Meet the Fleet – Muscle Cars: ’70 Plymouth ‘Cuda 340

• BODY: Auto World
• WHEELS & TIRES: Road Race Replicas

I’ve always taken care to stagger my “Meet The Fleet” posts with other material, and I’ve also been alternating regularly between profiling cars in the muscle fleet and the sports fleet. This weekend’s posts, however, were conceived as a “double-header:” after putting a new set of custom wheels and tires on the ’70 Challenger T/A, it seemed appropriate to profile the pair of Chrysler E-bodies together, so while yesterday’s post focused on the Challenger, today’s “model in focus” is its Plymouth linemate. This car has a much longer tenure in my collection than the Dodge, dating back to the early days of Drag City.

• 

• 

One of the many things that makes this car special is that it is one of the very few cars in either fleet raced by a female driver: Lila Luciano, better known as “LITTLE LADY” Luciano, stands a tender 5’3” but pilots this bad girl down the strip and around the road course at Drag City with authority. Ms. Luciano claims no known relation to the infamous gangster with the same surname, and we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, but regardless of her family history, it’s probably wise not to mess with a lady that can handle a ‘Cuda!

In the recent past I have erroneously referred to this car as being “Panther Pink,” as that name belonged to the Dodge variant; used on a Plymouth, “high impact” paint code FM3 was referred to by the name “Moulin Rouge.” This is nitpicking, however; “Panther Pink” is the name most people remember, which is why it was the inspiration for this ride’s name: The Pink Panzer.

To the delight of E-body enthusiasts everywhere, the rest of the combination of options seen on this car make it a rarity: while it is a 340 4-speed with the six-pack carburetion under the “twin nostril” hood and the 3.55 Sure Grip rear end out back, it is not an AAR ‘cuda, though mechanically it is equipped like one. Rather than the tell-tale AAR “strobe stripe” down the sides, it wears the more commonly seen “hockey stick” stripe in white, and lacks a black vinyl top, rear window louvers and the rear deck wing, leaving sharp-eyed MoPar spotters to believe the six-pack intake and carbs and the matte black Organisol on the hood are probably aftermarket upgrades. This lack of exterior decoration is continued inside; despite the plentiful go-fast options, this car has few creature comforts, making it a true street and track racer through and through, even if it isn’t a 100% numbers matching original.

The Pink Panzer has been through more wheel changes than most cars in the fleet, so its look has changed a little throughout the years, but the chrome 5-spoke Magnum 500’s it currently wears look good and keep it MoPar, even if they are a couple of years older than the car itself. Goodyear Polyglas GT tires keep the power to the ground, and while “Little Lady” has yet to win a tournament, she and her car have earned the respect of every man on the track.

This pair of extremely desirable cars from the golden age of American Muscle are the heart and soul of what the muscle car races at Drag City are all about! Stay tuned for more racing action, as both cars have recently been tuned and tested and are ready to hit the track again!