Matt Delaney's '70 Cuda.

[trapin]

*Urgent Action Message*

- Go to nearest magazine rack.
- Pick up February issue of Mopar Collector's Guide.
- Go home and find a happy place to sit and calm your nerves.
- Put adult-sized bib around neck.
- Turn to page 10 and feast your eyes on what might be the most
spectacular Pro-Touring Mopar on the planet.

....I only wish I had pics to share. :banghead:

[Darkclaw13]

I have the magazine, I'll set my scanner up and try to post the pictures later today

[FoxGranadaChuck]

I read about this very same 'Cuda in Mopar Muscle magazine. Yes, I thought that the body and interior looked great. On the other hand, I think that the stroker Hemi was OVERKILL and I think that Delaney should have kept the OE suspension system. No one beats the factory chassis engineering of Chrysler during the musclecar era. I would have definitely kept the OE torsion bars and leaf springs.
Merely my thoughts............

[camcojb]

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Jody

[apex69]

Tony, this car was at the Mopar Nats in Hebron Ohio this past summer 2004, near Columbus. It was sitting under a tent. After seeing it, about an hour later they put it up on a lift for chassis viewing and was it ever savory. I looked at it as though I was in Windsor at Cheetahs.

Patrick

[Darkclaw13]

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Jody


Well thoses pictures are better than the ones from the magazines

[yody]

stroker Hemi overkill??????????????????? you gotta be kidding me, and to say that chryslers suspension was good? i drove in a dart once....went around a corner and almost flew out the window!! you must be kidding right?

[Conekiller13]

That is damn cool............I loved His Charger/GTS too. If I remeber right the Charger sold a Barrett/Jackson last year for somewhere north of 100k. Can't go wrong with black though :kewlpics:

[Kenova]

.....and I think that Delaney should have kept the OE suspension system. No one beats the factory chassis engineering of Chrysler during the musclecar era. I would have definitely kept the OE torsion bar........
During the early '70s, I spent a lot of time in the wreckin' yards looking for parts. It didn't take long to make some observations; GM A-bodies were all front ended (piss-poor brakes); Mustangs were all rusted out; and any performance models from Chrysler were in the 'yard as a result of a rollover. Yeh yeh, Iknow :offtopic:
Now the 'Cuda in this thread.......well :drool: :seizure: :bsjerk:
Ken

[TonyL]

Im gonna have to go with Yody on this one. Keep the stock suspension? you do realize this is a "pro-touring" website, right?

[Bill Howell]

to say that chryslers suspension was good? i drove in a dart once....went around a corner and almost flew out the window!! you must be kidding right?

I owned a 71 road runner in 1974. That was without a doubt the worst handling car above 80mph I have ever owned. It also had horrible brakes. Those two issues combined with the fact I was 16 at the time probably explains why I totaled it one Friday night. I too have too agree with Yody.
This car however makes me drool and the hemi :icon996:

[Restomod]

I dont see to many mopars I like but I like that one:cool:

[trapin]

The Hemi and the paint job are only half the story. The tubular front suspension and independent rear suspension have to be seen to be appreciated. If someone can get some scanned pics of that undercarriage in here, we'll all need to roll our pant legs up.

[ssx]

Awesome looking car! Some of the cars I've seen in magazines and in pics on the net nowadays really makes me realize that there must be a lot of people out their with unlimited budgets! I just wish I was one of them!

[Ralph LoGrasso]

WOW! That car is amazing. I'm pissed I missed it at SEMA!

[MrQuick]

Yeah we missed it too Ralph, way too much to see there.
Stock mopar suspensions were down right scary. Suicide if you wanted to turn hard over 50MPH.
I contemplated going with the aluminum K member on my 71 but didn't think it was a good idea with the way I drive. Not to mention the K member is about 2 inches off the ground on my car.
The rear suspension was a dissapointment tho, I was hoping for a complete Viper IRS. NEXT!

[OLDFLM]

But wait! Is that chrome trim I see around the wheelwells?!
See Yody, I told you it would come back! :cool:

[socalfandabodys]

Man black muscle cars are awesome. Theres no better looking color. I just wish I had the balls to paint my car black. By the way I am doing bodywork on my friends 69 dart and its a death trap. The suspension fells like the cars going to explode and scatter all over the road. I dont even have the courage to take it over 50

[FoxGranadaChuck]

stroker Hemi overkill??????????????????? you gotta be kidding me, and to say that chryslers suspension was good? i drove in a dart once....went around a corner and almost flew out the window!! you must be kidding right?

No, I am NOT kidding! And I also stand by my assertion that the basic Mopar A/B/C/E-body chassis design is the best that came out of Detroit in the late 60's-early 70's.
With the torsion bars located low and toward the rear of the front subframe, the front subframe has virtually no unsprung weight. Also, one need only turn a few clicks of a wrench to lower these cars; Mustangs and GM cars require a changeover to different coil springs.
Did these particular Mopars handle like a modern car of today from the factory?! Of course not! But then again, NO car of that era handles like a modern car of today with the possible exception of the mid-70's era Trans Am.
However, if one gives one of these Mopars the proper suspension mods (firmer bushings, thicker torsion bars, thicker anti-roll bars, etc.), these vehicles can handles as well with 15-inch tires as a Buick Regal GN does with Baer four-wheel disc brakes and 17-inch tires/wheels. Need proof?! Please refer to the December 1995 (?) edition of Car Craft magazine where Real Street Eliminator was featured. There, a '71 Dodge Dart with simple suspension mods and 15-inch tires/wheels (Rallyes!) was a few mere clicks behind the aforementioned Regal GN.
Were Mopars perfect?! Far from it! But they did have for that time a quite excellent chassis design.
And yes, I am fully aware that this is a Pro-Touring web-site! Merely because I say that OE engineering of a particular line of cars was excellent does not mean that I am opposed to modification for Pro-Touring!
I shall cease ranting.

[yody]

well typically GN's aren't the best handling cars, unless modified, and i doubt baer brakes help the handling at all. Also i think a first gen z28 or a boss mustang would of far out handled and stock mopar in its day. I still stick to my guns, that mopars were the worst handling muscle cars ever. anyway i reallllllllllly like those cudas, and that one is no execption! Too bad they are so expensive now. Maybe I will trade mrquick for his?

[70RT/SE]

Heidts rear and Alterkation front

[moparguy]

Man that is a nice Cuda! And no Hemi can be overkill,I mean come on ya gotta have tons of torque!
And as far as mopar having the worst suspensions of that era??? I sincerely doubt it. They were no worse than other members of the big 3. ( I know I will get blasted for this because of the strong chevy following on here) but dont compare the 1st gen camaro and boss mustang to a 318 Coronet or dart because that is a total mismatch and like comparing apples to oranges. If you are going to make the comparison use the T/A Challenger or AAR Cuda and if ya wanted to take it to the big oval the Superbird and Daytonas.
Let the flaming begin!!! :enguard:
Oh yeah Porsche seemed to like the torsion bar suspension configuration so it couldnt be that bad! :cheers:

......By the way I happen to love 67-69 Camaros!

[FoxGranadaChuck]

Guys, I an NOT denying the fact that Delaney's 'Cuda is a nice piece of automotive work; indeed it is a VERY nice piece of work! All that I was saying was that it is too much of a "museum piece"; I would hate to imagine how much it would cost to replace either subframe in case of a mishap!
If it were me, I would have kept the paint/bodywork and the interior, and beefed up the OE suspension system. I probably would have dropped an EFI 340 stroker motor under the bonnet.
If nothing else, Matt Delaney's 'Cuda serves as excellent inspiration for those who would want to build a Pro-Touring classic Mopar!

[DarkBuddha]

Yeah, I was kinda :drool: all over this Cuda too until I saw the undercarriage. I don't mind the setup (how could anyone not love that kind of engineering), but it's so damn clean. :squint: Sure, sure, I love a nice beautiful piece of machinery as much as the next guy, but DAMN!!! There ain't a scratch, rock chip, dust, nothing... It kinda kills it for me. A car like that should be DRIVEN!!! DRIVEN ALL DAY! DRIVEN, DRIVEN, DRIVEN! How could you possibly resist getting out and just hauling ass in that thing the moment all 4 tires came to rest on the ground??? I couldn't...

[yody]

that undercarriage is very clean, but my undercarriage isn't far off, from that and my car will be driven all the time. I don't think the Cuda's undercarriage is show quality, I am sure they will drive it a lot. Looks like a very nice example of show combined with go. I still stand by my belief that mopar suspension sucks......stock. Take any mopar in 1970 and compare it against an F body from 1970. BTW nobody is getting upset here, just a little friendly disagreement. I think this post is staying pretty civil

[MrQuick]

Hey guys, are we playing nice? good...Pody, dream on heh...Chuck I see your point but I would be alot more comfortable throwing my 71 Nova into a turn at 80 than I would my Cuda. Were they bad,well not for its time I suppose. I use to love egging on the guys driving GTX's and Roadrunners through the sharp right at the end of brotherhood way, and they laughed at me for running 265's on the fronts.
Matts car is awesome, does he drive it? Im sure he does but im not gonna assume he doesn't, I don't know him. Something happens to you after you spend 150 hours sanding and painting an undercarrige/suspension. Spending thousands of $$ on nice shiny parts and then have to drive it...we all talk it but when it comes down to it, how many of us will drive it and drive it hard when its done? I will try...if I ever finish another one? The second week after finishing my GTO I took it to a Goodguys show and it rained like hell , i wasn't too happy seeing all those hours of detailing and painting go away with in 15 minutes. Atleast I love mud and detail spray

[DarkBuddha]

Yeah, I can totally understand how difficult it must be tough to slave, spend, and create something so clean and beautifully engineered. You'd want to appreciate it for a while and want others to appreciate it as well. I'm sure it'll get driven eventually... they've just got a lot more restraint than me. :drive:

Oh, and I should put my comments in some sort of context... I just watched Vanishing Point a couple days ago, so I was pretty enthralled by the driving sequences (which is most of the whole damn movie...). Makes me wanna do a big long solo roadtrip... :)

[FoxGranadaChuck]

When one spends as much money, talent, etc. on a vehicle such as Delaney's 'Cuda, one has to wonder how practical such a machine would be on the street. If I am going to go through the trouble of building a street machine, I want to be able to DRIVE that bad-boy! And I still have serious questions as to the streetability of that 540ci Hemi!
Which car would I want to drive at 80mph around the corner?! Frankly, I would not drive either a Camaro or a 'Cuda in stock form around the corner at 80mph! In modified form, I would take the 'Cuda any day! But that's just me.

[MrQuick]

Hi Chuck, (I hope your name is Chuck) you know you raise a good question, but its so easy to get out of hand...not saying that Delaney's Cuda is out of hand but it is abit more than you see around.
Back in the day most of my cars were quick, handled great and yes thrown around AT THE TRACK (no stupid street driving for me) at 70+ mph and in primer, I didn't really care how they looked. Then one day I was rear ended by a dumb ass on her cell phone, long story short her insurance offered me $1500 and a salvaged title WTF- BS I had that in my rear end alone. I fought it and won the dispute against the salvaged title but lost on the increase in cash... this happened twice to me on 2 different cars. After that I said to hell with this, im gonna build them up all the way and have them appraised. I got hit in my Cuda and since they could not find a match replacement market price so they pulled the price on a 71 Dart!?! WTF again!!! comparing a 71 CUDA TO A 71 DART?!?! They argued that they could not use blue book cause it was not painted..AHHHHHRRRR So a lesson learned for me. I'd take the Cuda any day too,you can get camaros anywhere! :P

[kmracer]

Im gonna have to go with Yody on this one. Keep the stock suspension? you do realize this is a "pro-touring" website, right?
ahah i agree :rtfm: lol

[Flynlo416]

Seem's to me the only way to settle this is to put Delaney's Cuda and the Mule up against each other. I think we would all agree they are on the same level. Personally I'd love to see this kind of a "Shootout" .

[yody]

really? what kind of suspension does the cuda have? details!!

[Flynlo416]

really? what kind of suspension does the cuda have? details!!
I'm not gonna have a pissing match with you!! I was simply saying It would be nice to see ! Badass car vs another.

[yody]

um, take the stick out of your azz. I was just asking what kind of suspension it had??

[70Dustpan]

The front set-up on that Cuda is a very well thought-out piece. Bill Reilly over at BigBlockDart.com has spend about 5+ years designing it and it has proved it's self to be very safe and stable at 150+ MPH. Out of all the aftermarket Mopar front-end set-ups out it is by far the best one. At about $3300.00 complete with wilwood brakes or $300.00 for 11" ford brakes ready to bolt-in. A good buddy of mine just ordered one for his 69 pro-street Dart and I will soon be getting one myself for my pro-touring style 67 Valiant.
As far as stock torsion bar suspension it's a lot better then most think. Look at the Valiant "Green Brick", torsion bar set-up that was set-up for road racing and did very well in the Road Around America.
As for the Hemi way bad can you say about it? It's a 540 CID Hemi. Think of this car as a Cuda with the handling, ride, and power of a Viper.

[parsonsj]

Hey, I just checked out the front suspension over at BigBlockDart. It looks like a quality piece. When you say 150 mph, do you mean on a road course?

The spindles look to be Mustang II pieces. Is that correct? Has Reilly modified the stock MII geometry?

jp

[70Dustpan]

Yes it does use the Mustang II spindles. I don't know all that Bill has done with the geometry, but he really does know his stuff when it come to suspension and it's workings. You can email him with any questions on it at [email protected]
It has been to that speed both on road course, drag stripe, and even open road. One of the Members of Bill's site has one of his AlterKtion set-ups in a 68 barracuda with a 500 cid motor pushing 600 HP and a manual 5 spd. He claims to had it over 150 MPH on the upon road and said it was very stable at that speed.

[parsonsj]

Cool. I doubt we'll see much of Delaney's Cuda on the track (though I could be wrong), so other sources on how well the AlterKtion suspension works is good.

jp

[Steve Chryssos]

http://www.bigblockdart.com/alterktion/alterktion2.shtml

Here's the front suspension data link. I might add that this page provides far more detailed information than is published by any of the pro-touring clip manufacturers.
The Heidt's rear suspension is based on the Jag design. They've been adapted to hot rods for years because of their inherent reliability and performance characteristics. So the car's got legs!! I'm sure it handles great.

As for it's show quality detailing, it could be that the car was just completed (or detailed) in time for the SEMA Show--cuz it's a show. That's what the term "SHOW" in the name "SEMA Show" implies....That cars and car stuff will be shown. So we shouldn't assume that a car won't be driven just because it was put on display. SEMA would suck if it only had ugly dented up jalopies on display. Lots of cars are finished just in time for SEMA.

This is a great car. Excellent suspension upgrades. The designer took a chance with black graphics on black paint. The whole look really draws attention to the fire engine red HEMI.

Gotta love it.

[parsonsj]

Cool! Somehow I missed the tech page about the suspension. I agree it would be awesome if all manufacturers gave us what Reilly does: camber, caster, roll center, and bump steer curves. Also provided is hub to hub widths, information about what will fit, and what won't. Very nice, and exactly what us consumers need to compare subframes.

As far as not ever seeing Delaney's ride on the track, I meant that we would be unlikely to see any information about such an event, not that Delaney wouldn't take it to the track. Since I figured we wouldn't see more data on Delaney's bad-ass ride, more information about the AlterKtion subframe from others would be welcome for present and future Mopar owners.

jp

[B Schein]

My friend Joe bought that set up for his 67 Dart It is a really nice set up. The two points that I don’t like about it is that the steering arms are welded to the spindles and on a dart your wheel choices get somewhat limited because of the amount out offset that you have to run to keep the wheels inside the fenders. The track is pretty wide for a small car like a Dart.

Brian

[Todds69]

Love the car....love the suspension.....freakin' sweet...

[bnoon]

See car on ground... oooooooooh ahhhhhhhhh

See Hemi... NEAT! Gotta have one someday!

See car in air... WOAH! GASP!

Not seeing pictures of it being driven hard... Just killed it for me. If someone finds pics of it being driven with smoke rollin from the big hoops, I'll get my wood-ro back. Until then, someone may as well show a pic of someone taking a pee on it.