81-Mile Unrestored Hemi Cuda Heads To Auction
Classic car collectors... fire up your wallets!
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This May, the Mecum Auction in Indianapolis will see a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda cross its auction block. We've seen plenty of Cudas cross the block before, and they typically fetch a strong selling price. This one, however, will have collectors drooling. It's an unrestored example that was one of the last ten ever built, and it's showing just 81 miles on its odometer.
Eighty. One.
The car was purchased new by a man who intended to use the car for drag racing. He swapped in some parts to make the car faster, but carefully stowed away the original pieces in case he needed them in the future. The car made about 30 passes at a number of tracks local to the owner, and it even reached down into the ten-second range on the strip. Sadly, the owner passed away after that first season of drag racing.
After his wife too passed years later, the original owner's son sold the car and all of its parts. This new owner put those parts back on the car to bring it to its as-new condition. When it was sold, the odometer showed just 42 miles. The new owner drove it one single mile over the course of his 16 year ownership of the car. I know... how is that possible, to not drive a car like this?
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Regardless, it was again sold. In fact, it traded hands three more times before landing in the garage of a man who knows his Hemi cars. John Arruza took the car in, this time wearing just 61 miles. The engine was refreshed from its storage state and, over the course of cleaning it all up, the car has now arrived at its mileage count of 81.
Early estimates for the impending auction peg the selling price somewhere between $600,000 and $800,000. I say that if this car doesn't hit a million bucks I'll be shocked.
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