My Old 440+6 Cuda Ragtop sold again at Mecum
 

This is the one I found in 1987 with 19,000 miles and then sold to Steve Julaino in 1988. Completely untouched drivetrain that ran like a monster when I had it. (I think that was the last time it ever drove on the street in past 35 years?).

$1,1,00,000.

I just watched the footage and it looks like the winning bidder was Kevin Suydam. Can anyone verify that? He used to own my old 1971 yellow hemicuda ragtop.

Kevin was a nice guy and it would be great if he did buy it so maybe I can reunite the restoration photo album with the car now.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/CA0822-52...a-convertible/

----Just looked at the pics and I'm betting that you set the stance as it's perfect IMO!....Bill S

I'll contact Kevin and hook you guys up if he's the buyer.

Just heard back from Kevin. He's not the buyer.

Bummer. He's a nice guy.

Well, here's a photo from when it was just a used car in the snow in Ohio.

That car was cooler when it had all the candy, I'm embarrassed to admit.

Steve did you realize the rarity of the car when you had it in 87?

Yup. It was one of 12 440+6 automatics. I also had a one of 5, 4-speed 440+6 cuda ragtop as well. And a 1 of 7 hemi ragtop. All within a three year span. It was a fun time back in the day.

I was a thousandaire so I could afford them at the time. LOL

Oh, you've owned two, and this one isn't the Mafia car?

The Miami Vice car that was once sold by a Miami drug dealer and then stolen back and the driven into the ocean during a police chase, or something crazy like that: the most optioned one built: two full fender tags of options including body colored bumpers, spoilers, factory billboard stripes, leather interior, super track pack, 4-speed and born-with drivetrain. One of 5. I bought it in pieces in Miami in 1984 and had it finished by 1985 and it had its debut at the 1985 Mopar Nationals.

Now owned by a collector up in Rochester NY, last I heard.

Steve, the number of EPIC early Mopars you've owned is staggering. Seriously, some of the rarest and most unbelievable Mopar muscle, amazing.

If we only knew then what these cars would be worth today! In any event all I can say is Steve did an excellent job bringing these cars back to showroom condition (not to mention others). It is very rare to have such skill sets.

They were fun times back then. I enjoyed hunting them down, bringing them back from the dead, and then letting them run free.

Kind of like Indiana Jones meets Resident Evil.

How did you find these? It's not like you could just Google them in the 80's.

By simply taking the time and talking with people. The lost art of conversation. :-)

Back then people would always come up to me and say: "I got one these, too".

Sadly, most people would just ignore them and blow them off. I always made it a habit of entering into a conversation with that person and I wound up with a lot of interesting cars that way.

And also, a lot of times I would be the one walking up to some collector who had a really rare and cool car and I would be the one who would say: "I got one of these, too" just to see what their reaction was. Sadly, most of the time I'd get the brush off because I was just a 20-something punk with long hair. But once in a while I'd meet someone who'd take the time and chat. Eventually I'd introduce myself and they'd go: "Wait a minute. You're THAT Steve?".

I'm still friends with most of those kind of enthusiasts. A lot are on this site still :-)

This is what I looked like at the time I had all these cars. No wonder no one talked to me!

Where or how did you raise the cash to buy them? Multiple jobs?

My favorite E-Body of all time Steve! I was speechless when my son and I came upon it at MCACN in 2019.

Money aside, if you could have any of your old Mopar's back Steve which one would it be?

Back then I would restore a car and then sell it to buy the next and built up the money from there. Just like the TV show Wheel Dealer Dream cars.

It started with this wrecked 1971 Cuda I found in a junkyard in Denver back in 1981. I traded a running 1972 Vega for it. The Vega had been abandoned in front of our rented house by a disgruntled neighber when he moved away, as a final F.U. to us for being annoying teenagers who all happened to be attending Denver Auto and Diesel College at the same time and had the gall to rent a house next to them. After a month in front of our driveway I called the cops and they actually had the brilliant idea to file a report of an abandoned vehicle with the county and then after 2 weeks I could apply for an abandoned vehicle title. I did just that and pulled a door lock cylinder, had a key made and it started right up! I got it registered, drove it over the winter and then traded it to a guy I knew, who knew the owner of the wrecking yard where the cuda was. He arranged the straight-across trade. I pulled the cuda out of the yard, threw in an old battery and poured some gas down the carb. The thing started right up!...and then burst into flames when the the float bowl gaskets turned to dust and the gas drained onto the hot engine. No biggy. Fire went out and I towed it home.

Anyway, the 71 was an original drivetrain, 1971 Cuda 383 auto convertible in Curious Yellow. From the paperwork left inside it, it had been towed from outside the Lowry Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado years before. It was registered to a Harlan Rowley who I presume was a service member stationed there. It had a Lowry AFB sticker on the bumper. (I later did some research and learned that Mr. Rowley passed in the early 2000's).

I dragged it back to Connecticut when I graduated. I restored it and got it in a few magazines and then sold it to Richard Ehrenberg, who was the tech editor of Mopar Action Magazine back in the day. Then I found the 71 440+6 4 speed ragtop and bought that with the sales proceeds and kept moving up til I had the yellow hemicuda ragtop. After selling that car to Otis Chandler in 1987 I decided to get into Dodge Charger hemis and found my red 1970 R/T-SE 4 speed, then the 71 orange and white hemi sunroof car and then a yellow 1969 hemi Daytona. Probably left out a few cars in there but that's basically the gist of it.

Awesome post, Steve! :headbang:

Thx. Oh and I forgot to mention besides the 1972 Vega they abandoned in our yard, they also abandoned a 6-foot tall Cannibis Sativa in an ornate planter, on our backyard kitchen step. I'm suprised they didn't call the cops after they planted the evidence, just out of spite. One of my housemates promptly disposed of it. It took him several days from what I recall, since we didn't see him in class for about a week.

Great post Steve! Would love to hear how you got each one of those special cars. I know you said talking to guys but I bet the stories are fantastic!