Ultra-rare Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda convertible could bring record price

Numbers-matching 1971 four-speed example is one of only 11 built

 Mecum Auctions 
This example is expected to fetch seven figures. 

The upcoming Mecum Auctions sale in Seattle will once again feature a bewildering variety of muscle cars, but we have a feeling that the eyes of the collector car world will be on one in particular; a numbers-matching 1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda convertible. One of only 11 convertible examples built for 1971, one of two equipped with a four-speed manual transmission, this car has had an interesting history. And though it isrestored, it's expected to bring a mid-seven figure amount on auction day. The reason? It happens to be the sole remaining numbers-matching four-speed convertible version of this popular Plymouth model in existence.

Specified with a Dana 60 rear end with 4.10 Super Trac Pak, Rallye instrument cluster, New Process four-speed manual, power brakes, finished in bright Poly blue, this Hemi 'Cuda was owned by cartoonist Russ Meyer, who later passed it to an buyer in Oregon. The car reportedly traded hands for $250,000, believed to be prior to the 1990s. A few years later, in 1999, the car was seized as part of a drug investigation by authorities and was subsequently sold at a police auction, bringing in an astounding $405,000. A restoration was commissioned by the buyer who paid what was considered top dollar for this car at the police auction, with Julius Steuer of Los Angeles performing the work.

 Mecum Auctions 

The whole car was restored in 2000, and the interior still looks excellent in photos. 

Steuer completed the restoration in 2000, and Mecum is keen to point out that the car is not completely original throughout. The car's owner at the time traded the car for a number of classic Chevrolet Corvettes from the consigning owner's collection.

Unaltered Hemi 'Cudas are hard to come by, though Mopar fans will admit that this example almost exists in a category of its own given its rarity and condition. Only one of two four-speed convertibles remaining from 1971, Hemi 'Cuda 315367 is the only one that remains a numbers-matching example. The market for these did not get going until the boom of the early 2000s, when the first 1971 Hemi 'Cuda comvertible broke the $1 million mark. The most recent sale of a 1971 Hemi 'Cuda convertible took place at Barrett-Jackson in 2013, with a Plum Crazy example selling for $1.32 million. In 2007, before a substantial market correction, an over-restored but not numbers-matching example brought $2.42 million.

 Mecum Auctions 

This example is just one of two four-speed convertibles from 1971, and the sole numbers-matching example. 

With the muscle-car market coming out of the 2008 correction and with some models blazing their own trail when it comes to bid amounts, this Hemi 'Cuda is set to perform well, even though it has no existing analogue. Even among surviving examples, the comparisons are not quite apples-to-apples, but if any one of them can set a lasting auction record, it has to be this one.