).

The 440-4 V8 was a low-number production in 1970 – 986 Barracudas came with the big torquey 7.2 liters of displacement (the metric equivalent of 440 cubic inches), with only 34 sporting a ragtop. The rest were all hardtops like the one we see in the video below – the same one the New England resident bought in 1970.

What’s interesting about this particular automobile is not its racing history – its first owner was an avid dragstrip-happy fellow with a knack for quarter-mile debates. The man knew exactly what he had in hand and kept the car all his life. But he was also considerate enough to let others enjoy the car – visually! – even though that inadvertently meant lighting up the muscle car fire in one teenager’s heart.

The tenacious youngster asked the original owner of this ‘Cuda to let him take a look at it – and that endeavor alone lasted for three years before the protective Mopar man agreed. From there on, it took a 29-year long and patient wait for that teen until he could sit behind the wheel of that machine.

If we look at the car now, we can relate in full to the boy’s wish: the slotted mags, the fat meats at the rear – that also necessitated the vehicle to be jacked up – what’s not to fantasize about? And yet, the owner simply did not give in. The story is told in full by Cardner Peters, the current proprietor of this life-sized Hot Wheels toy. He is the 1987 teenager who settled on a long wait to buy the Mopar. The automobile sat in a speed shop near his house, and Gardner made numerous attempts to convince the ‘Cuda’s original owner to sell it.

Some things are not meant to be, and the two men never shook hands over the twin-scoop hood of the irresistible Plymouth. In 2014, sadly, the man who bought this two-fender-tag machine went to the Drag Strip of Happy Racing to teach the cherubs a thing or two about big blocks and fat tires.

The inheriting family hesitated for two years before deciding upon the car’s fate, but one day in 2016, Gardner’s phone rang, and his bucket list wish came true. Now, after a three-decade wait, even a grown man in his mid-forties needs some time to adjust to abrupt changes for the better. (For what it's worth, note that this man has had twenty-two Mopars until now, so he isn't easily impressed by one).

The night after he got the car home, the proud new owner still couldn’t believe it. He woke up in the dead of night and rushed to the car to convince himself that he was not, in fact, delirious. He wasn’t, and his car looked the part, wearing its big-block 440 cubic-inch earthquake starter and the three-speed heavy-duty TorqueFlite.

The engine isn’t exactly stock – the first owner, being a considerate racer, installed a .509-lift cam – you know, for fat rear tires purposes. And while that definitely increased the size of the man’s smile, it also deprived the brakes booster of its much-needed vacuum. Hence, a vacuum canister was added.

Also, the hot cam had a second side effect – the radiator was working overtime to cool down the roaring Super Commando. Overtime equals overflow. Hence, the obtrusive hose that’s coming off the top of the big temperature regulator straight into the very non-stock but immensely practical soda can. A bigger CFM carb and the pair of Mickey Thompson valve rockers covers tell a quarter-mile story. Or who knows how many, as this car was its first proprietor speed toy.

70,808 miles on the clock (113.930 km) are just as many reasons to consider how many sets of tires this ‘Cuda burnt through during its 53-year adventure on Planet V8. The custom paint was added in 1971 and perfectly matched the car’s heightened stance. The 8-track tape with the Deep Purple album is the perfect addition to this spirit of the most incredible year in muscle car history.