The Hemi ‘Cuda Wasn’t Built to Win a Debate. It Was Built to End One.
Plymouth didn’t engineer the 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda to be reasonable. They engineered it to make anyone within earshot understand exactly where they stood in the hierarchy.
Plymouth didn’t engineer the 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda to be reasonable. They engineered it to make anyone within earshot understand exactly where they stood in the hierarchy.
There are cars that arrived at exactly the right moment, and cars that arrived one moment too late. The 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Hemi sits squarely in that second category, and somehow that makes it more compelling, not less. It…
There are cars that exist to win races. There are cars that exist to sell showrooms. And then, occasionally, you get a car that exists to do both at the same time, built under circumstances so specific and so strange…
There’s a certain kind of genius that doesn’t announce itself. It doesn’t show up wearing a tuxedo or carrying a briefcase full of horsepower ratings. It shows up in work boots, hands in its pockets, and gets the job done…
There are fast cars, and then there are cars that changed the physics of what fast meant. The 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona sits firmly in that second category. It didn’t just go fast. It went fast in a way that…
There are muscle cars, and then there are statements. The 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda is a statement. It’s the kind of car that doesn’t just turn heads, it stops time. If you’ve ever seen one in person, you know what…
Ten Engines, One Man’s Opinion, No Apologies Seven posts. Dozens of engines. Hundreds of factory ratings that may or may not reflect what those motors actually made on a real engine dyno. We covered Mopar’s murderer’s row, Ford’s homologation specials,…
Before the HEMI, There Was the Max Wedge In 1962, before Chrysler had a hemispherical combustion chamber in any production car, they were already embarrassing people at the dragstrip with something called the Max Wedge. The 413 and later 426…
The Gun Goes Off in 1964 Pontiac pulled the trigger in 1964. John DeLorean and his crew stuffed a 389 cubic inch engine into a Tempest, called it a GTO, and dared the insurance actuaries to catch up. They did…