yellowdartdave
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I have been over on the A-Body site for a while now.
I used to work at a C/P dealership in Cincinnati from about 1970 thru June of 74.
The dealership was a little one with a 2 car showroom. It was owned by Cliff Jacobs and was run by his 3 sons.
Cliff Jr. was the Herb Tarlek (WKRP In Cincinnati) of car salesmen. Just imagine walking into this small dealership and out walks this saleman in his green plaid polyester suit with his gold chain glistening in the sun, God's Gift to all women!
Well anyway, Cliff Jr. ordered a gold 71 340 Cuda ragtop to be his 'demo'.
Of course it was flashy, esp. at a dealership that catered to the 'older' generation that just wanted basic transportation...nothing fancy.
Mostly Valiants, couple of Satelites, a few Furys and every once in a while a Newport. They never did order anything fast.
A Slant 6 Duster was a sporty car. A 318 Duster was a hot rod. Imagine Jr. sporting around in his 2 Data Tag 340 convertible. It was so loaded down that a 318 Duster would stay right next to it. Don't ask how I know of this fact.
Anyway, they gave the franchise back in 1976 (?) when Mopar wanted them to expand (landlocked) or build a bigger dealership. They then became just a neighborhood used car lot that eventually closed down and is now a blood dialysis center.
I was at the 2001 Mopar Nationals at the Aloha Restorations tent and I spotted a Cuda Convert that looked really familiar. It belonged to 1 of the employees and when asked where did he get it, he asked why? When I explained that I may have worked on it when it was new and mentioned where I worked I thought he was going to have a heart attack. My signature was on the PDI form!
Cliff Jr. had sold it in the late 90s with 50k miles on it--still under MSO! It was all original except for the usual stuff.
Anyway, it is now owned by Chris Davis in London. Somewhere between the Nats and when Chris purchased it in 2008, somebody had replaced the road wheels with Rallyes and put 4 wheel disc brakes on it. Other than that, it is still original.
Owing to its unmolested condition, this particular convertible had done the rounds at various prestige Chrysler car shows Stateside; it deservedly went into the ‘Survivor’ class.. All the paint is factory and there are no repro parts on the car either.
What you see is what you get; an non-abused, non-restored one of only 102 automatic models built.
The ’Cuda has covered only 54,000 miles in its lifetime and is original as when it left the Hamtramck, Michigan, factory on January 5th, 1971. Purchased by the son of Cliff Jacobs Motors, a Plymouth Dealer in Cincinnati, the car is so heavily optioned that two fender tags were required to show the buyer’s selections.
Obviously Cliff junior went through the options list with a vengeance. When he finished, the grand total amount for the car reached a whopping $5061.35, a huge amount for a production car in those days. The only changes from the factory are a four-wheel disc conversion, even though the car came coded with 11in. brakes; 15 inch Rallye wheels replace the original 14 inch W23 magnum 500 road wheels.
The options list is very impressive: H51 air conditioning that still works, M91 luggage rack to give the car a more European touring look, P31 power windows, S83 three-spoke rim blow steering wheel, twin chrome racing mirrors and R35, an AM/FM stereo radio. A white power top augments perfectly the GY8 Gold Leaf Metallic paint which is enhanced with the massive V5Y ‘Billboard’ white decals. A twin exhaust system exits via super cool chrome tips through the rear valance.
Coupled with three ‘package’ sales codes that include the Rallye Cluster dash with electric clock, 150mph speedometer, fender-mounted turn signals and the twin snorkel performance hood. The E-body’s factory-rated 275bhp. 340cu.in. V8 drives through a heavy-duty small block 727 and the rear wheels are turned courtesy of a Sure Grip differential with 3.23.1 gears.
The suspension is all heavy-duty, with a rear sway bar (S41) to limit any body roll the car might come across. Since owning the car, Chris has taken it to a few shows, where the reaction has been very positive. This has led to a ‘Top Five’ at the Mopar Muscle Association’s Brooklands bash, a ‘Most Original’ trophy at the Damn Yankees summer slam and the aforementioned ‘Best of Show’ at the EuroNats.
I used to work at a C/P dealership in Cincinnati from about 1970 thru June of 74.
The dealership was a little one with a 2 car showroom. It was owned by Cliff Jacobs and was run by his 3 sons.
Cliff Jr. was the Herb Tarlek (WKRP In Cincinnati) of car salesmen. Just imagine walking into this small dealership and out walks this saleman in his green plaid polyester suit with his gold chain glistening in the sun, God's Gift to all women!
Well anyway, Cliff Jr. ordered a gold 71 340 Cuda ragtop to be his 'demo'.
Of course it was flashy, esp. at a dealership that catered to the 'older' generation that just wanted basic transportation...nothing fancy.
Mostly Valiants, couple of Satelites, a few Furys and every once in a while a Newport. They never did order anything fast.
A Slant 6 Duster was a sporty car. A 318 Duster was a hot rod. Imagine Jr. sporting around in his 2 Data Tag 340 convertible. It was so loaded down that a 318 Duster would stay right next to it. Don't ask how I know of this fact.
Anyway, they gave the franchise back in 1976 (?) when Mopar wanted them to expand (landlocked) or build a bigger dealership. They then became just a neighborhood used car lot that eventually closed down and is now a blood dialysis center.
I was at the 2001 Mopar Nationals at the Aloha Restorations tent and I spotted a Cuda Convert that looked really familiar. It belonged to 1 of the employees and when asked where did he get it, he asked why? When I explained that I may have worked on it when it was new and mentioned where I worked I thought he was going to have a heart attack. My signature was on the PDI form!
Cliff Jr. had sold it in the late 90s with 50k miles on it--still under MSO! It was all original except for the usual stuff.
Anyway, it is now owned by Chris Davis in London. Somewhere between the Nats and when Chris purchased it in 2008, somebody had replaced the road wheels with Rallyes and put 4 wheel disc brakes on it. Other than that, it is still original.
Owing to its unmolested condition, this particular convertible had done the rounds at various prestige Chrysler car shows Stateside; it deservedly went into the ‘Survivor’ class.. All the paint is factory and there are no repro parts on the car either.
What you see is what you get; an non-abused, non-restored one of only 102 automatic models built.
The ’Cuda has covered only 54,000 miles in its lifetime and is original as when it left the Hamtramck, Michigan, factory on January 5th, 1971. Purchased by the son of Cliff Jacobs Motors, a Plymouth Dealer in Cincinnati, the car is so heavily optioned that two fender tags were required to show the buyer’s selections.
Obviously Cliff junior went through the options list with a vengeance. When he finished, the grand total amount for the car reached a whopping $5061.35, a huge amount for a production car in those days. The only changes from the factory are a four-wheel disc conversion, even though the car came coded with 11in. brakes; 15 inch Rallye wheels replace the original 14 inch W23 magnum 500 road wheels.
The options list is very impressive: H51 air conditioning that still works, M91 luggage rack to give the car a more European touring look, P31 power windows, S83 three-spoke rim blow steering wheel, twin chrome racing mirrors and R35, an AM/FM stereo radio. A white power top augments perfectly the GY8 Gold Leaf Metallic paint which is enhanced with the massive V5Y ‘Billboard’ white decals. A twin exhaust system exits via super cool chrome tips through the rear valance.
Coupled with three ‘package’ sales codes that include the Rallye Cluster dash with electric clock, 150mph speedometer, fender-mounted turn signals and the twin snorkel performance hood. The E-body’s factory-rated 275bhp. 340cu.in. V8 drives through a heavy-duty small block 727 and the rear wheels are turned courtesy of a Sure Grip differential with 3.23.1 gears.
The suspension is all heavy-duty, with a rear sway bar (S41) to limit any body roll the car might come across. Since owning the car, Chris has taken it to a few shows, where the reaction has been very positive. This has led to a ‘Top Five’ at the Mopar Muscle Association’s Brooklands bash, a ‘Most Original’ trophy at the Damn Yankees summer slam and the aforementioned ‘Best of Show’ at the EuroNats.
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