Video: Watch This 1970 B5 Blue Plymoth AAR ‘Cuda Shine


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Now here’s a legend, presented by Muscle Car of the Week. This street version of Dan Gurney’s All American Racers Trans-Am car is a ‘Cuda of a different color. Blue Fire Metallic to be exact. B5 Blue to the Mopar code-crazy crew. What makes it extra special is it’s the same color inside. You’d think it would be blue-too-much but with the contrasting organisol-coated black hood, it works.

The 290 horse-power (yeah, right) 340 Six-Barrel motor provides the get-along for all AAR ‘Cudas from 1970. Some have said the manufacturers colluded on their Trans-Am car power-ratings as the Ford Boss 302 and the Chevrolet Z/28 302 also had 290 horsepower. Hmm. Two-hundred-ninety net horsepower maybe.

Special fender tags under the hood of the more than 2,700 AAR ‘Cudas built offer clues to their authenticity. Most AARs will have a fender tag that reads ‘Trans Am’ affixed there and it will sit right next to the option code-filled fender tag. On that option code tag will be a date code which indicates the car’s build-date. These cars were “batch-built” meaning a bunch of them were manufactured around the same couple of months of the year. If that date on the AAR you are looking at shows a fall 1969 date or a late spring, early summer 1970 date, chances are you are looking at a bogus AAR. It should be between March 10 and April 17, 1970.

The person who ordered this example wanted to row their own gears, specifying the New Process 4-speed. That makes this one of the 1,120 manual AARs built. All the better to spin the nubs off those G60-15 Polyglas GTs out out back. With smaller E60s on the front this one had a rake just like Gurney’s racers with the nose sniffing the pavement.

So how much fun is that? Console-shifted 4-speed, blue-blue color combo, cool side-exit exhaust and Trans Am lineage. This could be the perfect Mopar.

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Des Ryan

Des Ryan has been involved in all levels of Mopar musclecar ownership, from barn finds to drivers to a high-level restored Hemicar. He's also spent over 20 years in the advertising industry as a copywriter and creative director. With pen in one hand and pistol-grip shifter in the other, Des is bringing his two passions together to keep you Direct-Connected.

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