71 'Cuda Curious Yellow 440-6 Show Cars

I have heard these being called "Show" cars and "Announcement" cars.
The 71 440-6 Curious Yellow 'Cuda....loaded with Billboards, rubber bumpers, spoilers, shaker etc.
I am bringing mine to MCACN this year for the "Shaker" display. I have heard different answers on how many were made...like 7, 8 or 10 of them. How many real ones are known to still exist?
Has anyone done any research on these cars and can help with whatever they know.
I want to make up a display board and don't want to hear the "show whispers" - Lol.
Thanks
Jim

There's one in these parts...

Ok - now there are two . Roger Gibson had two going in his shop a few years back...mine and one for John Hadjis....I need to get the VIN on that one.

I know there was one in Mopar Action magazine years ago.

Dan is probably the best guy to answer this.

IIRC these cars are by region - so the Canadian Promo cars are different than the US ones.

I believe mine had it's debut in Texas

Cant help you on numbers Jim, but another one was supposedly here a few years back.
However the owner told me it was a 4 speed and Dana, and I was under the impression they were all automatics, 22 inch rad, (open ?) 3:23 rear.

Show boards are commonly referred to as 'lie boards' at shows, so it is great that you are trying to find some facts.

What is the reported VIN range for these cars?

Steve Klein had one in mid 90's that my dad nearly bought up here in Maine. In hindsight really screwed up not buying it for 45k!

for some reason i recall hearing 10 or 12 were built

they started with vin BS23V1B100100 + went to vin 100112??

not sure how accurate that is but thats the best i recall

Hi Terry. Yes - I heard they were all identical...auto, 3:23, 22" etc.

Hi Tony
Mine is 100116 with an special order number of M01109

Thanks Barry - I learned decades ago to never paint yourself into a corner - Lol.
I was at MCACN 2 years ago and there was a car there that had on it's show board...the only '71 this with this option known. I asked the guy if he wanted to see another one 100' away...which was a car I brought.
But we digress..... :^)

please post the fender tag
If this car is what i think it is - i will share with you

Friend of mine in Oklahoma has one. Has kept it for over 20 years.

can you get a pic of your friend's fender tag?

Here is the tag. This is a reproduction of the original Roger Gibson did for the car. He always does a new tag up for his resto's. I have the originals....which are identical. I have the Broadcast sheet as well.

The 2nd tag...

Its suspose to be BS23V1B100100 to BS23V1B100120 identical show cars being built.

Highest VIN i know of is 100116.

There was one in the Builder section of cars at Ron Slobes around late March/April of 91 when I was there.
I should have taken pictures.
70-80% of his rebuilder cars were better than what is at the car corrals now, except the running and driving cars.
Plus, he had the parts right on the property on other cars in the junk yard that you could have completed most of them.

Except that.......

If you compare the tags for those two cars, they are not identical.

Enlighten us

I did notice that on another car it adds on the f-tag A28 and N97...both Noise Reduction.
And 26 for 26" radiator...which is odd.
Also it doesn't show the A67 - Backlight Louvers on the tag.
I would like to see the build sheet.

Yes i know.. but just let say almost identical with gy3 & rear louvers rubber bumpers.. AND the important thing, all are US promo cars.

So the entire range of 100-120 was for these cars?

what about these 1971 show cars?
I have info on 4 or 5

Wierd! What's the story on that VIN???

AKA BS23H1B100141

So is it a fake tag or factory? If factory, why did they do that?

The theory is 'pre-factory', possibly hand build to check parts fitment.

It is not the only one.

What is V26 on a '71 Cuda?

Fake tag??? Really?
Why would I post a fake tag in a conversation about 71 show cars?
This is not my first rodeo.


These "CAR" cars are show cars. 2 of them have a documented history. One of the cars is a 71 Hemi Challenger, the other a 71 Hemi 'Cuda.

The sequence # on the tag does not match the actual vin sequence # of the car.

What does "CAR" represent?
They had a specific purpose.
What was the purpose?
Where do they fit in with the rest of the "show cars"?
How were they built? Hand built? Assembly line built?
Yes there are differences in their parts from the assembly line cars and in the way they were painted.
Were they really built at the plant?
When were they built...08-01? That is a scheduled date.
what about the 0802 and 0803 cars?

Then there is BH23C1B100121 with "BH23CAR000114 on the tag....
08-01

Gregg at Great Lakes Mopar also has an EL5 71 Hemi Challenger with "CAR" in the VIN. I always wondered what the "CAR" designated.

I remember first seeing the car in the early 2000's and Ron Adair at that time said there were different parts and fasteners used to assemble it because it was hand built in a separate area of the plant, not on the assembly line and was a pilot/show car. He stated “CAR” stood for “Chrysler Automotive Research”. He also told me how people at the time were discussing the types of fasteners used to bolt the intake manifold to the engine, and how nobody had seen that type of faster used at that location.

Interesting tags Tom_Q - thanks for posting!
I have heard - not gospel, that pre-production and first day vehicles were typically Pilot cars...to do dry runs down the line for fit and finish and possibly to supply pictures for parts books, manuals and even promo photo's. I imagine promo/show cars came next.

I saw that EL5 71 Challenger that Gregg brought to MCACN last year. It did have a lot of 70 stuff and some weird stuff on it....very interesting....although it was restored. Hopefully it was fully documented and photographed prior to the resto.

The "M" special order numbers are probably relevant...as well as the sequence number on the broadcast sheet. It would be interesting to be able to sample a good batch of this information.

I would agree with Barry that a fender tag that has CAR in place of R1B N1B V1B or what ever engine is a preproduction hand built vehicle or a test vehicle that was built as a test vehicle on the line or off the line to test the assembly process or new parts for the next years production. Likely did not have a drive train assigned to to the chassis till a later date.

These other 1971 Yellow Cudas seem to pop up for sale every year. I use to know of two near were I live. Not sure if they are still around but Ola of the Convertible E Body Registry was keeping some kind of track on this kind of vehicle.

Pretty dang cool info here, learning and seeing the uniqueness even amongst the unique. Some questions come to my mind that may or may not have answers but hopefully I'm building on the discussion:


To clarify what I think I read,

1. Aren't _100010/_100011 just "as always" early build promo/photo cars, or are you including them in "CAR"?

2. These are all Hamtramck sourced, and you are saying _100116*SPD802 is an equal purpose "CAR" because it has "M" VON same as _000141/_000143*SPD801? So you've made the connection all 20 GY3 builds are "CAR"?

3. Its heresay that _100100 to _100120 are all GY3/elastomeric/auto/3.23 and Dan, Ola, or Barry has no records on them?

4. Weren't promo cars usually highly optioned, especially "new for __" items to showcase them to public? And maybe catered to regional preferences? So why 20 GY3/elastomeric/auto?


About the "CAR",

5.Why would 71 "CARs" that have some very non-factory processes be used as promos when a 68 Coronet, 70 Cuda, or any model/any year early builds were pulled from the line for promo/photos but still had factory line processes, parts (exceptions i.e. FE5 Shakers etc.), and VIN standards?

6.If hypothetically "CAR" was a new-for-71 methodology, wouldn't a 71 Fury GT with electric sunroof also have a "CAR" promo batch?

7.Why would there be a need to hand-build many pilot 71's to test the process when its essentially a 70 in terms of factory line?

8.Why would there be a need for experimentation with parts and leave those parts on just a few, i.e. intake bolts on a 440, when they've been churning out 440s for years and 71 is essentially a continuation?

9. Why would there be a Challenger in the mix, and two hemi's?


So because of those thoughts,

-Could the "CAR" batch be cars with varying options/engines that were pulled off-site and being used to test coming emissions/crash regulations? Hence the non-factory finish work, or testing a prototype intake with different runners and bolts, but later swapped back to parts bin intake, overlooked the bolts, and made it back to a sales floor?

-Could the "CAR" batch be cars that were going to be part of a special build program, like say testing different versions of another AAR/ T/A run, or some alliance like Shelby/Ford had?

-Could the 20 GY3 cars been dedicated to a marketing program a'la Warner Bros. that went sour?

I'm trying to get the f-tag and b/cast sheet info on the other one that Roger restored. I think Mike Mancini restored one as well?

'71 "pilot" & "promo" cars on Moparts

what I think I know

1971 model year HAMTRAMCK "CAR" fender tags are for PRE-PRODUCTION / "pilot" cars - built during spring/summer 1970 well before '71 production started around August 3, 1970 (they have 801-SPDs)

their VINs were assigned after the "promo" cars had their VINs assigned and appear to be quite "random" unlike prior years

1971 model year HAMTRAMCK "DEALER ANNOUNCEMENT MEETING" show / "promo" cars were built in multiples of nearly identical cars (some believe 21 units based on the number of dealer shows across the US with an additional 7-9 CANADA spec. units built for shows in Canada) most of these have 802-SPDs (again the UAW wasn't working Saturday/Sunday) but the cars were built during the month of August in preparation of shows scheduled for late-August/early-September before the cars went on official sale.

1971 NEW CARS DEBUT 10/6/70 (Dart & Valiant DEBUT 9/15/70)

Here's a copy of the '72 Dodge "ANNOUNCEMENT MEETING" schedule (21 shows)

1972 production started earlier than usual in mid-July '71

1971 known surviving E-body "pilots"

BH23C1B100121 "CAR" 000114
BS23H1B100126 "CAR" 000141
BS23R1B100378 "CAR" 000143

JS2?R1B100236 "CAR" 000??? known HEMI block ONLY
JS23R1B100243 "CAR" 000134

Plymouth E-body "announcement promos"

BH27L1B100001 - BH27L1B10000? * GB5 Barracuda convertible CANADA
BH23G1B100010 - BH23G1B100011 * FC7 Barracuda hardtop CANADA

anyone know any Gran Coupes or 'cudas for CANADA?

BS23V1B100100 - BS23V1B100120 * GY3 'cuda hardtop US

anyone know any Barracudas or Gran Coupes for US?

Good info - thanks Dan.

FJ5_Fish in that older thread is me. I have been on here since Tom started the board...but I always forgot my user name and password...so I always had to come back with a new handle - Lol.

So - it is possible that there may have been up to 30 of these made including Canada?

no, the Canada "promos" were built to different specs.
- the '71 'cudas for Canada appear to have been 383HP hardtops

WAG - CANADA "announcement units" Plymouth e-body (multiples of 8)
1B100001 - 1B100008 Barracuda convertible (BH27L)
1B100009 - 1B100016 Barracuda hardtop (BH23G)
1B100017 - 1B100024 'cuda hardtop (BS23N)
1B100025 - 1B100032 Gran Coupe hardtop (BP23N)

Who were these demo dealers?

The cars could have been sent to the regional offices then to a dealer?

BH27L1B100005 was the infamous fraud car that emerged as a BS27N 'Cuda after restoration 10+ years ago.

6bblgt, what about 1B100237 serial number on another Hemi block. I think I could have other serial numbers that have CAR in the serial number but can not retrieve that information because my PC is not near me right now. I have seen a lot of those early Canadian Plymouths, what about the Dodge promos in 1971.

There were many changes from 1970 to 1971 when it comes to E Bodies. There must be an avenue for Chrysler to test the changes both with the car and with the assembly plant. These changes have to be set up in plant and the mix of the line workers job might have to be changed or work moved around from one worker to another. Looking at just the Hemi build. The Hemi Carbs used Manual Choke. Exhaust manifold were different on a Hemi with less parts lot of routing changes of the fuel system front to back. This is just a few things that are different and would effect all engine sizes. The Cars basically look similar from 1970 to 1971 but they are very different build and it kept changing over the year. Why would a Challenger in 1971 have three different front bumpers and two different back bumpers. Change continued over the year with the implication of Body panel changes. You have to test or maybe the change would not work.

I have both 1B100236 & 1B100237 recorded, but no pics of either & wasn't sure if one or both were correctly "reported" from memory

CANADA spec. Dodge e-body "PROMOs" appear to be VINs around:
JH23H1B100139
JH27N1B100149
JS23N1B100156

USA spec. Dodge e-body "PROMOs" appear to be VINs around:
JH23H1B100232
JH27N1B100374

I am obviously very late to this thread but just ran across it. I own VIN 100110 and am interested to know what your research turned up about the number that still exist. mine is auto, no noise reduction package.

Here's a picture that Dan had with your car in it.

What does the car look like today? Still as raced, or is it being restored?

i couldn't figure out how to upload the pics but if you google the VIN BS23V1B100110 you'll can find relatively current images. All back to stock.

thanks much for the lead on the race history. i had some idea about that but had not seen photos

Why isn't the important Shaker hood, N96 showing up on the fender tag ? There is a promo car like this in N.E Ohio and currently on display at Summit Racing equipment.

for what it's worth, my second tag includes the shaker and reads:

R11 V6X EN2
M88 N41 N42 N85 N96
BS23 V1B 100110

Apologies for not just posting the photo; I will figure out how to do it

All this talk prompted me to research the history of my car a bit more deeply; turns out one previous owner was somewhat infamous. The car is even featured briefly in this CNBC piece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-ppYHarII

Wasn’t another promo car owned by a Moparts member in Las Vegas that was murdered? I don’t think anyone was charged?

Fox use to show up at the annual Bay Area mopar show. Every year he had something new. He bought several cars from Greg Nelson at Ponderosa Mopars. One year he showed up with two freshly restored cars, a 1970 440+6 GTX and a 1970 440+6 Coronet R/T. Both factory black.

They were not all optioned exactly the same.

DJ "prowler" owned 1B100103 - the picture above is in his driveway

That should be on some sort of "Unsolved Mysteries" show


Bad streak of Ju-Ju with these promo cars.