A tall tale?

[MattH]

What a great story, thanks for sharing Blue.

You can see how this happens, a car gets put away in storage, time marches on and if its not in the way, 30 years goes by very quickly.

That car wasn't worth much when parked up, probably even in the 90's only about £10k, maybe less, and as was mentioned earlier, it doesn't look like much to most people that don't know what to look for.

I've seen several cars recently tucked away in peoples garages that have been there several years, which were only old daily cars when parked up but will be prized when they see the light of day. I'm not talking muscle car, but 90's Fords and TVR's.
I have a car in my garage that has been there since 97, does that count as a "barn find" ??

I've got a Hemi car in my garage that's been off the road 8 years...





..........oh but its an Aussie Charger so not quite Cuda territory!

[Pete]

...It's not a "Find" when you know where it is, Matt!!!

It has got some way to go before it beat your "Challenger" record....

[Cannonball]

May have visited the pod back in 76 -77 who knows I doubt anyone on here was a regular back then. may have travelled over with my old 71 sixpack challenger the mopar miss that had a New York 76 inspection sticker in the screen and showing only 16,000 miles might have been brothers from another mother,

could well be a serviceman shipped it over he paid nowt to do so, he might have got re stationed in Europe or gone back toot sweet and left the car so many possibilities, and I doubt this one will be solved,

still bloody amazing that its a Hemi car and not your basic famous version

[Blue]

Thing is Dunc back then Hemi cars were very rare in the UK especially an E body, if it had been seen, word would have spread like wildfire. I spoke to Tony O about it and he had never seen it or heard any rumours about it either so it remains a mystery. Hopefully now the word is out it might jog someones memory.

[Cannonball]

Thing is Dunc back then Hemi cars were very rare in the UK especially an E body, if it had been seen, word would have spread like wildfire. I spoke to Tony O about it and he had never seen it or heard any rumours about it either so it remains a mystery. Hopefully now the word is out it might jog someones memory.

Hope it does not jog the owners memory if he/she is still alive somewhere with the power of the internet,

its amazing what does go down,, yrs ago a 426 hemi engine existed and was raced hard with a tunnel ram etc got hurt a few times and was repaired then sat stripped in a garage, i bought evrything hemi from the guy most of it was rough as hell had been around since the late 60,s early 70,s so had seen abuse, anyway i had a deal with a guy he bought a 70 R/T SE 440 challenger rolling shell from me a 4 speed car and bought the hemi remnants to see if he could make something from it all, he built the challenger back up as a correct 440 car and was mid way through grafting the Hemi in to a cobra, but by now the internet was coming on strong and from what i can gather he put the block numbers online somewhere and it transpired apparently that this was a missing superstock engine possibly even stolen yrs ago, a guy contacted this cobra guy from the usa he had the car the block belonged to they cut a deal and the cobra guy ended up with a new i think 526 or there abouts short motor in a swap for the old 426 hemi, i missed a good drink there,

[SAV@RPM]

Hi Dunc
The block was actually the correct one for the ex Gary Mills 70 Hemi Cuda convertible. The guy with the Cobra had no idea what he had, and someone suggested he got in touch with Galen Govier. Galen asked for the vin number and the dollar signs must have rolled over in his head. It is correct that the Cobra owner ended up swapping his old, tired and repaired motor for a nice new Hemi. Here’s a link to the Hemi Cuda convertible story.

http://www.rareperformancemotors.com/tr ... tible.html

[Cannonball]

Hi Dunc
The block was actually the correct one for the ex Gary Mills 70 Hemi Cuda convertible. The guy with the Cobra had no idea what he had, and someone suggested he got in touch with Galen Govier. Galen asked for the vin number and the dollar signs must have rolled over in his head. It is correct that the Cobra owner ended up swapping his old, tired and repaired motor for a nice new Hemi. Here’s a link to the Hemi Cuda convertible story.

http://www.rareperformancemotors.com/tr ... tible.html

Brilliant Martin
Thank you for straightening that out things do get distorted with time,,

I think a thread should be started re finds it could be about anything interesting not just cars,, i know you must have some great stories from your exploits,,

[Mossy68]

Great idea Dunc
I'm sure we've all had a result sometime in our lives ?

[polosteve]

What an incredible story, you can understand 'barnfinds' still happening every now and then in the states - It's so big and they were originally sold there.

An original Hemi Cuda sat in a farm in Essex for 30 years? Unbelievable

I also hope it is mechanicly sorted but left as found.

[Blue]

That Hemi engine did the rounds locally, nearly bought it myself before Ashley Bell had it, if only we'd known...

[morgan]

PM'd ya Dunc...

Well... is mr Cannonball going to save it...?

This is the best story of the year. Gotta make connected.

[Cannonball]

PM'd ya Dunc...

Well... is mr Cannonball going to save it...?

This is the best story of the year. Gotta make connected.

No Morgan the money being banded around i feel is hilarious exciting that its fresh to the market, but crikey i would have bought Jims Hemi cuda and had rather a lot of change, being honest my only interest would be to make it more of a racecar ie more power period paint job etc, no interest as a restored car..

[SAV@RPM]

People need to be realistic about the value of these cars. It’s fantastic that this car has surfaced but they made around 650 Hemi Cudas in 1970 so it’s not super rare like the convertibles. Take a look on the Internet, if you are lucky enough to have the money there are always a number of Hemi Cudas for sale. Interestingly there is a 4 speed, B5 Blue Hemi Cuda coming up for auction at Kissimmee at the start of January 2019, reportedly 2 broadcast sheets, matching numbers, 11000 miles with a white interior. They estimate it at between $300 - $350k. I would be surprised if it made that as usually they change hands at around the $250k mark for a properly restored car. However having said that there is a fascination for barn find cars and they often make good money. Does this car have it’s fender tag as I can’t see it in the photo’s, is it the original matching number motor and trans. If it’s not registered who has the paperwork such as a US title or proof that the duties were paid when it came into the country. Also is the the seller the legitimate owner. You have to think about these things before parting with any money because as has often happened in the past, somebody pops up claiming ownership after a sale. Hopefully this story has a happy ending as it is certainly a fascinating find.

[Pete]

Totally agree, everyone gets Cabin Fever, then reality bites when you have to lay the green down...

[SAV@RPM]

The B5 Hemi Cuda, lot S187 failed to sell at the Mecum auction. They estimated it at $300 -$350k, it was bid to $220k. Nice car, white interior, 4 speed, low miles, broadcast sheet, original panels etc. I thought it might make around the $250k mark. Interestingly there were a couple of other Hemi Cudas in the same sale, one of which was only bid to $100k, another no sale. I suspect that car had some issues not mentioned in the description.