The Paint Chip Cuda Is Perhaps the Most Famous Plymouth Cuda in the World

In theory, this color scheme applied to a muscle car (or to most cars, for that matter) would make no sense. If anything, it would take away from the beauty of the machine, turning it, more or less, into a vehicle fit for a clown.

The Paint Chip Cuda is here to prove you wrong. This 1970 Plymouth Cuda, which can be seen in person at the Wellborn Musclecar Museum in Alexander City, Alabama and virtually in the gallery attached, is considered the most famous and most beautiful Cuda in the world. While one could argue that beauty is only in the eye of the beholder, there’s no denying that this Cuda is a true sight. And yes, the color scheme absolutely works in real life.

The Color Chip Cuda has an interesting history, one that will make you believe that you can live out your childhood dreams. It starts when Tim Wellborn, the owner of the museum, was 12 years old and visiting a Dodge dealership with his father. While at the dealership, he started going through the brochures on display and, by pure chance, came across an image that would stay with him for decades later: an all-page ad for Rapid Transit System that boasted that “Anybody can offer a car. Only Plymouth offers a system.”

Included with the ad was an altered image of a 1970 Hemi that featured on the passenger side all color options available. The 25 wide, colorful stripes, the wheelie bar, a rollbar, drag racing slicks and zoomie headers made the Cuda into something young Tim had never seen until then. The impression was so strong that, four decades later, when he opened the Wellborn Museum and he came across the brochure once more, Tim knew he had to make that Cuda real.

First off, he set out to find if it’s been made before and, it turns out, it hadn’t. The Cuda in the ‘70s photo had never existed and was an altered image. This was his chance to create a beautiful one-off, so he started looking for the perfect example that he could work on.

In July 2016, The Bomb Factory informed Tim they’d found an impeccable example in a New Orleans warehouse. In fact, the Cuda was in such beautiful form that Tim decided to make his task even more complicated: he would modify the car without damaging it, leaving the possibility for it to be returned to factory-correct condition.

This placed a new set of obstacles in his path, particularly related to how he’d paint it without damaging the original color, Ivy Green Metallic. The work was carried out at the The Bomb Factory’s shop in New Orleans, with Charles Handler and Trey Hansen documenting the process for History Channel’s Big Easy Motors. Daniel Boshears, the mechanic at the museum, was brought on board to get the car in full working order.

Half of the car was covered in a white plastic automobile body wrap, to which specially-formulated paint was applied. Each stripe is delineated by black tape, and the color scheme virtually cuts the car in half. Decals were applied to the rear and front sides, as was one single wheelie bar, the four-tube header exhaust, and passenger-side half-rollbar. Meanwhile, the driver’s side is OEM stock. The Shaker hood option was added by Tim, with the original roof stored away for safekeeping, in the eventuality some future owner will want to revert the Cuda to its original state.

All this work to turn a Cuda in excellent working order in half of a fictional car might seem pointless, but for Tim, it was a (childhood) dream come true, as he explained in an interview in late 2016, when his project was unveiled to the public.

“Seeing this car become reality, with that wild, psychedelic paint scheme and drag-car stance, is just surreal,” Tim said. “It's possibly the most famous car never built. Pam and I are excited to add it to our muscle car collection, and it's going to be a hit at the museum.”

This last part proved accurate: the Paint Chip Cuda proved so popular, the museum is now selling merchandise inspired by it, including color configuration app posters and coffee mugs.