1971 Plymouth ’Cuda, one of five, surfaces

Muscle-car auction news can get silly fast — every old Mopar is suddenly “ultra rare” and “investment grade.” But this one is the real thing. Mecum has a 1971 Plymouth ’Cuda Convertible headed to Indy 2026 on May 16, and the reason people care is brutally simple: it’s one of five V-code 4-speed convertibles built for 1971, with matching numbers and paperwork to back it up. Mecum put the estimate at $1.5 million to $1.75 million, which sounds wild until you look at what the best Hemi and Six-Barrel E-bodies have been doing lately. ### What exactly surfaced? The car is Mecum lot S194, a 1971 Plymouth ’Cuda Convertible. It carries the V-code 440 Six-Barrel V-8 rated at 385 hp, an A833 4-speed manual, and Dana 60 3.54 Track Pak rear end. Mecum says it’s a numbers-matching engine-and-transmission car, with original VIN and fender tags, ownership history back to 1982, and a partial broadcast sheet. (mecum.com) ### Why does “V-code” matter? On these cars, V-code means the 440 Six-Barrel setup — three two-barrel carburetors on Chrysler’s big-block 440. It is not the Hemi, and that’s part of the story. Hemi ’Cudas sit at the absolute top of the value pyramid, but the 440 Six-Barrel cars are still top-shelf machines and, in some configurations, almost as rare. Mecum’s listing says only five 1971 ’Cuda convertibles were built with this V-code 4-speed combination. (mecum.com) ### Why is this specific car stronger than the raw production number? Because the spec stack is doing a lot of work. Mecum says this is the only example in its color combination — Gold Poly with a white interior — and one of only two Gold Poly V-code 4-speed convertibles. It also wears the factory N96 Shaker hood, which collectors love because it is both visually obvious and hard to fake correctly in a full OEM-style restoration. (mecum.com) ### Has it been restored? Yes — and not casually. Mecum says the car received a concours restoration by Ward Gappa’s Quality Muscle Car Restorations in Scottsdale, and it was a 2016 MCACN OEM Points Judging winner. That matters because high-end Mopar buyers tend to pay for two things at once: rarity and confidence. A rare car with fuzzy history is interesting. A rare car with judging credibility, registry paperwork, and Dave Wise documentation is a different league. (mecum.com) ### Is $1.5 million realistic? Basically, yes. Not guaranteed — but realistic. The useful comparison is not an average ’Cuda, or even an average convertible. The comparison is the tiny pool of documented, top-spec E-body Mopars. In January, Mecum sold a 1971 Hemi ’Cuda Convertible for $3.3 million at Kissimmee 2026. That was a Hemi car, so it lives in a higher bracket, but it shows that the very best 1971 Plymouth convertibles still pull huge money when the paperwork and provenance line up. (mecum.com) ### So why isn’t it a $3 million car too? Because engine hierarchy still rules this market. The 426 Hemi is the halo motor — fewer built, more mythology, bigger bragging rights. The 440 Six-Barrel is enormously desirable, but it usually trades below Hemi territory. Think of this car as sitting one rung down from the absolute summit, except its rarity keeps it from being “second tier” in any normal sense. (mecum.com) ### What are buyers really paying for here? They’re paying for a car that checks every obsessive box at once — convertible, final-era 1971 build, big-block V-code, 4-speed, documented originality, standout colors, and known restoration pedigree. In this corner of the market, that stack matters more than broad nostalgia. Plenty of old muscle cars are expensive. Very few are this exact. (mecum.com) ### Bottom line This isn’t just another shiny auction piece. It’s a stress test for the top end of the Mopar market — not whether people still love ’Cudas, but how much they’ll pay for one with almost no compromises. (mecum.com)