Curtis Wellborn was looking through the extensive paperwork that had come with a car he and his better-known brother Tim had just purchased. He had been reading the options out loud—the '71 Hemi 'Cuda itself was already headed to Roger Gibson's Missouri shop for detailing. There, listed in between 2642969 (heavy-duty red-cap battery) and 1944154 (Hemi power brake vacuum fitting) on a broadcast sheet breakdown, was "V6W." White longitudinal sport stripes. Billboards in '71, and on a four-speed. Add in the black top and interior, and this is the only '71 Hemi 'Cuda so equipped from the factory. So Curtis did read it again, and Tim instantly began to see what this car might be.

"We already had a 1971 Hemi 'Cuda here with black billboards, and we were buying this one really because it was so original," says Tim. "When Curtis read that code off, it was like a shock: white billboards, red paint, black top, four-speed. It had to be one-of-one, and it is."

In the late summer of 1971, the factory ended production on a lot of stuff as that model year concluded. Many of them were victims of huge insurance increases and federal emission controls. The 'Cuda was done and so was the Hemi. By the end of that selling season, just 62 (59 for the U.S. market and three for export) of this design had come off the assembly line with the four-speed transmission, and only one of those is known to exist having gotten the big billboard side stripes in white at Hamtramck. This one. Nevertheless, nobody in the hobby knew this until Tim and Curtis bought the car and began researching it.

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These final-year Hemi 'Cudas have their own mystique. Even before the notoriety of Nash Bridges and million-plus values on the convertible examples, their appearance was unmistakable.

Indeed, considered by some to have been released as the in-your-face last hurrah of the Chrysler supercar era, the scalloped grille, side gill trim, and monster-size graphics remain both instantly identifiable and unequaled from Detroit. The graphics were not beloved by all new-car buyers though, and both respectable people and street racers who could drop the big coin on a '71 Hemi E-Body Plymouth often preferred to leave them off and let the machine itself speak. Of course, collectors have thought otherwise and have often installed them upon repainting a car, even one that never got them new. Perhaps a trip back to December 8, 1970 for a closer look at this car as delivered would help.

That day down in Houston, a man named Robert Shipley took delivery of his new Plymouth from the River Oaks Chrysler-Plymouth franchise. He had custom-ordered the car earlier that fall, and had set it up his way. Nobody else among those 62 buyers did likewise. The exterior was painted FE5 Rallye Red with a black vinyl top. Because Mr. Shipley had ordered a leather interior (only available in black), the top matched that. Adding the big side white graphics created a tri-color combination that is rarely seen on any muscle car, but Mr. Shipley was loading this one up, and he was not done yet.

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Outside, 15-inch Rallye wheels, a dealer-installed J78 front spoiler, factory J81 rear spoiler, tinted glass, dual outside mirrors, road lamps, hood pins, and every possible M-code chrome trim piece for this body was added to give it curb appeal. Inside, the SRX9 leather-vinyl upholstery was augmented by a six-way adjustable driver's seat, console with Pistol Grip, top-of-the-line AM/FM stereo with dual front and rear speakers, key-insert buzzer, power windows, and A62 Rallye instrument cluster with tach and electric clock. The final price for all of it pushed the total to over $5,500 on the sticker. We do not know what Robert did for a living or who he knew, but he ended up paying only $5,057 total to take the car off the lot that day.

The car was his for a few years, and like so many others, was sold as the price of gasoline soared in the middle of the decade. The buyer was another Texan named Charles Cheshire. Then in 1986, our sister magazine Car Craft ran a story on Charles and his car collection called "The Elephant Man," as he was one of the very first serious Hemi collectors. During Shipley's ownership, which saw less than 10,000 miles put on the car, something had scratched through one of the Hemi side decals. Charles hated 'em and planned on using the car for some Saturday night street-fighting action, so after getting the car in 1974, he took both the graphics and the black top off. After repainting the car and installing some over-the-counter speed parts, he street raced it on occasion and then showed it during the next 15 years or so. He then sold it to collector Ron Fellwock, who put the car (still in Cheshire's trim) into deep indoor storage for 27 years until Curtis talked to him about possibly selling it in mid-2015.

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"You know what else is cool about this one?" Tim asked us. "I have a great 1971 Hemi Charger here that also once belonged to Charles Cheshire, and this sort of reunited those two cars."

Tim and Pam Wellborn have been part of the Mopar hobby since it started. Tim was at the first race at Talladega as a kid, still has the 1971 Hemi Charger R/T his father bought new, and was known as a car guy long before he was known as a money guy. During the 1970s and 1980s, he and Curtis had both bought and sold cars as a hobby. Always more into the E-Body models, Curtis had remembered the former Cheshire car, made the connection with Mr. Fellwock, and he and Tim agreed to make the investment together.

"You know, I bought and sold a few Hemi E-Bodies back in the day," Curtis laughs. "I remembered seeing this car when Charles would bring it to the early Chrysler events and always thought it was cool. Well, I also knew who had gotten it from him and began thinking about it. I contacted the owner, and we talked about whether it might be for sale. As it turns out, he was willing to take an offer, so we made one"

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The day they went to see it, Roger Gibson was along and they looked it over. The car was very complete, stored indoors for years, and showing no changes that could not be reversed. The parts that Charles had removed, save for the exhaust system, were all there, and the car featured most of its as-installed accessories. The biggest change was the paint and headers.

Gibson had it for almost a year, both detailing it and documenting its originality, though obviously the car is now repainted. He does a lot of this sort of concierge work on original cars these days, and was amazed at many of the unaltered small details the car possessed. No sheet-metal replacement or rust repair of any sort was needed, the driveline was all original, and it possessed a plethora of quality options. From the legendary Wellborn Museum "dealership parts department" came part of an NOS exhaust system to replace Cheshire's street-performance layout. Due to the long-term storage, Tim also added an NOS gas tank. The only thing originally changed by Cheshire back in the day that Roger did not return to original was the elastomeric bumpers, which look correct on the car and could be easily replaced by order-correct chrome examples. He also left the J78 front spoilers in the trunk as the car would have arrived at the dealership. While we cannot call it a true "survivor" car, it is basically all-original with fresh correct paint and minor parts replacement with NOS-only components.

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Fast Facts

1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda

Tim and Curtis Wellborn; Alexander City, AL

ENGINE

Type: assembly-line installed code E74 426 Hemi

Bore x stroke: 4.25 inches (.055-over) x 3.75 inches

Block: OEM cast; detailed by Roger Gibson

Rotating assembly: factory

Compression: 10.25

Cylinder heads: factory cast iron

Camshaft: OEM, .490-/.481-inch lift, 284 degrees duration

Valvetrain: factory hydraulic cam with adjustable iron rocker arms

Induction: factory aluminum dual-plane with exhaust heat tubing



Exhaust: NOS 1971 design, factory mufflers, resonators

Ignition: factory 1971 design

Cooling: factory 26-inch wide radiator with seven-blade clutch fan

Fuel: Wellborn Museum custom high octane blend

Other: original Shaker scoop, unrestored/unrepainted

Output: 425 hp, 500 lb-ft of torque

Engine built by: Chrysler, reassembly by Roger Gibson following corrections to

exact OEM layout

Engine tuning: Daniel Boshears

DRIVETRAIN

Transmission: code D21 (1971 A833 Hemi-specific four-speed manual),

factory clutch layout

Driveshaft: OEM retaining some assembly marks

Rearend: code D56 (Chrysler Dana 60 with 3.54 SureGrip), factory-width with

correct factory markings

CHASSIS

Design: unibody construction with S15 Factory Hemi frame components

Front suspension: Chrysler Engineering design S25 Firm Ride shocks

Rear suspension: Chrysler Engineering design as above

Steering: OEM power steering gearbox

Front brakes: code B41 OEM front discs with code B51 power assist,

dual master cylinder layout

Rear brakes: OEM rear drum layout



Wheels: code W21 (15x7 factory Rallye with chrome rings, argent centers, and

Chrysler valve stem extensions)

Tires: code U84 (OEM Goodyear Polyglas GT F60-15)

EXTERIOR

Paint: code FE5 (Rallye Red)

Roof: code VX1 (Black vinyl)

Graphics: code V6W (White billboards)

Trim Codes: Chrome is all available M05 door edge, M21 drip trough, M25 sill,

M31 belt, M88 deck

Safety Codes: code L34 Road Lamps, G31/33 chrome outside mirrors,

driver's side remote

Performance: code A45 front/rear spoiler group, J45 hood pins, N96 fresh air (Shaker),

N42 chrome tips

INTERIOR

Seats: code SRX9 (sport leather buckets, rear vinyl), C62 six-way driver's

seat adjustment

Instruments: code A62 (OEM Rallye cluster, 150-mph speedometer, gauges,

electric clock)

Stereo: code R32/R35 (AM/FM thumb-wheel stereo with dual front/dual rear

speaker and auxiliary control)

Steering wheel: code S81 (OEM deluxe woodgrain sport wheel)

Shifter: code C16 (console-mounted Hurst Pistol Grip)

Other: P31 Power windows, G11 tinted glass, plus additional small components

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See all 63 photos The driveline in the car is all-original and numbers matching, with the engine detailed with either cleaned or NOS components. Real Hemi 'Cudas are hard to find in any condition, and many original engines were damaged by racing or foolishness.

See all 63 photos Hemi 'Cudas were not all built as stripped-down racecars, and this deluxe leather interior was not even removed during Gibson's detailing. It remains exactly as built and assembled in late 1970 by the guys on the Hamtramck assembly line.

See all 63 photos Curtis (in car) and Tim Wellborn are all smiles with the one-of-one Hemi 'Cuda now back home in Alabama. Roger Gibson spent over a year with it, getting back to its original roots after decades in disguise.

See all 63 photos In this side view of the car, the selected chrome sill, rail, and edge trim is evident. Coupled with the one-year-only quad front-fender gills and trim-equipped 15-inch Rallye wheels, plus the tri-color appearance, the car is stunning from its initial glance. Few non-Mopar people would guess it actually came this way from the factory.