As I can attest from my trip to Ireland a couple of years ago, there isn’t much in the way of muscle cars on the motorways, European or otherwise. Honestly, the count ended at two: a 2005-ish Mustang that was headed south out of Dublin, and a early 2000s Hemi Ram hiding behind a block of buildings near Killarney. The next move after that was a Ford Focus RS, and that hot-hatch was missing three cylinders to qualify. Honestly, can you imagine how your automotive landscape would be refocused if you grew up where there were no Mustangs or Camaros? If you’re from America or Australia, you really can’t grasp the idea of an automotive scene without muscle cars. Everyone has a story that involves one of some type. But after walking around in Ireland, it’s easy to see how you could almost never come into contact with one, let alone not “get it”. It’s not the normal…seeing that Mustang was like seeing a Lamborghini in person on the street driving around. Sure, you know about the car…the Internet is a wonderful tool, after all…but you haven’t seen one, haven’t heard one. It’s not normal. Above the sounds of Renaults and Mercedes and Transits, hearing the bark of a V8 is just as much of a shock as a Ferrari dumping the clutch at a light in a small town in Kansas.
Paddy McGrath is a Speedhunters contributor, and he recently got to shoot a very unique 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda known simply as “Kong”. The car is unbelievable…what started as an almost unusable shell of a car ended up becoming a hand-fabricated masterpiece that sports a full right-hand-drive conversion, a 528ci Hemi that is clean enough to serve dessert to the Queen on, and looks that would have Chip Foose taking notes. McGrath goes into plenty of detail on the ‘Cuda, and we don’t want to steal his thunder, but as you’re reading, note that you’re reading the words of a man who doesn’t normally see an American muscle car every day. Big build or not, this is an un-jaded, un-skewed take on a properly monstrous Plymouth.
Speedhunters Link: Kong, The 8th Wonder Of The World by Paddy McGrath
Beautiful Car, execution is flawless. Just get that nancy auto slugamatic out! And KING KONG.. really.. are they 12..!
But that aside it’s pretty amazing
Paddy obviously isn’t aware of the $1.5m plus price tag that genuine stock Hemi ‘Cudas fetch at auctions. If he was there’d be a lot of shouting “Feck” and a mammoth session in the garage turning this beast back to the way it was when it left the factory….
Wow. I tend to be kind of a purist on old muscle cars, but this is a work of art. Hats off to the craftsman.
Beautiful craftsmanship obviously and impeccable build quality but it leaves me cold, and I love me some ‘Cuda having owned a 1970 and a 1974. It has lost everything that made a ‘Cuda great, except the shape. You can thank Elwood Engel for that shape, and you should.
With all the “work, passion and dedication” why use run-of-the-mill-off-the-shelf parts like that shifter and those hokey wheels? If you’re going to put that much time and effect into it a better and more logical choice would be to CNC some original wheels for it. Speaking of wheels,”the car can be driven at its lowest without fouling the body work” because the front track is much, much narrower than it should be (and what it was stock) to allow that to happen. It looks weak and makes the car look weak-kneed.
Visually those elements look terrible from the front or any angle but the side, as your images show. Look at an image of a Trans Am AAR ‘Cuda, the front wheel and tire to body visual cues look awesome, even with 15 inch wheels. Those side mirrors too look completely out of place, incongruous, they don’t fit the car at all. Again they look weak and the ‘Cuda was the acme of Muscle Cars. Nothing on the original looked weak visually.
The car looks very dated like it’s straight out of the 1990s, all that bright work is so passé. It would be so much more visually appealing with other surface finishes’ and a different paint color.
See I have to disagree. The original Cuda was meh at best. I never found the styling to be anything special. The challenger wins that department, the performance of the AAR was good for its day, but a stock Jetta or Civic will drive around them now.
This car is a beautiful show car, the styling and custom touches are spot on and the owners taste comes through. Good on him. I would change a few things to make it mine but overall, job well done.
To quote myself: ” the ‘Cuda was the acme of Muscle Cars. Nothing on the original looked weak visually.” Subjectively and objectively mind you.
As for the Jetta and Civic assertion, get fucking real, in your dreams, seriously. They might put up a fight in low speed cornering (against an original car on bias ply tires) but no where else. What would happen on the first straight that longer than 20 yards? We both know the answer.
Nice car, except for the pimp my ride wheels and tires and the trailer Queen persona
Obviously a work of art , but when you parcel out shares in a car like stocks, haven’t we gone a little overboard. Never had an urge to” buy into a car” although my brother in law offered plenty of times to let me.
Hi dollar shop built “dream cars” are boring. This one is no exception.