1970 Plymouth AAR ’Cuda

This car, Lot 546, sold for $63,800, including buyer’s premium, at Auctions America’s Fort Lauderdale, FL, sale on March 14–16, 2014.

The AAR package was born when Chrysler Corporation decided to enter the popular Trans Am race series in 1970. Dodge ran their own Challenger T/A, while Plymouth campaigned under the “All American Racers” banner, led by Dan Gurney and Swede Savage.

An AAR for the street

In order to homologate their car for Trans Am, Chrysler had to build and sell street versions of the AAR. So for 1970, the AAR package, coded A53, came with a bunch of special-purpose parts, including a Trans Am 340 engine with a unique casting number. But unlike the Boss and Z/28, the production AAR was more of a hot rod than a true corner carver.

The AAR ’Cuda was the most flamboyant, balls-out racer replica you could buy. Multiple carbs were standard equipment. You had to special order that kind of stuff on a Z/28 or Boss 302.

The 340 engine block was stress relieved, and had high nickel content and extra-thick main webbing to allow use of four bolt mains in competition. The oil-pan rails were thicker than a regular 340 casting. Special cylinder heads had relocated pushrod holes with adjustable screws to allow for enlarged ports. The engine was heavy duty in every way, including the Edelbrock intake manifold and three Holley carbs.

Low-restriction dual exhaust had trumpets exiting the side of the body ahead of the rear tires. The brakes were power disc and drum. Rallye suspension, with heavy-duty shocks and a more pronounced front-to-rear rake, was included, with staggered E60 x 15 front and G60 x 15 rear tires. A matte black fiberglass hood scoop with hood pins was part of the cold-air induction package, and you also got distinctive strobe tape stripes down each side, with the AAR logo at the rear.

Lose on Sunday, canceled on Monday

Chrysler entered the Trans Am series much later than Ford and Chevrolet had, placing 5th in the series by the end of 1970. The team lacked the experience that only comes from competing a few years with the car. The Boss 302 was dialed in, and it showed with a Championship Series Win for 1970. By contrast, after starting out already behind, Plymouth was done with their program by the end of the year, leaving their teams to continue on as privateers.

Similarly, in spite of the street AAR’s extra sass, wild colors and hot engine, it was a bust in sales. Plymouth sold 2,724 AAR ’Cudas, while Ford sold 6,318 Boss 302s and Chevrolet moved out 19,014 Z/28s during a carryover calendar year. That sealed the AAR’s fate as a one-year-only model.

Mopars and AARs in the market

Mopars have been muscle car market bellwethers almost from the very beginning — especially rare performance variants such as Hemi or Six Pack cars. In a strong market, they led the charge in record-setting prices. During a market correction, they took the first big price drops.

The Trans Am homologated E-bodies, such as the AAR, have an enthusiastic but smaller following than the typical 340 ’Cuda or Challenger R/T. When the market was white-hot, these Six Pack small-blocks crested the $200,000 range, with one selling for $226,800 at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale in 2006. Today, the usual strong sale is in the $70,000–$80,000 range. Good AARs without major issues currently change hands for $50,000–$60,000.

A nice 4-speed example that’s numbers matching or has a desirable rare color such as Citron Yellow can sell in the $80,000 range today. A strengthening muscle market bodes well for rising prices. It should be noted that some Mopar fanciers like cars with factory originality even if it means sloppy quality control compared with GM, Ford or AMC rivals.

Living with the beast

If an AAR is on your list, there are few kinks you need to know about. The proper way to lift the fiberglass hood without cracking it is to lift with your hand wrapped under the hood, fingers facing you — not by the thin top half of the scoop. Operating costs are a little higher with two extra carbs and related goodies. The payoff is an enjoyable street driver with usable power range compared with the high-revving Boss 302 and Z/28 — with one of these, you don’t have the hassles associated with driving a car when it’s not “on the cam.” It’s also rare compared with a Z/28 or Boss 302.

Our example was a well-restored car finished in desirable Tor-Red paint and equipped with console, AM radio, stainless-steel drip moldings and the 727 TorqueFlite. The catalog description is clear that the car has a properly date-coded block that has been restamped. It’s worth noting that it didn’t hurt the selling price by much. The bigger issue here was that the car was relatively light on options and has the manual steering box, and that makes the car slightly over market at almost $64k. But given Mopar’s history at leading the muscle market charge, you might still consider this a deal by year’s end if the momentum continues at this rate. For now, I’d call it fairly bought and sold.

(Introductory description courtesy of Auctions America.