I read somewhere that the red on the roof was to disguise the fact it was roof chopped!
This car was in fact a real 1970 Cuda 440-6 automatic convertible converted to a 1971 car for the 71 racing season. This car was one of the EV2 white top promotional cars built on August 02 1969. There were 6-7 of them built for use to introduce the new Cuda model. Canada got Tor Red 440-6 auto Cuda convertibles and the US received Rallye Red 440-6 4 speed Challenger convertibles.
This particular car was a second choice for the Cloakes & Coates racing team as they had a 71 Hemi Cuda convertible on order for the 71 season but it was delayed so long on delivery they took this car off the Town & Country Chrysler lot and converted it.
At the time the car needed to have a Hemi VIN to race in NHRA SS/DA class so a blank VIN plate was ordered by the dealership and a 71 VIN was made up and stamped by a local Jeweler to make the car class leagal.
This car is still around today and is on Idaho. TheVIN states that it is a 71 Hemi Cuda convertible but the fender tag indicates it is a 1970 440-6 convertible!
Just another old race car in the day!
By -the- way, the original intended race car was loaded up and is part of Dave Blake's collection and is probably the best looking of the original 71 hemi Cuda ragtops, Orange/orange with white billboards. Shows around 20,000 original miles. And yes it did see some track duty as well back in the day! Another amazing fact is the real hemi car was sold at one time in a real estate transaction as part of the 'contents' of a home sale!
