Buying into a project car that was someone else’s vision always brings about a re-working. It’s the curse of the hobby…someone had a plan, that plan left with a bill of sale to a new home, and the next owner didn’t quite see eye-to-eye with what was going on. Therefore, out come the tools and the credit cards and work begins. That’s the case for Phillip Williams’ 1973 Plymouth ‘Cuda. The round-taillight E-body has been a race car since the early 1980s, but when Williams brought it home there was a conflict almost immediately: he already had a 2009 Dodge Challenger that had sprouted a supercharger on the Hemi, and he had grown accustomed to the positive benefits of late-model power. The ‘Cuda was an old-school build through and through: tubbed, a flip front end with black aluminum tinwork inside, and a 340/727 combination with a 5.13-geared Dana 60 out back. Not a bad deal, but things had to be changed out to make the ‘Cuda his own.

Photo: Jay Orrand

A refreshed 5.7L-based stroker mill that now displaces 6.0L even was sourced from Guy Dalton. That engine had put in plenty of work in Dalton’s Magnum wagon, and was proven to have the oats needed to move the E-body. The late-model Hemi was converted to a carburetor setup and an MSD 6-Hemi ignition system by Erik Storms of BFNY Performance in Cleveland, Ohio and was brought out to ChallengerFest 7 in 2016 for some shakedown runs. A 10.9 second pass at Beech Bend was the reward, but that was a sketchy pass on old slicks. With the ‘Cuda getting out of shape at the far end of the track, Williams wisely took that timeslip as proof of concept and went to work on the rest of the build, which was to remove the tilt clip for sheetmetal and to let Greg Allen of Allen’s Body Shop in Mount Washington, Kentucky get the body prepped for the eye-blistering code FM3 Moulin Rouge paint. One of Chrysler’s High Impact colors, Moulin Rouge/Panther Pink is one of those shades that pretty much glows in the dark, it’s so bright. An AAR-style hood and a black vinyl top finished off the outside appearances. Inside, a Drag Pak Challenger seats and some lightweight carpeting spruced up the interior, and underhood a ton of polishing and some visual goodies from Billet Technology were added to keep everything looking good.

Roaming around the pits at Beech Bend, the ‘Cuda looks killer sitting on Billet Specialties wheels and Goodyears slicks and it sounds wicked. Unfortunately, the 727 automatic wasn’t playing in the same step as the stroker motor was…it was shifting like it had just been yanked straight out of a truck, right at 4,000 RPM faithfully, and as a result the ‘Cuda was lugging it’s way to low twelve second passes. Williams, who normally comes across as a friendly type, had all sorts of words to say about that, several of which even gave Erik and I pause for concern. But there’s no doubt that the potential of the ‘Cuda is there, so once a shifting issue is fixed, the car should be back to it’s ten-second potential. But for now, who wouldn’t be happy to have this visual stunner idling by? Williams is, but with the ‘Cuda almost wrapped up, a new project may be in the works in short order, another case of an old Mopar with new Mopar energy!