134956 / 1971 Plymouth 'Cuda

This cool 'Cuda's complete rotisserie restoration began when its solid fuselage was meticulously stripped, carefully massaged and thoroughly sanded by the good folks at Xtreme Velocity Motorsports in Irvington, New York. Once that canvas was fully prepped, a custom red base was expertly sealed in a thick and glossy clear. And when that skin cured, it was buffed to a thoroughly substantial presence. Take one look down the profile of this sweet Plymouth and you'll see tough, slab-sided panels that have been straightened and finessed far past anything that rolled out of the factory. Pull the car in to the sunlight and its glossy glow accurately reproduces Chrysler's planar, straight lines while offering a level of protection that can only be achieved with today's advanced paint technology. Get up close and personal with its pigment and all that staring and comparing adds up to one super slick, all-American muscle car that's been in the care of one meticulous owner since its 2008 transformation.

Raise the wide red hood and you'll find a killer, XV-tweaked V8 that takes this Plymouth from 'very appealing' to 'MUST HAVE' almost as fast as it takes its driver from 'confident' to 'scared stiff'. Measuring exactly 6.1 liters, Chrysler's resurrected Hemi uses a revised block, a forged crank, lighter pistons, strengthened rods, new oil jets, variable cam timing and increased flow heads to turn 10.3 to 1 compression into 425 horsepower. But wait, there's more: the techs at XV decided to make the engine their own by installing a custom-grind cam, balancing and blueprinting the whole set-up and throwing in a bunch of hand-picked bolt-ons. The result is a healthy 525 horsepower that's fun, reliable and easy to live with.

That smooth-revving engine is hooked to a slick-shifting Tremec TKO 600 5-speed that's fitted with a heavy duty hydraulic clutch. That transmission utilizes a custom aluminum driveshaft to twist an upgraded Truetrac differential around 3.91 gears, alloy axles and alloy wheel studs. Not surprisingly, the car's old-school torsion bar front-half has been completely replaced by an XV Level II suspension, which includes: an aluminum K-member, aluminum controls arms, aluminum spindles, a splined sway bar and Hyperco coil-over-shocks. That Level II prowess extends to the back of the car where factory leaf springs have been exchanged for an adjustable 3-link, which employs a custom sway bar, an adjustable Panhard bar and more adjustable Hyperco coil-overs. Naturally, that pavement-ripping suspension is augmented by variable-rate power steering and first class XV hydroboost braking, which pinches 14-inch slotted rotors via 6-piston calipers and 13-inch slotted rotors via 2-piston calipers. An intimidating engine note comes courtesy of an H-shaped crossover and polished Magnaflow mufflers. And power flows through a sweet set of Budnik wheels, which spin 275/35ZR18 BF Goodrich g-Force T/As in front of 295/35ZR18 BF Goodrich g-Force T/As.

Open this Plymouth's super straight doors and sit down inside a cockpit where the timeless good looks of American muscle meld seamlessly with tasteful upgrades and modern conveniences. The Recaro bucket and factory bench seats, which are wrapped in bright XV leather, feel much more upscale than traditional Mopar hardware. At the base of those seats, fresh wool carpet centers a TKO pistol grip shifter inside billet foot pedals, color-keyed floor mats and high quality Dynamat insulation. At the front of that carpet, a leather-wrapped dash anchors silver-face XV gauges above modern Alpine audio and controls for a Vintage Air climate system. And in front of the driver, a half-wrapped billet steering wheel spins around a tilting column.

[teambronski]

Great job in the modern touches but keeping the overall Mopar-ness of the thing. Sounds like Hendrix and Godzilla fighting under the hood, amazing.

[coolmoodee]

Nice car but not feeling the upgrades. Old school here

[turowat]

c'mon Rk!...what a tasteless choice of music.