America's Rarest Muscle Car

Fifteen years before it came up the ramp at Mecum in Seattle, that car sat in a Washington State impound lot with a property tag wired to it. Seized in a drug case. At police auction it brought $405,000. On June 14, 2014, the hammer fell at more than eight times that. In 1971, the last year you could order one, seven Americans put a Hemi in a Cuda convertible. Seven, in the entire country, because the engine cost $871.45 on a car that started around $3,500, and insurance surcharges had reached the point where the premium beat the payment. We cover John Herlitz's E-body drawn wide enough to swallow anything Chrysler built, Galen Govier's registry work that turned rarity into something provable, and why the record price is quoted two ways. $3.5 million is the hammer. With the premium the buyer wrote a check for $3,780,000. Money no object, one car in the garage tonight. The Hemi Cuda convertible, a Boss 429, or an LS6 Chevelle convertible? Be specific. #HemiCuda #Mopar #426Hemi #MuscleCarAuction #DetroitIron